Before her " fur coat craze" phase, who was Cruella de Vil?
Director Craig Gillespie, costume designer Jenny Beavan and production designer Fiona Crombie, worked together to perfect every detail for this young Cruella film. Fashion is not just work, it is also lifestyle.
“We're in a world of fashion,” where Emma Stone plays a young girl with a dream of designing, “That makes things complicated because everyone has a different perspective of the times.”
That means Jenny Beavan has to create a more glamorous and desirable fashion style than the previous version, with 47 outfits for Cruella and 33 outfits for the Baroness (Cruella's enemy in the movie). This is the largest project that Beavan, who has received two Oscars for best costume design, has undertaken in her entire life.
Fortunately, having spent her teenage years in 1970s London, Beaven knows the style of the decade very well. Production designer Fiona Crombie said: "This film showcases a lot of the pinnacle of fashion, but besides that, it also needs a specific setting to tie in."
And the setting they chose was London, a burgeoning punk culture, while Vivienne Westwood's unique style was chosen as Cruella's inspiration.
From this world emerges a rebellious Cruella, challenging the fashion mogul Baronness played by Emma Thompson, with a Dior-inspired aesthetic: “In the '70s, her style could be seen as outdated,” explains Beaven, explaining the growing conflict of both magnitude and style between the two designers.
And this is "the best part of the movie", Gillespie promises, because fashion is not only a form of artistic expression, it is also the "weapon" of two women.
De Vil is Red
In the early stages of the mission, Beaven scoured all the vintage boutiques in London and New York, and even Los Angeles to bring back tons of items for Emma Stone to try on. In the end, although she didn't use much of it, the process helped provide inspiration for the final costumes chosen for Cruella's film, as well as giving the actress a greater sense of style and character design.
In the film, Cruella takes the Baroness's iconic dress and transforms it into a completely different dress, with bold punk cuts and a bit of the recycled spirit of the modern era's sustainability concept.
“I think recycling is going to be part of her fashion philosophy,” Beaven says of the dress inspired by Charles James’ “Tree” design.
Evil's Apprentice
"You can easily see how Cruella's personality develops in the film, and her life is also evident through the costumes," Beavan said. She carefully designed clothing for each stage of this rebellious fashionista's personality development. When Estella was younger, her wardrobe was lighter and more structured, but as she grew more sinister and closer to her version of Cruella, her clothes started to become edgier and more carefree.
Mad & Sophisticated
Beavan was tasked with creating 1970s fashion that still had to be somehow relevant to the present. This red and black dress was especially loved by Beaven, because of its madness and sophistication:
The outfit with the skirt spread so wide that it could cover a car when Cruella brazenly stepped on the Baroness's car and covered her in it. In addition, the top is a black jacket that Beaven has elaborately attached to its shoulder a miniature world with dozens of different statues. “I think there was a time when I saw 12 people sitting around the table meticulously hand-embroidering the petals for that dress,” says Beavan on the most time-consuming work at the Shepperton workshop in the UK.
High Society
"You have to remember that, despite being evil, she's still a very, very talented designer," noted Beavan of the Baroness character, who has a refined taste for a striking style. She is asymmetrical, intentionally created to oppose Cruella. Their preferred palettes differed significantly; while red is Cruella's signature color, her enemies often appear in predominantly brown, green and yellow outfits.
Biker Dreams
Nothing ruins a daring break-in more than a boring outfit, so this look needs to be as captivating and thrilling as how Cruella broke into Baroness's party as the lady with a motorbike. The outfit featured glittering sequin tights that contrasted with the black jacket and punk make-up, with "The Future" written in challenging graffiti across the face.
Runaway Bus
At another Baroness's party, Cruella and her gang rode a giant dump truck and she began tossing out piles of rags that appeared to be trash but were actually the long, impressive train of her gown. More than ten meters of train was completely remade by Cruella from the Satin robes of the Baronness in the 1967 collection.
She smiled proudly and then disappeared with the car, hands clinging to the side of the car, skirts fluttering in the wind behind.
Black and White Spots
With this outfit, Beavan pays homage to the 1996 version of Cruella played by Glenn Close, but it's still an entirely different creation of the new film.
During a fashion party when tensions were high between Cruella and the Baroness, Cruella appeared and created what Fiona Crombie described as a "fashion bomb" in a dalmatian gown and coat - the signature symbol of Cruella de Vil.
From here, viewers can vaguely guess the source of Cruella's obsession with dalmatian fur, but rest assured that these are all the results of the printing process on the fabric, not a single animal being harmed. during the making of the film.
