Designer Holly Waddington was given a lot of freedom to envision the costumes for “Poor Things,” George Lanthimos’ zany comedy starring Emma Stone.
“The only brief was that he didn’t want it to be overtly like a period drama” — the script is set in the 1880s — “and he didn’t want it to be overtly like a science fiction movie,” Waddington said. . In the film (a Golden Lion winner at the Venice Film Festival and now nominated for an Oscar), Stone is the creation of a scientist who evolves from a childish naïve to a sexually and politically liberated woman.
Greek-born director Lanthimos, known for his surrealist vision, gave Waddington only one reference image: a young designer’s take on “bloated pants,” Waddington recalls. When they inflated, they “created this really exaggerated shape, just incredibly curved.” She worked with other departments, including production design and hair and makeup, to complete the look of Stone’s Bella Baxter, whose life changes on a Grand Tour to cities such as Lisbon.
A lot came into focus when Waddington learned that Bella would have long, black hair. a painting by Egon Schiele was Lanthimos’ inspiration for it, she said, and informed her color palette. Another thing to consider in a movie with a lot of sex scenes: How the clothes come off. “I had a lot of slightly awkward conversations with George about it,” he said. “She was asking me, how does she have sex in them? I guess I was a little embarrassed. But it’s not at all.”
Waddington knew her Victoria. She spent years working in a costume house, specializing in archival women’s fashion. But for this film, she cut out the corset—a daunting prospect at first, she said, because corsets give period clothes their shape—and mixed eras and materials. Early on, Mrs. Prim, the medical assistant turned nanny, picks out Bella’s wardrobe. then she finds her own style. “The clothes had to really change with her,” Waddington said.
From then on, Lanthimos offered conceptual freedom. “It just doesn’t need to have a whole story,” he said. If it looked good, fly. Bella’s sleeves are already having a moment.
In a video interview from her London home, Waddington discussed how and why she dressed Stone for three key moments in the film. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.
1. Bella at home
This look at the house is based on the idea that he is a very young child at this point. And she is dressed by Mrs. Prim, who finds her very annoying. The clothes aren’t baby clothes, they’re women’s, but they’re applied in this slightly ad hoc way because she has the physicality of a child. Very quickly, things have disintegrated and come off. And this is based precisely on my own observations of children that, even if you go to a smart occasion, clothes, especially from the waist down, often come off. It’s just a slightly mismatched, uncomfortable way to dress a woman – like a stress dream of going to a job interview wearing a suit on top and nothing on the bottom, just knickers.
Knits are almost like 1950s diaper covers and have a high texture – look. And then there’s this big bodice, a really thick taffeta moire. The thickness of the fabric is almost too thick for human scale, which you get when you look at dolls. Often their fabrics look like macaroons — like cake decorations. Also, the striations in the moiré look to me like the organic marks you get in the flesh.
He wears this funny little fuss — one of my favorite things in the movie. It is based on an original late Victorian cage that would have been worn under the dress to give it volume. What struck me is that it looked super sci-fi.
2. Lisbon outfit
During the pandemic, the producers arranged for me to go and meet Emma. I took several different variations of sleeves with me — long sleeves, medium size. I got many different kinds of knives. I had an idea of how I wanted it to go, but it was really in this fit, trying all these shapes on Emma, that I was able to say, okay, we definitely need a buzz, we need these 1930s-style flared trousers, which I had just packed at the last minute. It was a departure from baby knits. In Lisbon, they’re silky and fluid — grown up and sexy.
I knew I wanted her to leave the hotel with something really uncompromising. And I was thinking about that scene in “Taxi Driver” when Jodie Foster is out on the streets of New York in the those hot pants.
The frill top is based on a piece of modesty for Victorian dresses — they filled the neckline, but on their own are like a little bib or bib. And I love the idea that she would wear this, by itself, as a top. What she is actually wearing are pieces of underwear like her clothes.
The boots are a small tribute to André Courrèges. At the beginning of development, I looked at late 60s-early 70s sci-fi costumes and space age modernism fashion. So these boots are based on that idea of her toes being free because she’s just unrestrained – it exposes every aspect of her, including her feet. The peep-toe boot would never have happened in Victorian society. They didn’t even show their ankles.
Gold, yellow and sky blue is definitely a combination we associate with many fairy tale characters. She entered the world and it opened up to her, a Disney version of what you imagine Lisbon to be, all pastels. I wanted the clothes to reflect that joy and optimism.
3. Wedding dress
I liked the idea of it being a cage, with strips of fine silk piping. Hopefully it creates that sense of confinement, but you could still see her and see her body—that felt important. And also those sleeves.
We had this pattern book from the 1890s, my assistant got it from an antique dealer in Portobello market. The patterns from the real period are much more extreme than we imagined. This is a very short period in fashion when there were huge sheep sleeves. I thought they should be even bigger — really bulky. And George was really up for the big sleeves. The sleeve of the wedding dress is probably about a meter around. They look like balloons.
I struggled with the veil because I didn’t feel it was quite right for this character. But then I took it to Emma the morning of the shoot, and she grabbed it and wrapped it around her face in a knot.
I really like the fact that it’s sheer and light and big, and it’s also her favorite costume, because her body felt so free in it.