A great Hollywood film becomes iconic when it has the right costumes to go with it. Just consider Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous, which celebrated its 25th anniversary this weekend. Set in 1973, the story follows a 15-year-old music lover named William who follows a rock band, Stillwater, around for a Rolling Stone assignment. (Glam.) Along the way, he meets Penny Lane (Kate Hudson), the leader of a group of girls who trail various rock stars all over the country.
More than two decades later, Penny Lane’s groovy wardrobe, brought to life by costume designer Betsy Heimann (also known for her work on Pulp Fiction), remains a highlight—especially the long shearling-trimmed coat that she wears. The piece has inspired designers and street style stars like Bella Hadid for years. “It’s so thrilling that people still love this movie and want to see this movie,” says Heimann. “Who knew it was going to be so iconic?”
To mark Almost Famous’s special milestone this week, we couldn’t resist getting the coat’s full backstory from Heimann herself. Like any good costume designer, Heimann recalls the early conversations she had with Crowe about Penny Lane’s wardrobe, and the way it should reflect the film’s storytelling. “The coat was a big deal. I talked to Cameron a lot about it,” says Heimann. “He always said to me, ‘When the coat goes on, she’s got to come alive.’”
In the film, Penny slips it on in her very first scene. Not only does it instantly evoke her free-spirited nature, but it also serves as a kind of protection. “I knew the coat had to be two things,” says Heimann. “One, it was a coat of armor—that one piece of clothing that she could always put on, with a black dress or a T-shirt. But it was also a way of her becoming Penny Lane. When she puts it on and says, ‘I’m a Band-Aid,’ she’s saying, ‘I’m Penny Lane—everybody wants to be me.’”
A lot of research, trial, and error went into getting the coat exactly right. At first, Heimann remembers trying to knit it herself, but the result wasn’t sturdy enough. “Then I thought about the Afghan coat, which was the biggest coat of that era,” says Heimann. “But Afghan coats were too heavy; they were made of sheepskin.” When the costumer then looked to the script and the character for more direction, a lightbulb went off. “To me, she was this butterfly emerging from the cocoon, so I thought about 1920s opera coats, which were like a cocoon,” Heimann says.
With a clear shape and silhouette in mind, Heimann got to work on constructing the piece. She designed it using upholstery fabric from Michael Levine in downtown LA, trimming it with shaggy material from an Urban Outfitters rug. “Penny is being flirty in the scene, so I wanted a ruffle at the bottom—so that when she walks, there was movement,” she explains. From the very first moment Hudson tried it on, Heimann knew that she’d gotten it right: “She could really carry it—and she was so cute, with that little smile.”
Even in 2025, the coat endures, popping up on designer mood boards practically every season. Heimann finds the ongoing celebration of her work exciting, if a bit shocking. “It means that I created something that lasted,” she says. “I try my best to be authentic. I treat it all like it’s real—I never think about it as a costume.”
As for where the coat is today? “There were three of them. Cameron has one. One went to a museum in Japan and never came back. And I don’t know where the [third] one is,” Heimann says. “It might still be in the Dreamworks archives.” Someone better find it ASAP—that’s a priceless piece of Hollywood fashion history right there.
