14 Times Costume Designers Went an Extra Mile to Reveal the Essence of Movie Characters
A movie character’s costume is a powerful tool which serves several purposes at once. It helps to reveal the character’s past, to give homage to other movies, or to hint at the further development of the story.
At CHEERY, we decided to find out in what popular movies and TV series costumes designers had to go an extra mile to send a hidden message with the characters’ outfits.
Crimson Peak
With Edith’s belt featuring ivory hands, the costume designers wanted to pay homage to Victorian mourning traditions. According to them, people put the hair of their loved ones that had passed away into jewelry. These ivory hands symbolize a mother’s hands clasped around the main character’s waist.
Django Unchained
Django’s blue suit was inspired by the Thomas Gainsborough painting The Blue Boy. The suit is also a symbol of Django’s transformation from a lowly slave into a princely hero.
Jurassic World
Bryce Dallas Howard ties her shirt exactly as her predecessor Laura Dern did in the 1993 movie Jurassic Park.
500 Days of Summer
In this scene, Tom wears a T-shirt which says Love Will Tear Us Apart — this is the song by the rock band Joy Division. This is exactly what happens to the characters in the second part of the movie.
Rocketman
Elton John’s outfit which he wears while performing Goodbye Yellow Brick Road pays homage to the movie The Wizard of Oz. The blue suit with ruby red shoes represent Dorothy, the silver shirt for the Tin Man, the straw hat for the Scarecrow, and the fake fur coat for the Cowardly Lion.
Little Italy
In the movie, Emma Roberts wears the same T-shirt as her aunt Julia Roberts did in the 1988 movie Mystic Pizza. Both movies were directed by Donald Petrie.
Get out
With the help of the characters’ outfits, the costume designers wanted to send certain signals to the audience and create additional suspense. So, in the party scene, Chris is dressed in a blue shirt while Rose and other guests wear something red — this color is a symbol of the secret society and is also associated with danger. This way, the costume designers wanted to show that the main character was an outsider there.
Midsommar
At the beginning of the movie, Dani wears baggy, ill-fitting clothes. The first perfectly fitting outfit is given to her by the villagers, which emphasizes the fact that Dani belongs to their community.
Avatar
It’s not accidental that Grace’s avatar wears a T-shirt with “Stanford” stamped across it. This was a nod to Sigourney Weaver’s alma mater, Stanford University, which the actress graduated from in 1972.
Last Night In Soho
When Eloise moves into a new dorm on campus, she finds out her roommate Jacosta is a very mean girl. In one of the scenes, she and her friends are dressed exactly like the characters of the cult horror movie The Craft. This was done to hint at what kind of person Jacosta is, and how she likes to portray herself to others.
Venom: Let There Be Carnage
In some scenes, Tom Hardy can be seen wearing a T-shirt which says “Mumford Phys. Ed. Dept.” This is a reference to the movie Beverly Hills Cop where the main character, played by Eddie Murphy, sports a T-shirt with the same inscription. Tom Hardy is a big fan of this franchise, and he suggested adding this detail to his outfit.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Black Widow wears an arrow necklace in the movie. This is a nod to Hawkeye. Scarlett Johansson asked the costume designers to add this detail to her character’s outfit herself.
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
In the first season, the main character wears a red dress with a white lace collar. With this outfit, the costume designers made a nod to Mia Farrow in the cult horror movie Rosemary’s Baby.
The Queen’s Gambit
Costume designer Gabriele Binder wanted Beth’s outfit in the final scene to be a strong statement. This is why she created a costume that resembled the white queen on a chessboard.
“I knew from the beginning, it should be strong. When I saw the first location photos, I thought it looked like a chessboard and like she was stepping inside the chessboard. So I had the idea of the white queen,” she said.
Do you pay attention to the costumes and their hidden meaning when watching a movie? Tell us in the comments below.