'Equals' costume designer Carlos Rosario talks about working with Kristen

Click on pic for full view.

Q: I saw a picture of work you did with Kristen Stewart – who I regard to be the best actor around at the moment – on your website. Can you talk about working with Kristen and share any memories from your time around her?

I was initially one of the first designers on Equals. I started all the concepts and made the first samples for the lead characters.

I loved working with Kristen. She was very respectful of the design process, very professional and fun to work with. It was a small project, so I had to transform my house into an office space. I actually ended up doing her fittings in my own personal bedroom. It was such a surreal moment. I remember wondering what my neighbours’ reaction would be if they saw her coming out of my house.

Source

'Lizzie' costume designer, Natalie O'Brien, talks about the movie and mentions Kristen with Fashionista

Producer and actress Chloë Sevigny spent nearly a decade bringing the latest dramatization of Lizzie Borden's alleged 1892 ax murders of her father and stepmother to the big screen. Her vision for "Lizzie," written by friend Bryce Kass, explores the lead-up to the still-unsolved grisly murders, and the famous trial of the accused murderer, played by Sevigny, from a feminist and "smash-the-patriarchy" point of view.

As a decision-maker in front of and behind the camera, she was fully invested; she even spent a night in the Fall River, Mass. murder house (now a museum and a bed and breakfast, which can't not be haunted, honestly). That meant everything in the film, including the costumes, required meticulous dedication to authenticity. Because of the salaciousness and brutality of the hatchet murders — and the fact that the Bordens were prominent members of the community — the case was like the O.J. Simpson trial of the day. So, the costume department had copious old photos, sketches and documentation surrounding the proceedings to analyze.

Costume designer Natalie O'Brien, who also outfitted Elizabeth Olsen as a spot-on influencer in "Ingrid Goes West," carefully studied "Parallel Lives: A Social History of Lizzie A. Borden and Her Fall River," by Michael Martins and Dennis A. Binette — a comprehensive "bible" about Borden.

"It has the kind of details like, 'and Lizzie Borden wore a blue cord skirt when the murders happened,'" O'Brien explains over the phone from Los Angeles.

For roughly the first half of the movie, Lizzie also wears a pansy pin on her collar (pictured above), which O'Brien notes is visible on a number of images of the accused killer. Behind the scenes, the costume designer and Sevigny brainstormed a possible backstory and decided that the pin must have been a gift from Lizzie's father and the most expensive piece of jewelry she owned.

As a producer, veteran actress and style icon, Sevigny gave regular input regarding her costumes and O'Brien welcomed the collaboration. "It's beautiful to speak with your actors, and be like, 'How do you see it? How do you envision it?'" says the costume designer. "[Sevigny] was a huge part of telling the story."

The lead also had one significant, and daunting, ask: to wear all original vintage. "Like 1890s authentic vintage," specifies O'Brien, "and that's very difficult to maintain — and even to obtain — so we were definitely like little warriors hunting for every kind of piece." Lizzie had many costume changes, including a late 19th-century blue ruffle-front, mutton-sleeve and pleat-detailed dress for when she first meets new maid, dramatized love interest and possible future accomplice Bridget (Kristen Stewart).

"That was falling apart," says O'Brien. "Everyday we would have to French seam it back together because it's hot days in Savannah [where they filmed] and there's wear and tear on everything." In the beginning of the movie, Lizzie attends the theater in an elaborate and pristine vintage olive green evening dress (below), which garners compliments from her stepmother and catty theater-goer.

The look was also intentionally covered-up to communicate Lizzie's reported aloof and guarded nature in an era when women liked to reveal a teensy flash of collar bone or décolletage (ooh, racy). "That was something [people] would say about Lizzie Borden: 'ugh, what's her deal? Why is she so closed up?' We don't know," adds O'Brien, who sourced from "everywhere," including costume rental houses, Ebay, Etsy and private collectors.

One particular private collector proved eager to lend: Sevigny, herself, who had amassed an archive of pieces from the 19th century. O'Brien initially was skeptical, as the decade when the murders occurred was a very specific time in fashion history, when unwieldy and not-so-functional "big bell mutton sleeves" were the thing. "That was a very strange era and it only lasted so long because it was so strangely extravagant," O'Brien says. But she was pleasantly surprised after looking through Sevigny's collection, which included a black polka-dot dress with the most beautiful pleats and lace piping, which Lizzie puts on post-murders to greet the police.

