EMMA STONE'S ACE UP HER SLEEVE

The costumes of Poor Things!

MARCH 2024 - TOUCH

“I always had parts of the human body in mind, or at least something organic, even in the choice of fabrics. I was looking for something light, airy, that at the same time looked like the membrane of an intestine or the surface of a sea urchin.”

Holly Waddington

It’s official. He is consecrated by the gold-plated statuette of the Oscars. The costumes designed by Holly Waddington for the female character of Bella Baxter won the hearts of the jury and certainly ours.

Director Yorgos Lanthimos has chosen Emma Stone, proclaimed Best Actress at the Oscars, to star in the coming-of-age novel by Scottish writer Alasdair Gray entitled Poor Creatures!, and today re-published as Poor Creatures!, in homage to the film.

Emma Stone wins Academy Award for Best Actress, Holly Waddington for Best Costume Design Emma Stone wins Academy Award for Best Actress, Holly Waddington for Best Costume Design

A crazy and visionary film, which has caused discussion on several fronts, from the world of fashion to science and feminist politics. It is not only the costumes that captivate the audience, but a whole neo-Victorian, gothic and at the same time contemporary aesthetic imagery, made up of dreamy landscapes, ranging from the British countryside to Lisbon, where the abundance and exquisite sweetness of the pasteis de nata give way to the icy and melancholic spleen et idéal of the snow of Montmartre.

The psychological evolution of Bella Baxter’s character goes hand in hand with the transformation of her clothing. A clever trick, implemented by the English Holly Waddington, which inevitably leads the observer to notice the numerous changes of look in the unfolding of the plot.

In fact, if initially the childish state of the protagonist is told by dressing gowns and baby dolls in light and sheer fabrics, in a childish and innocent see-through typical of many dresses of the Victorian and late romantic era à la Jane Austen, the progress of the narrative, and the metamorphosis of the protagonist, are also emphasized by the evolution of her clothing which gradually becomes more conscious and sensual.

Moreover, if the film is in black and white for most of the beginning, when Bella begins to become aware of herself and her most intimate desires, the film is also colored and the palette is tinged with yellows, blues and pinks, as if the protagonist’s gaze were a rainbow of emotions finally exploded and fulfilled.

In the same way, the dresses are radiant, sensual, strong in a construction that uses giant sleeves, ruffles that seem to come alive, theatrical and excessive lines, surrealist, a bit of Schiaparelli here, and Courrèges there. The clothes feel like they breathe.

In the interview with Elle on 23/01/2024, the costume designer said: “I always had parts of the human body in mind, or at least something organic, even in the choice of fabrics. I was looking for something light, airy, that at the same time looked like the membrane of an intestine or the surface of a sea urchin.”

A research that also recalls the statement made by the Mulleavy sisters, for their latest Rodarte collection: “It’s like a butterfly about to come out of its chrysalis”. A phrase that seems to evoke the personality of Bella Baxter.

Speaking strictly of fashion, the fashion weeks of February 2024 confirmed the inspirations of Lanthimos and Waddington. Between dream and reality, ideas are in the air.

Although the imagery of the film, in fact, is not a recent invention (filming began in August 2021) we can still grasp nuances and similarities of costume, in the color palette and in the ethereal and evanescent fabrics, both in Chanel’s SS24 Haute Couture collection and Saint Laurent’s Fall/Winter 2024-2025.

Here Anthony Vaccarello paraded a free woman, the “scandal” woman, which recalls the stylistic features of the Spring-Summer 1971 Haute Couture, which went down in history as one of the most daring and scandalous fashion shows ever made by Yves, not surprisingly entitled “Libération“. I don’t see, nudity, sensuality, women who want to free themselves, and therefore stories of emancipation, such as those of Bella Baxter and Felicity, Lanthimos’ other “poor creature” played by actress Margaret Qualley, who – the game of references continues – walked the runway for Chanel.

by Alessandra Busacca

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EMMA STONE’S ACE UP HER SLEEVE