After reading the script for Emerald Fennell’s revenge thriller “Promising Young Woman,” costume designer Nancy Steiner pictured a leading lady who was “disheveled” or, in gentler terms, “less-than put together.”
After all, Cassie — the film’s main character portrayed by Carey Mulligan — is depressed. The 30-year-old medical school dropout never recovered from a mysterious traumatic event, one that’s inspired her to fill her nights exacting revenge on toxic men. Yet in her daily life, Cassie is outfitted head-to-toe in bubblegum pinks and florals, with her long blonde hair often pulled back in a braid and decorated with ribbons. That’s all deliberate.
“Emerald really wanted Cassie to dress as if she was this happy-go-lucky girl. You would never know she’s depressed,” says Steiner, whose resume includes “Lost in Translation,” “Little Miss Sunshine” and “The Virgin Suicides.” “I’ve come to realize that it’s just another one of her costumes she wears to hide who she really is.”
Her girly exterior, what Steiner refers to as a “sweet all-American girl,” is part of Cassie’s chameleon-like tendency to hide in plain sight. Her everyday attire may be full of bold prints, bright hues and multicolored manicures, but rest assured, she’s not trying to stand out.
“I harkened back to the ’60s,” Steiner says. “I had Brigitte Bardot pictures on my mood board — a lot of cute blondes.”
As a costume designer, she views her job as “telling the story without shouting.” But, she says with a knowing wink to the movie’s shocking finale, “sometimes you need to shout.”
“Promising Young Woman” debuted in theaters on Christmas Day and released on-demand last weekend. Here, Steiner details key outfits worn by Mulligan in the movie.
Read interview here
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