"She had some really beautiful items that actually really fit in the era," O'Brien continues. "I was like, 'Wow, she's really been doing her homework for awhile.'" However, Lizzie's blue corded skirt and printed blouse murder outfit had to be custom-built, due to the need for multiples — because blood.

O'Brien's team also custom-built Bridget's maid uniforms and working-class wardrobe of dark sweaters and practical jackets paired with muted full skirts, which provided a socio-economic contrast via color palette and condition. "When she first comes in, you can see her ankles, and that was a big no-no," she explains. "That shows that Bridget didn't have anything tailored and it was more of a hand-me-down." Eagle-eyed viewers may also notice a rip on her jacket shoulder.

O'Brien even went a bit method with making sure all of Bridget's costumes literally fit into the suitcase she brings to the Borden house. Although she wasn't able to squeeze in one extra maid's costume. "I said, 'OK, maybe she made it or bought it [after she arrived], so I'll let that one one slide,'" O'Brien laughs.

One may also notice — especially in a few key disrobing scenes — the lack of buttons and fuss when it comes to Bridget's clothing as compared to Lizzie's complicated tiny buttons up the back. Back then, women of a certain class needed help from servants to get dressed, thus also allowing for an intimate moment between the two. "Bridget wouldn't have that help," O'Brien explains. "So anything she wore, it had to be something that she did herself."

In the late 1800s, women were still expected to wear corsets, which meant the actual actresses all needed help from the costume department to get dressed. "I would personally deliver Fiona Shaw's corset in the morning because she is a bundle of joy," O'Brien says, about the actress playing Lizzie's stepmother (and the deliciously enigmatic Carolyn Martens on "Killing Eve" — seriously, all your favorite TV people are in this movie, too.) For the sake of authenticity, putting on the period costumes was a whole process: "It goes bloomers, shoes and then the corset because they can't lean over and put their shoes on," O'Brien explains.

Unsurprisingly, Sevigny also fully committed to the presumably tortuous corset situation to help immerse herself into character. "In the morning, she would come up and be like, 'Can I have my corset?'" O'Brien says. "I'm like, 'You don't have a scene for another four hours.'" Also unsurprisingly, Stewart, who's a fan of slouchy denim, casual caps and distressed t-shirts in her off-hours, wasn't as excited to don the restricting foundation garment. O'Brien would sympathetically loosen the actress's corsets when they weren't shooting.

"Sometimes, she would wear her jeans under her dresses," says O'Brien, about Stewart sneaking in her preferred uniform during close-up shots. "I'd pass her and be like, 'What are you doing?! Noooo, this doesn't look authentic.' She's like, 'I know, I'm sorry.'"

O'Brien gave her a pass. "There's even funny on-set pictures that paparazzi caught of her wearing her corset and her hat and then she's got her jeans and her Converse or Vans on the bottom." It was a different type of authenticity than the one O'Brien was focused on, but authenticity nonetheless.


Source

'Personal Shopper' costume designer, Juergen Doering talks about the film and Kristen (Telegraph, Hello, Gay Star News)

Telegraph

Costume designer Juergen Doering was responsible for the wardrobe, and worked with director Olivier Assayas and the cast to piece together his own impression of how it should look. “First I read the script and I asked Olivier to tell me in three adjectives what he thinks about each character,” explains Doering. “Then I looked at the cast - so I led with the character first and the person second. Then I went to the actors and, without telling them what the director had said, I asked ‘How did you get this part and how do you see it?’ Because Olivier likes for people to feel the character and feel the clothes.”

There’s a noticeable difference between Maureen’s day-to-day clothing and the more elevated style of her boss. “We were thinking that Maureen’s American, she’s in Paris, she’s wearing jeans, she’s a little bit rugged - sneakers, vintage, sweaters,” says Doering. “I looked at some vintage Fruit of the Loom sweaters at a shop in Paris, and was looking for things that you could believe a girl like this had picked at the flea market. The flying jacket in brown leather, very manly, for when she’s always on the bike - a young person will try things.”

