I meant to send this out a lot sooner, but alas, life! Anyway, I liked Poor Things, but I also think that’s because I went into it not expecting a groundbreaking feminist film. I’m typically a fan of a Yorgos Lanthimos’ work, and I feel like if you like Wes Anderson, you should also like Yorgos… is that crazy to say?
Regardless of my opinions on the film, I thought the costumes were a fantastic time. For the sake of this analysis, we’re just going to be focused on Bella, played by Emma Stone, because there’s so much to discuss when it comes to her alone. As usual, if you don’t even want a whisper of a spoiler, please come back later so you don’t get mad at me.
Anyway, let’s get into it.
Poor Things is essentially a dark comedy that follows the life of Bella Baxter, who is an experiment of Dr. Godwin Baxter’s. While Bella is an adult, she has the brain of a baby, and so we follow her as she is discovering life for the first time. I’m not even a fan of Taylor Swift like that, but all I could think about was that line she sings about being a sexy baby.
As Bella’s mental age grows and develops, we see her clothing change, helping tell the story and helping to show her progression.
The costumes were designed by Holly Waddington, who also did the costumes for The Great, which is one of my favorite pieces of media in terms of costume design. Yorgos Lanthimos, only had one note for Waddington, and that was to make sure it didn’t feel like a period piece. Although the script is set in the 1880s, the film also has a futuristic, steam punk feel, that allows the costumes to have some wiggle room in not being too period accurate. Waddington mentioned that Bella having long black hair inspired a lot of the color palette for her clothing. She also had to think about the ways in which clothing would come off, since Bella has a lot of sex in the film. Like, a lot.
Heavily inspired by the Victorian era, the leg of mutton sleeve, also known as a gigot sleeve, is a staple of Bella’s wardrobe. This style was seen as early as the 1830s, but became very popular in the 1890s. Waddington took a lot of Victorian silhouettes, but used modern fabrics, like plastic and latex, and was also inspired by shells, sea creatures, intestinal lining, and cellulite— she wanted the wardrobe to feel very human and natural, literally. To make it feel less of the times, she excluded things like lace, beading, and feathers, which where very popular during the time period.
At the start of the film, we see Mrs. Prim picking Bella’s clothing, but since Bella is a full gown woman physically, she’s not dressed in children’s clothing. She is a woman, so the clothing is womanly as well, however it’s chaotic int he same way that a child’s is. She starts off fully clothed int he morning, but as the day goes on, pieces come off, and she is often left with no pants. We see Bella wear seersucker bloomers, with a larger, more structured, moiré silk taffeta top; the lines in the taffeta were meant to look like the organic marks seen in flesh. She also sports a crinolette/ bustle a la the 1870s, made a little more futuristic and modern by pulling inspiration from Moncler puffers. Everything Bella wears is very puffy and frilly, which is something we often see in children’s clothing, but also makes it feel like she’s wearing protective bumpers.
When Bella decides to run off to Lisbon with Duncan, we see her wardrobe change into something that feels a little more free. She wears a lot of yellows and blues, that feel like a fairytale, and are filled with hope and optimism. She’s still not a fan of pants, but instead of the bloomers, that almost felt like a diaper, she now sports 1930s tap shorts; they’re silk, more fluid, more sexy. With her typical, leg of mutton jackets, she wears a ruffled top, used in Victorian dress to fill in the décolletage, but in this context also feels like a bib. She’s basically wearing undergarments as actual clothing, and feels like a child playing dress up in their mother’s clothing. Bella is almost always wearing a white opened toe bootie, that does feel a little Victorian, but more than anything, it’s a nod to André Courrèges and 1960s futurism. The Victorians would never have their toes out like her, but it’s meant to show how uncontainable she is.
Then we enter Bella’s brothel era, when she makes her way to Paris. We see her in a latex cape that Waddington referred to as the “condom” coat, and it’s also what she’s wearing when she receives her first customer as a sex worker. The women of the brothel wear a lot of skin toned colors, and we don’t really see the normal colors associated with sex work, like black and red. Breasts are very celebrated, with many women wearing sheer peignoirs. There’s no corsets used, because Waddington said they are “such a symbol of bondage” and didn’t feel right for the film. Y’all know I’m not here for corset slander, and I don’t think Waddington is either, so I’m going to assume she was coming from the perspective of corsets giving the body a very specific shape, which might have made it feel too much like a period piece. We do however see Bella wearing a pregnancy corset at the beginning of the film, when Dr. Godwin has her on the operating table. Actually, the only time we ever see Bella wearing more traditional Victorian dress is when she’s back living her old life with her old husband. This is a great way of showing how she was living this perfect, expected life, and her clothes made her look a lot more palatable. Whereas now, she looks a lot more other worldly, and is doing things on her own terms.
During her time in Paris, Bella also starts studying philosophy and attends socialist meetings in a dark coat and boots. The jacket she wears is an almost exact replica of jackets from this time, but since it’s Bella, she isn’t wearing the matching skirt. When you see her in class, sitting down, she blends in with all the men, but when she stands up and her legs are bare, you can see that she is still very much herself. Waddington said that her clothing here was also inspired by the Beatniks of the 1950s. As Bella realizes that she wants to be a doctor and is serious about her studies, her clothing becomes a lot less frivolous, and is just clothing, nothing more. She doesn’t need the distractions from different textures and colors, because she’s focused on what she wants to accomplish.
Finally, we see Bella in her wedding dress. The sleeves are larger than ever and the crinoline throughout the dress makes it look like a cage. However, made from millinery netting, organza, cotton, and tulle, it’s completely sheer, so you can still see through it, and still see Bella.
Overall, I find that the costumes in this movie do a wonderful job of showing Bella change and grow, however they also show how our choices and taste are influenced by our environment and lived experiences. How we use clothing to express ourselves, but to also conform to certain situations we find ourselves in.
How did you like Poor Things? Personally, I will be rewatching, multiple times.
TTYL!!!
xx