SB: Well, I wanted it to be historically accurate—like, I’m not going to make a dress out of neoprene—but my take on historical accuracy is that if it existed at the time and within a certain silhouette, you have some room to play. Someone could have designed it that way, so I try to put myself in the mind of someone who is a designer at that time point. But there are some liberties taken.
Glamour: What about the choice of color in the film? In their day looks, the women wear white and pale colors. That's obviously in keeping with the overall tonal feel, and I assume historically women wore lighter colors and fabrics in the summer. But is there any symbolism behind that too? Any virginal symbolism, for instance?
SB: No, we didn’t think about it that way. We chose those colors because we wanted there to be continuity between the sets, lighting, and have it look like fairies walking through the clouds.
Glamour: That’s a great description: fairies walking through the clouds. Their day looks serve quite a contrast from the evening dinner party dresses. Tell me about the inspiration behind those outfits.
SB: During the day, we felt like they stopped wearing hoops because they had to work; they were working in the garden and doing laundry. They didn’t have slaves anymore, so they were doing everything themselves to run the household. That’s not how it used to be, so they’ve kind of dressed down, I guess, during the day. They wouldn’t have normally gotten dressed for dinner during the night time; they would have put on something else, but they’ve stopped bothering because, what’s the point? They’re just there for each other. But then [Colin Farrell] came, so when they got all dressed up for dinner. They went all out.
Glamour: So what makes costumes for a period film especially fun or challenging?
SB: I think the challenging part is the fun part; it's fun to try and create something new from something that's so well documented. I don’t want to just re-create something that comes out of a book. I want to put my own take on it. The challenging part is getting the silhouette; it’s all about the foundation. You think about what makes those dresses look like they’re from the Civil War and [not from] today. They both have high necks, and they’re both made out of black-and-white polka-dot fabric, but corsets change the way someone stands. They also move things around within your body. Like in the fifties, when women wore cone bras—that stuff that goes on underneath really changes what something looks like on the outside. Someone can wear a 1950s dress today and not look like they’re in the 1950s.
Glamour: For films where women are in these restrictive clothing—like corsets and hoop dresses—how do you make it still appealing for a modern audience?
SB: I think it’s so subtle, but also very specific to who is wearing it. It’s just taking it up a tiny bit or taking it in a tiny bit. It’s a lot in the fit, but then there are also certain details you do use that make it more appealing. Like, I wanted Kirsten’s dress at the end to be like something someone would want to wear today; its not quite as embellished as a Civil War dress is. Nicole’s dresses were more black-and-white and not super colorful, and I feel like that’s somehow modern.