As the film progresses - spoiler alert - Maureen sneakily borrows and wears some of her client’s designer pieces, including a Vionnet organza gown with a harness, something that was specifically requested by Assayas. “I was looking in all the couture collections for a harness dress,” says Doering. “The director said ‘Maybe it’s a harness over a dress, or maybe it’s part of the dress.’ In the end I saw it at Vionnet and Olivier liked it immediately. We chose black because there is something ambiguous about her personality: she says she hates the job she is doing and the girl she is picking the things for, but when she comes to desire men, she wants to be that woman she hates.”

Maureen also borrows a silver sequinned Chanel dress. As Stewart has fronted several Chanel campaigns, it was no surprise to see the fashion house popping up in her movie - though Doering says there was no contractual obligation involved. “We know the team at Chanel well, but if we didn’t find what we wanted, we had no pressure,” he says. “I asked the girls there, ‘Do you have something with sequins?’ and they said ‘Oh we have this old dress that no one has worn before.’ And I saw it and I thought ‘Oh, this is it.’” It may be the only time you’ll see Stewart in a Chanel dress that doesn’t fit like a glove: “Of course we didn’t fit it onto Kristen, because it is not supposed to be her own dress. She feels uncomfortable in the dress, it’s not hers - but she likes it because it’s not correct for her to wear it.”

Though the contrast between Maureen’s casual wardrobe and this highly polished eveningwear is visually dramatic, it somehow feels like a natural fit for Stewart. The actress is known for her grungy personal style of T-shirts and Converse, but she’s also a muse for Karl Lagerfeld and a fixture on the front row. Working with her was easy, explains Doering: “Kristen knows her stuff. She loved Chanel before she was famous. For her it was easy to jump from the jeans to the dress, no trouble.”

He clearly felt that they had a meeting of minds. “Often actresses they have no taste!” he laughs. “So it’s good to actually have a conversation with someone who knows.”

Hello Magazine

What were the main things you had to consider wardrobe-wise with the film? 

"The story has many levels. You have a mourning part, because Kristen's character recently lost her twin brother and she's looking to connect to his soul after the death – that's one part of the film when there are no clothes. And then there is the part where she works as a stylist for a female celebrity, who is a bit like a Kardashian, but she’s not very nice, and she hates her. At this point she wears a casual, vintage-y wardrobe, but not standout clothes. It's very personal, a little boyish; like Kristen can be - a jean, leather bomber jackets, and nice wool sweaters – it's a French style in a way. And the other element is that she is cruising a guy, and when she has to meet him she wears a crazy, shiny, embroidered Chanel dress."

How did you get into costume design? 

"At the start of my career I was in fashion design andI worked for Karl Lagerfeld, but it was not the famous icon Karl of today, it was the beginning of his time at Chanel. Then I worked in Yves Saint Laurent, which was where I really refined the culture of fashion. I was not making a dress for the sake of it; I was interested in the culture of making a dress. When Mr St Laurent died fashion changed a lot, with modernisation and over-marketing luxury; I didn’t like it. A guy with the pencil from marketing school was telling designers what to produce. So I thought, no, I need something more free and creative, so I moved to cinema. A girlfriend of mine was doing costume design and she said to me, 'Why don’t you come and assist me on a film and see if you like it?' loved it!"

Kristen is an ambassador for Chanel… 

"Yes she is, and we worked with Chanel for Clouds of Sils Maria, the film before Personal Shopper. Chanel always invited Kristen to their fashion shows and dressed her for them, and everybody said, 'Oh that girl is interesting', which she was. And then she made the advertisement for their glasses and makeup. The real Chanel headquarters in Paris appears in the film."

Is Kristen as comfortable in a polo top as she is in a Chanel gown?

"Yes, because the real chic is to be yourself, and not to try to be the dress. The dress has to come to you, not the contrary; and Kristen understands that exactly. When she put the Chanel clothes on for the movie, she didn't change anything about herself or the way she moved - if she is wearing a sweater or very cheap T-shirts she acts the same. She's pretty and young and moves well so everything follows her. She's fabulous."

