Poor Things’s Costume Designer on Creating a Sexually Liberated Fashion Fantasia
In Poor Things, Yorgos Lanthimos’s surreal new sci-fi period piece, the costumes that Emma Stone dons to play Bella Baxter, a Victorian woman whose brain has been replaced with that of an infant, are as eccentric and exhilarating as the film itself—jaw-dropping creations that immediately transport you to the eye-popping parallel universe in which this tale is set.
In the wake of her transplant, a wacky experiment dreamed up by her guardian, Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe), she’s effectively a toddler, learning to walk and talk in a series of elaborately ruffled, puff-sleeved babydoll dresses, Victorian bloomers, and nightgowns. But then she discovers sex, and this changes everything—the hazy black-and-white cinematography gives way to lush color and, as Bella joins her new lover, the caddish Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo), on a whirlwind trip to Lisbon, Alexandria, and Paris, she finally gains the freedom to experiment with her wardrobe, pairing diaphanous skirts with cropped silk jackets and bright yellow raincoats with flesh-colored blouses. From then on, as she evolves—from dabbling in philosophy and taking a job, out of curiosity, at a Parisian brothel, to developing an interest in socialism and, eventually, aspiring to become a doctor—so do her outlandish ensembles.
“I knew that Yorgos didn’t want this to look like a sci-fi or period film,” Holly Waddington, the wildly talented costume designer behind the looks, says. The costumer is no stranger to period dramas with a modern bent, having outfitted Florence Pugh for the steely thriller Lady Macbeth and Elle Fanning for the raucous romp The Great, but for this, she says, “anything like lace, beading, or embroidery felt absolutely wrong.” Instead, she took inspiration from Victorian patterns with exaggerated silhouettes and breathed new life into them through the use of modern fabrics like plastic and latex. The effect is wondrous and discombobulating, both accentuating Bella’s otherworldliness and confirming her to be a heroine far ahead of her time.
Below, Waddington talks us through all of Bella’s key looks and phases, from the sculptural bustle cage inspired by a Moncler puffer, to the mac designed to resemble “a period condom.”
Photo: Yorgos Lanthimos. Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures1/5There are nods to baby clothes—and female genitalia
When we first meet her, Bella is at the earliest stages of her development—an infant, who is also being infantilized by her housemaid and guardian, in the way that they dress her. “We committed to the idea that you’ll never see her properly dressed,” says Waddington. “Like all children—I have two little children—when you dress them, very quickly they become undressed. So in everything you see, there’s something missing. She’s more dressed up top—she’ll have a voluminous blouse on but with a pair of knickers and bare feet. I wanted really childlike fabrics: quilting, ruffles, seersucker, things that felt a bit nappy-ish. There are also lots of references to female genitalia—there’s a blouse we called the vagina blouse, then the clitoris blouse. They all have these orifices—a slash down the middle and then lots of pleats.”
Photo: Yorgos Lanthimos2/5Victorian staples are playfully reimagined
“My favourite piece of costume in the whole film is this weird bustle cage,” Waddington adds. “It’s like a piece of art—it looks like a mermaid’s tail. It’s an underpinning, so something you don’t normally see, and they’re really intriguing, weird objects. It was made of paper silk, and it was really hard to construct. It was also partly inspired by a Moncler puffer jacket—basically, I saw this reference in a historical costume book and I thought, That looks like Moncler. Funnily enough, it’s really true to the period, too. There’s a modernity to the costumes in this film, but everything comes from a historical source—all her bodices, for instance, are based on Victorian patterns. I just haven’t been slavish in the use of materials or the way things are worn.”
Photo: Atsushi Nishijima3/5There’s a delightful mishmash of styles and periods
When Bella heads off on her Grand Tour and begins dressing herself for the first time in her short life, her wardrobe becomes even wilder. “There are other pieces that go with this jacket—like a Victorian partlet or modesty piece, the thing that fills in the naked chest,” says Waddington of Bella’s wonderfully haphazard Lisbon look. “But, when I was looking at pieces from the period, I thought, They’re almost like little crop tops. What would they be like on their own? In this scene, the idea was that Bella’s gone back to the hotel with Duncan, they’ve been in bed together, and, when she comes out, she just doesn’t bother to put her skirt on. Her housemaid, Mrs. Prim, isn’t there to tell her to, so it doesn’t occur to her. So, she’s just wearing this ’30s-style underwear—we tried it with Victorian bloomers, but they looked too period-y—and these funny boots, which were inspired by ’60s Courrèges.”
Photo: Yorgos Lanthimos4/5The “condom coat” spells the beginning of her brothel era
“For the brothel scenes in Paris, I really wanted to work with a palette that felt not at all brothel-y,” the costume designer continues. “I wanted to avoid black and red, and I didn’t want any black underwear—I wanted skin-tone colors, and we made a lot of these big jackets out of wool with latex poured over it. None of the women wore corsets, either—they’re such a symbol of bondage, so that felt wrong for this film. Bella also has this cape—a little pac-a-mac that she brings with her for emergencies. When she first gets to Paris and she and Duncan are broke, she puts on this latex, cheese-slice-colored thing. It’s hilarious because it’s freezing and she’s wearing that, but also because she wears it for her first sexual encounter in the brothel and she is, essentially, wearing a giant condom. I basically wanted it to evoke the color of a period condom. It sounds so revolting, but that’s what I was thinking.”
Photo: Yorgos Lanthimos5/5Her dark academia look hints at her next phase
During her time at the brothel, Bella continues her study of philosophy and begins attending socialist meetings in a dark coat and boots—a stark departure from the exuberance of her previous looks, but with her signature whimsy and irreverence intact. “By this point, Bella realizes she’s going to be a doctor, so she gets herself a proper suit,” explains Waddington. “She and her friend, Toinette, have these big jackets that were very popular in France during that time. This piece is based on an original jacket—it’s actually a carbon copy, but with less trimming. But Bella hasn’t put the skirt with it, because she still hasn’t learned to do these things, so she just has bare legs and these Victorian boots. I think we see her in this look sitting down first, so you think, Oh, she blends in now with all of these men in suits. Then she gets up and you see her legs, and think, No, she’s still Bella…”
