I went to see Nosferatu over the Holiday break and while it is not your typical Christmas film, the costumes did not disappoint! The film is set in the 1830s and while we don’t rent clothing as far back as that at the studio, we wanted to get a head start on discussing the best costumes of the year as awards season ramps up again. How has it been a year already? 😱
We anticipate that Nosferatu will usher in a new age of Gothic decadence in mainstream fashion this year. Nosferatu-Core incoming? Spoilers ahead!
You may be familiar with Torontonian Linda Muir’s costume work through director Robert Eggers’ previous features including The Witch and The Lighthouse. She also designed season 11 of Murdoch Mysteries.
Linda told the Focus Features Dressed series on YouTube that Lily Rose Depp’s costumes were supposed to be ethereal to highlight her connection with the Otherworld. She wears a number of simple white nightgowns throughout, which showcases her vulnerability while not exposing too much.
She used a self-tying fan corset as her character did not have a maid to help her dress. The corset plays into the script as the doctor prescribes that she sleep with a tightly laced corset.
She also wears a lilac coloured dress featuring handmade flowers to echo the theme of lilac flowers within the story.
The striking black mourning bonnet she wears was made with a stiff fabric produced to replicate mourning crepe of the period, akin to Fortuny style pleating.
Nicolas Hoult (Thomas) wears a Carrick coat in the film, which is an overcoat for travelling featuring multiple layers of cape collar.
When he escapes Orlock's castle half-clothed, he borrows clothing from a stable hand which included a vintage Transylvanian church coat for Saxon people that the costume team purchased and embroidered.
Thomas’s travelling outfit was based on information gleaned from an 1838 manual Muir found, one that was written by a woman.
Emma Corrin’s Anna is an upper class lady luxuriously dressed in fine fabrics with feminine details, taking pride of place as her wealthy husband’s most precious jewel. This is in contrast to Depp’s costumes which are much simpler in cut and fabric.
Count Orlok wears the fashions of late 16th century Transylvanian nobility. Muir looked to “paintings of the Esterházy family from around that time…. clothes with a lot of gold, fur, and heft”.
She spoke with Harper’s Bazaar about her process: "I start with my sketches and sourcing textiles and thinking about things like, is he going to be seen in firelight or camera light or moonlight? So let’s select textiles that have gold or silver threads in them to reflect the light back. Then we start to do our toiles and fittings with the actors. That’s when we see that this coat needs to be bulkier, that coat needs to be fur lined to give it the right weight, how long sleeves should be, so forth."
The jewellery and accessory pieces are sure be turning up in Google searches: white lace fingerless gloves, heart shaped lockets, pearl drop earrings, engraved pocket watches, chunky crosses and signet rings!
Muir also noted that period appropriate textiles were a challenge:
“If you look at the actual patterns from textile books or swatch books with fabric swatches from the period, this was a wild period for patterns. You can have a face of a fabric with stripes, paisley, and ombré all in the same textile, and that is interesting but highly distracting. So it’s about trying to figure out how you evoke the period with appropriate textiles that don’t overpower with either print or pattern or colour but also differentiate each character from the others."
Oscar nominations are announced this Wednesday, January 23rd and we have no doubt that Linda's name will never on the list.
Please visit Linda's Instagram for more photos and information on her process @lindamuircostumedesign