Is it difficult to make things look authentic in a film? 

"My job is to make clothes look credible, true, but I must not forget that it needs to be cinematographic, because cinema is not real life - it has to be with a special line - if it's realistic, it has to be a little bit above reality. For example, for the main dress I could have chosen a shiny or silver dress, but the Chanel dress has something really chic – although it's not something you would enjoy to wear to a party because you can’t sit in it, it's heavy and you can't move because it's really 'plumpy' but nobody watching the film knows so it gives to the image something more powerful.”

Are there any celebrities you think are really stylish now? 

"That's a difficult question for me because I like people to get dressed the way they really are, and not the way someone [a stylist] dresses them - and today a lot of these stars have no personal look. A really chic person for me is, what's her name…oh…. the British girl with the very blonde hair, like this [he clips his temple with his hand]. She's a blonde, very skinny and from Scotland…I will have to call my sister. [He calls his sister and speaks to her in French]. It's Tilda Swinton! I love her because she has something personal, she follows nothing and is strong and free – raffinée."

Gay Star News

The man responsible for the amazing looks in the film is gay costume designer Jurgen Doering.

‘I’ve worked with Kristen two times,’ says Jurgen, referring to Personal Shopper director Olivier Assayas’s last movie; the amazing Clouds of Sils Maria (a drama with a strong LGBTI subtext, also starring Juliet Binoche). ‘Kristen is very inspiring and easygoing with the clothes, and easy to work with,’ he tells us.

Here, he talks about gay people in the movie industry, Kristen’s dual sense of style, and the one item of clothing that belongs in every wardrobe…

In the film, Maureen dresses casually, but is also fascinated by high fashion – that’s so like Kristen!
You’re right. In real life Kristen is comfortable with all clothes. She’s natural in a couture piece, and also jeans.

How involved was Kristen in choosing the clothes?

She gave me direction on the phone before coming to Paris. She tried things on with a friend of hers and said ‘That’s cool’ and ‘that’s not cool.’

Did she get to keep any of the clothes?

Yes, some pieces. Not all of them. She’s not that kind of actress! During the film she said [puts on sweet voice] ‘Oh, don’t forget to give me that sweater…’

What is she like to work with? Is she nice?

Oh yes. Friendly, nice, normal. I’ve worked with some that weren’t like that. I wont give names. Actors and actresses – it’s a strange job. It [makes] you crazy a little bit! You have to be very strong in your head.

Have you seen the film yourself?

Many times. What’s my understanding of it? Well, it’s normal to feel confused. She’s confused. She loves her twin brother and she’s very insecure during the film, that’s why she’s looking for the ghost, the spirit.

What is your top style secret?

Follow what you feel. Do what you want to do, be free.

What one piece of clothing should everyone have in their closet?

A white t-shirt, in proportion to your body, is very important.

Is your industry very LGBTI-friendly?

Cinema isn’t very gay. It’s very macho.

Oh really?

Yes. That was my first surprise when I moved from fashion to cinema. Fashion, we are in ‘our’ world. When one is hetero you think ‘Oh, what’s happening with them?’ But in cinema, the hairdresser and make up people are gay, but all the other ones are not telling. There’s never cruising on set – nobody comes to you and says ‘Hey, what are you doing tonight?’

Are you proud then to see Kristen talking about her sexuality in interviews?

Yes. She does it in a very natural way, in a way I understand. Take it or leave it, no apologies it’s the way I am. It’s very close to a lot of my nieces and young people [I know]. They say ‘I’m with a boy for the moment, and next week I might be with a girl.’ They don’t think about gay or not gay, it’s what they feel.

That’s reflected in fashion too, and in Kristen’s style perhaps – the gender-fluidity…

Yes, of course. I love that. One day she can be very feminine and play the girl and the day after she’s in that boyish way again. It’s all her.

Did you have any crazy nights out with her in Paris?

No, she’s not so ‘crazy’, she’s not the kind of person who wrecks a room at The Ritz! She just enjoys herself, has drinks with all the crew, listens to loud music in the car when we had to move… She’s just…cute! I would love to work with her again.

Have you seen Kristen’s new haircut by the way?

No. What’s that? How’s she looking?

