The Haunting of Hill House's fashion designer, Lynn Falconer talks making horror fashionable

Olivia, played by Carla Gugino

If you’re not watching The Haunting of Hill House, you’re probably not a horror person. Because everyone who can tolerate the genre has already binge-watched the new 10-episode Netflix show. And those who are wary of horror probably should stay wary—this isn’t Sabrina-level scary, it’s burrow-into-your-brain-and-stay-there scary. Gone are the days when monsters hiding under your bed are the only source of terror. In 2018, there are still monsters, but we’re also confronted with the effects those monsters have on a person’s psyche—and their family—over time.

But there’s something else other than fear that helps bring the show to life: the clothes.

The show, loosely based on the Shirley Jackson novel of the same name, follows Olivia and Hugh Crain as they move their five children (Steven, Shirley, Theo, Luke, and Nell) into an old estate one summer. Time flashes back-and-forth from the Hill House of “then” and the family today, piecing together the events of the past and how that’s impacted their lives as adults. Aging looks is a key tool in separating the two sides of the story, but another factor is what the characters wear. Costume designer Lynn Falconer pulled from early ’90s fashion for the throwback scenes, which means a lot of bucket hats, jeans, and patchwork dresses worn over T-shirts. “1992, to me, is not the best fashion period,” Falconer tells us. “Now, it’s shifting and it’s cool, but back then it was very catalogue—a lot of white and primary colors, Tommy Hilfiger… The ’80s shoulders were still there. It was not a great time period to tell a horror story, so I had to dig a lot deeper to find other essences.”

Viewers might notice that there’s a pretty distinct color difference between the two worlds. The ’90s scenes are warmer, there’s a lot more light and vibrancy to the characters. Modern day, on the other hand, has a morose washed-out appearance; there’s a blue-gray tint that hovers over almost every scene. This is reflected in the clothes as well. Falconer says that she wanted to have that “thread of young and older, something I weaved into the tapestry.” For example, in using the book as a springboard, she assigned the color yellow to Theo and the color red to Nell, themes that follow them throughout the show.

ghostly Poppy 

For the family’s matriarch, Olivia (played beautifully by Carla Gugino), Falconer says she was inspired by Julie Christie in Don’t Look Now and Jessica Lange in The Postman Always Rings Twice. “We wanted to find a balance between a bohemian mother who might’ve gone to the Lilith Fair and this professional cosmopolitan architect.” Everything Olivia wears required research, down to the stunning robes she often wears (“those were actually very ’90s,” Falconer says). She even pulled from her own personal sartorial memory bank. “The high-waisted pants and the leather necklace she wears with the locket, that’s just me… those are things I wore in New York back in the ’90s.”

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