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| Emily Blunt as Mary Poppins |
Descending from the grey London skies on her umbrella, Mary Poppins makes one of the most iconic arrivals in cinema. As an entrance, you might say it’s practically perfect, and the clean lines of the magical nanny’s Edwardian travelling ensemble – the long black coat juxtaposed with her crochet scarf and that funny little hat – play no small part in making that first impression so memorable.
And so, when three-time Oscar winner Sandy Powell started to work on the costumes for Mary Poppins Returns, the all-singing, all-dancing sequel starring Emily Blunt, one thing was clear: that Mary’s first outfit had to be simple, yet instantly impressive.
“You know that the entrance is going to be out of the sky, so [the costume] had to have a good sharp, strong silhouette.” To find that silhouette, she looked to another, equally iconic British export. “I look at contemporary references all the time, because there’s always something useful, whether it’s a colour combination or a style,’ the designer explains. “The idea for the cape on Mary’s shoulders came from something that Burberry were doing about the same time – a little jacket which had a cape shape on it, and that gave me the idea. I wanted to change the silhouette [from the original film] and to have a bit of movement, as well.”
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