She’s shaved it all off!

No – completely?

Yes, and she’s bleached the little bit of hair she’s got!

No! Does it look strange?

No, she looks lovely!

I’m going to look at this later. I’m curious!

Costume designer Jürgen Doering talks to Vogue magazine about 'Personal Shopper' and Kristen

Ask anyone who the biggest star at last year's Cannes Film Festival was, and the resounding answer would no doubt be Kristen Stewart. From her opening-night appearance in Woody Allen’s Café Society to her multitude of winning red carpet looks (including a controversial Vans moment), she was everywhere. The biggest news for Stewart, though, was her starring role in Personal Shopper, the psychological thriller written and directed by Olivier Assayas that premiered at Cannes and is now showing in U.S. theaters. As you may have inferred from the title, Stewart plays Maureen, an American in Paris hired to tend to the fashion needs of a famous model (they’re the same size, so she can easily shop for her). But that’s not really why Maureen is there; she’s also a medium and is trying to communicate with her deceased twin brother. Contrasted against her day job of Chanel fittings and trips to Christian Louboutin is a series of supernatural phenomena, confusing “signs” from the ghost of her brother, and a stalker who harasses Maureen via text.

Personal Shopper is Stewart’s second film with Assayas; she was the first American actress to win a Cesar Award for her role in his 2014 film, Clouds of Sils Maria. To say the stakes were high for Personal Shopper is an understatement. Many critics praised the movie and said it was Stewart’s best performance to date; at a Cannes press conference, she also admitted it was one of her toughest roles yet. That was likely the case for Jürgen Doering, the film’s costume designer, who also worked with Stewart on Clouds of Sils Maria. In both films, Stewart assists a high-wattage celebrity, so the wardrobes alternate between casual, everyday clothes and glamorous red carpet fare. In Personal Shopper, Stewart wears an old Fair Isle sweater in one scene and a metallic Chanel gown in another; we spoke to Doering about the challenges of pulling both, and what it’s like to work with one of the industry’s most-sought-after actresses.

“Kristen is amazing,” Doering says right off the bat. “She’s very cool in the clothes. For me, it’s really easy to work with her, now that I know her [from Clouds of Sils Maria], and she trusts me. She’s so chic—you can take her anywhere, and she really wants to understand [the clothes.]” Doering also acknowledged that Stewart has been a face of Chanel for more than two years, so one might expect her to want some control over the clothing choices—but the opposite was true. “She always asks what I think, what I might propose, and then we have a real talk about it,” he says. “She’s not high maintenance at all—she’s very sexy. She has this big contract [with Chanel] and dresses for her job on the red carpet, but in the film, she looks like a student in sweaters and jeans.”

Stewart wears Chanel in the film, too—but it’s not her Chanel. After picking up a silvery sequin-encrusted dress for her boss, she briefly slips into it, as if to temporarily forget her haunted journey and assume a glamorous, unencumbered life. “It’s that game of dreaming of being who you work for,” Doering says. Much of his research focused on those clothes Maureen shopped for, as those scenes were pivotal moments in the film. “Olivier would say, ‘Why Chanel?’ or ‘Why Vionnet?’ because we didn’t want it to feel too obvious.”

When she isn’t playing dress-up, Maureen wears a modest wardrobe of jeans, polos, and leather jackets, which plays a subliminal role in the film’s dark mood. “She doesn’t like her job,” Doering says. (“I spend my days doing bullshit that doesn’t interest me,” Maureen says at one point. “It’s driving me fucking crazy.”) “I took that into account,” he adds. “She’s feeling bad, and she’s missing her brother, so [those clothes] create a big contrast between the designer dresses she tries on.”

Designing costumes that look like someone’s normal, everyday wardrobe may seem easier than working on, say, a period piece or far-flung drama. But it speaks to the impact that clothing has on a film, particularly how “real” a film feels—and that’s likely why Assayas hired Doering. The director is notoriously detail oriented, so every sneaker, coat, and bag probably had to go through a scrupulous approval process. “Everything had to feel credible,” Doering says. Stewart is familiar with offhand, believable style, too; don’t forget, she slashed a Chanel T-shirt for her first appearance at Cannes at Cannes.

Source

Costume designer Alana Morshead talks about 'Equals' and mentions Kristen

“Equals,” out Friday, is a science-fiction drama from “Like Crazy” director Drake Doremus, starring Kristen Stewart and Nicholas Hoult in a dystopian society stripped of emotions. Needless to say, dressing the cast was a tall order for costume designer Alan Morshead. She decided to convey such a mood by crafting minimalist, androgynous looks for Stewart, Hoult and the rest of the cast.

The London-born, L.A.-based designer graduated from L.A. Film School in 2007 and landed in costume design as a hybrid of her passions for film and fashion. After “Equals,” her work will be seen in next year’s “The Hero,” starring Krysten Ritter, Laura Prepon, Sam Elliott and Nick Offerman. Here, she chats with WWD about dressing a world devoid of emotions.

WWD: How did you get involved in “Equals?”

Alana Morshead: I first heard about “Equals” in 2012 — I think in the first draft I read, the women wore long dresses. It was very vague. [But] it’s androgynous, there are no feelings, it’s completely “equal.” Then there was coming up with something that both a man and a woman looked good in and felt good in and was functional. So we went for a very minimal look, kind of like how they live their lives as equals. Their homes are minimal, it’s all about necessity and functionality. [The costumes] were also inspired by the production design because the architecture in Japan, where we shot the film, was so beautiful even though the buildings look concrete and cold far away; when you get up close you see all these tiny details. With the costumes, from afar it looks like a sea of white, and then you get up close and you see this beautiful stitching.

WWD: Were there many variations of what this androgynous look would be?

A.M.: The great thing about sci-fi and working within a completely different world is that you can go anywhere with it. You can create anything you want. But I was always sold on the all-white idea. I just wanted to strip everything away and make it basic; I didn’t want any buttons or zippers, nothing. Everything’s covered; you just have the cleanest, flattest look you can get. It took persuading but Drake [Doremus, the film’s director] was on the same team as me and so we convinced everyone it was the right look. And once everyone saw it on the screen, they were like, “OK, that looks right.”

WWD: Do you have much experience with this genre?

A.M.: No! I have never done anything sci-fi. I have only done a couple of films, but this is how I like to dress, too — I’m into the more simple, minimal. So I took all the futuristic-ness out of it. With the world that they created, there’s not people on their phone or having all these gadgets, everything’s so simple. So I just took all of the technology out of the clothing and made it functional. All of these pieces, either together or separate could be worn today — it doesn’t date.

WWD: A lot of people tend to go into metallics and heavy embellishments when they think of futurism, like what we saw at the Met Ball this year. 

A.M.: Yeah, it can go very robotic when you think of sci-fi, like jumpsuits and gadgets and leather and spandex. And I was like, “What if we actually had a world with no emotions today?” I just took it back and went the other way instead of what you think of when you think sci-fi and futuristic fashion.

WWD: What was it like to work with Kristen Stewart?

A.M.: She’s a dream. She really trusts you, once you explain a look — she’s just like, “Got it, cool.” No question. She pulled off the looks so well. Like Nick [Hoult] wears the exact same look as her and she can really pull off the androgynous look just as well. Once she put it on I was like, “‘Ugh! You could wear this out, like put some heels on and go to the premiere like this.”

WWD: What is your background? How did you get into costume design?

A.M.: I went to film school at the L.A. Film School — I knew I wanted to work in film, but I didn’t really grow up thinking I wanted to be a fashion designer. I didn’t really know anything about costume design, I just knew I loved clothes and always loved fashion, but I didn’t want to be specifically a designer — I wanted to be in film. And finally when I was in school I was like I think I can do both!

WWD: In addition to the buildings and architecture in Japan, were there other sources of inspiration?

A.M.:  “Gattaca” was definitely something Drake and I discussed because that is another sci-fi film that isn’t necessarily…it is sci-fi but it doesn’t have that futuristic sense. And then designers I looked to were Chloé, Alexander Wang and some others. Minimalism is such a thing in fashion now, too, so it felt very current. And very easy. And just like street style in Japan, too. You can wear anything in Japan.

Source

'Personal Shopper' costume designer, Jürgen Doering, talks about Kristen

Personal Shopper is Stewart’s second film with Assayas; she was the first American actress to win a Cesar Award for her role in his 2014 film, Clouds of Sils Maria. To say the stakes were high for Personal Shopper is an understatement. Many critics praised the movie and said it was Stewart’s best performance to date; at a Cannes press conference, she also admitted it was one of her toughest roles yet.

That was likely the case for Jürgen Doering, the film’s costume designer, who also worked with Stewart on Clouds of Sils Maria. In both films, Stewart assists a high-wattage celebrity, so the wardrobes alternate between casual, everyday clothes and glamorous red carpet fare.

In Personal Shopper, Stewart wears an old Fair Isle sweater in one scene and a metallic Chanel gown in another; we spoke to Doering about the challenges of pulling both, and what it’s like to work with one of the industry’s most-sought-after actresses. “Kristen is amazing,” Doering says right off the bat.

“She’s very cool in the clothes. For me, it’s really easy to work with her, now that I know her [from Clouds of Sils Maria], and she trusts me. She’s so chic—you can take her anywhere, and she really wants to understand [the clothes.]” Doering also acknowledged that Stewart has been a face of Chanel for more than two years, so one might expect her to want some control over the clothing choices—but the opposite was true.

“She always asks what I think, what I might propose, and then we have a real talk about it,” he says. “She’s not high maintenance at all—she’s very sexy. She has this big contract [with Chanel] and dresses for her job on the red carpet, but in the film, she looks like a student in sweaters and jeans.”

Stewart wears Chanel in the film, too—but it’s not her Chanel. After picking up a silvery sequin-encrusted dress for her boss, she briefly slips into it, as if to temporarily forget her haunted journey and assume a glamorous, unencumbered life. “It’s that game of dreaming of being who you work for,” Doering says.

Much of his research focused on those clothes Maureen shopped for, as those scenes were pivotal moments in the film. “Olivier would say, ‘Why Chanel?’ or ‘Why Vionnet?’ because we didn’t want it to feel too obvious.” When she isn’t playing dress-up, Maureen wears a modest wardrobe of jeans, polos, and leather jackets, which plays a subliminal role in the film’s dark mood. “She doesn’t like her job,” Doering says. (“I spend my days doing bullshit that doesn’t interest me,” Maureen says at one point. “It’s driving me fucking crazy.”) “I took that into account,” he adds. “She’s feeling bad, and she’s missing her brother, so [those clothes] create a big contrast between the designer dresses she tries on.” Designing costumes that look like someone’s normal, everyday wardrobe may seem easier than working on, say, a period piece or far-flung drama.

But it speaks to the impact that clothing has on a film, particularly how “real” a film feels—and that’s likely why Assayas hired Doering. The director is notoriously detail oriented, so every sneaker, coat, and bag probably had to go through a scrupulous approval process. “Everything had to feel credible,” Doering says. Stewart is familiar with offhand, believable style, too; don’t forget, she slashed a Chanel T-shirt for her first appearance at Cannes this year.

Source

'Snow White & The Huntsman’ costume designer Colleen Atwood talks about dressing Kristen & Charlize

"Snow White was more interesting to us as a bit of a rebel. We had a costume that went through a lot of changes without actually being changed. As she journeyed through the woods, it evolved into a shorter dress over leather leggings. We used colors that enhanced Kristen [Stewart]'s natural beauty and felt organic in the woods. She did most action sequences herself, so it was important that the costume could be moved in!"

"Ravenna was the embodiment of decay. We wanted to convey her power and, at the same time, her weakness. Her costumes were almost insect-like in the way they became harder on the outside as she journeyed through the story. Her feather cape was a bit of a literal translation, because she turns into a blackbird. We used rooster feathers because…we really liked the fact that they are more than black. They're blue—and green, too. Those were all hand-trimmed and hand-mounted on a really lightweight silk background by a milliner that I know in London. It really helped that Charlize [Theron] was so game to wear all these crazy costumes and inhabit them in a totally believable way."

Source via kstewartnews thank you.

Colleen Atwood mentions Kristen with THR

THR: Kristen Stewart's clothes are made of fabric in earthy tones. Snow White goes from boyish warrior to queen. But are her costumes meant to be more peasant like?

Atwood: Snow White's costume is the everyday style of the people in the kingdom, or those who are left. She needed to go through a lot in the costume, so we used colors and material that were flattering and practical. Kristen did a lot of action work herself, so the costume had to function on many levels.


Read the full Q&A at THR

Danny Glicker, costumer designer for 'On the Road', mentions Kristen

Danny Glicker says each woman “had a very specific piece of the puzzle. Kristen and I worked super closely together — she was so committed to the role,” he shares. “And to see her intelligence and awareness of how clothing can inform every aspect of her understanding of a character … that was pure pleasure.”

Read the full article at the source.

Via @KstewAngel thank you.

SWATH costume designer, Colleen Atwood, mentions Kristen

Question: How closely did you collaborate with Charlize and Kristen on their costumes?

Atwood: Initially, the first meeting I have with them, we talk about the character and I show them my ideas and listen to theirs. They were both very open to letting me do my thing. And then, as long as they could work in it, they were pretty amenable and excited by what they saw. Charlize has certainly been a model, but she’s also a great character actress on the inside, so her priorities were really character over beauty, and Kristen’s [were] as well. Kristen is a beautiful young woman, but she isn’t vane in the way that she’s looking at the mirror going “Oh, do I look fat in this?” With neither one of them, that was not where they were going with it. They were very into their character.

Question: How do you make an action hero costume for a woman? What kind of material do you use?

Colleen Atwood: It depends on the woman and what you’re doing, I’d say. For this particular movie, Snow White is hardly an action hero but she does a lot of action in a feminine costume. We started with her dress. At the beginning of the story, it’s a long dress over leggings with the two layers and the same kind of boots. The idea is that it was the look that I created for the servants in Ravenna’s castle where she’s imprisoned. So, she’s been given clothes to match the housemaids’ poorer clothes. Hers has a little bit of a royal touch because I put the gold on it just because I liked it. When she leaves the castle, she leaves through a duct. She goes down through water so the costume is totally wet. She comes out of it in the ocean. So, you have this costume but with a long dress and a long leather cloak over it coming out of the water. It dries off and then the Huntsman finds her. At that point in the story, after they start running through the forest, he realizes this thing is crazy, so he takes his knife and cuts the bottom and we lose that. You end up with a shorter tunic, the leggings and the boots. I knew that was going to happen in the story, so that was the way I backed into it. I put flat boots. I put legging so when she fell and stuff I didn’t have to worry about underwear showing. I made the costume out of materials that blended with the environment and that would hold up under the situations that I had to put the costume through. I made about 20 of those. When you’re doing that, you source the materials that you can find and that you can duplicate times twenty. Within the dress and within the underdress and within the pants, there’s all kinds of stretch panels that are hidden in seams so it’s totally flexible. You’re able to lift your arms over your head. You’re able to shoot a bow and arrow. You’re able to move in the costume which is very important for the actors. Kristen, who’s young and very fit, does most of the action herself, so it was very key that that costume physically worked for her to do the work in. I didn’t put high heels on her because it made no sense and it was appropriate to do the boots. That’s how that happened. I’d say the approach is, you take a concept and try not to compromise the design by making it work physically.

Question: How much did you look to the actresses and how they look for inspiration in designing the costumes?
Atwood: I knew who was going to wear the costume, so you think about them as personas and what they want to do with their characters. I picked things that I thought would suit their character and their look. I picked brown and green suede because Kristen has green eyes and those two colors suited her complexion and hair color and eye color. With Charlize, the character dictated it more than her look. I mean, her look today is so amazing and stunning and that wasn’t what we were doing with it, so not so much.

Source via @KstewAngel thank you. :)

Video: New SWATH BTS 'Costumes: An Exclusive Look'

Get More: Music News

One of Stewart's most intricate costumes is her armor, which Atwood said they wanted to tell a story on its own. "There are a lot of messages in her armor. The concept is [Snow White] comes to a place in the story and decides to go to battle and lead her future people," Atwood said. "She doesn't have time to have armor made, so we took elements of different armor to compile a look and so [Stewart] could also do action in it."

Source via kstewartnews thank you!