What the Vampires are Wearing in comedy vampire mockumentary series 'What We Do In The Shadows''

 If you're a fellow vampirophile, like myself, you will already have watched the first two seasons of vampire mockumentary comedy series 'What we do in the Shadows.' Based on the film of the same name created by Taika Wakiki and Jermaine Clements, the comedy series follows a similar premise. A den of vampires share a flat in upstate New York (the original movie was set in Melbourne and was based around a flatshare of three male vampires). The series has the brilliant addition of female vampire 'Nadja' played by Natasha Demetriou, a Greek vampiress who has some of the best lines and costumes in the show.

The budget of season 3 appears to have increased with the shows popularity, and with it, the set design, special effects and costumes.

Laura Montgomery has worked on the show since the first season and was promoted to Costume Designer for season 3. 

So how do you decide how to dress a vampire? The obvious choice is to go the Christopher Lee route - the 1950s and 60s version of a vampire - essentially the dark slicked back hair, the black trousers with a white shirt, and most importantly, the cape. This can be lined with a red silk or plain black, but is always long and high collared. Alternatively, there is the vampire trope of someone who is stucks in the fashion era of the year that they they died and were made a vampire, despite possibly having lived through multiple decades since. This is the clothing style followed by the vampires of 'Shadows' - and particularly in the film - is used to much comic effect as the vampires are shown to be completely out of touch with the fashions of the day and oblivious of how ridiculous they look 'out on the town and on the pull' in outfits from 100s of years ago. In the series, noone seems to notice that the vampires are dressed rather strangely, allowing them to swan about Staten Island and even Atlantic City dressed in their traditional regalia.

Colin the Engergy Vampire

As Laura Montgomery states "It’s a brilliant concept, vampires in a mockumentary format, living in Staten Island, New York! Each character comes to Staten Island with a unique background. Nandor The Relentless is from the fictional kingdom of Al-Quolanudar in Southern Iran and a warrior serving the Ottoman Empire; Laszlo Cravensworth was an English Nobleman, and Nadja is a Romani vampire." Colin, also a new concept introduced to the series is an 'energy vampire' - a less traditional vampire. He is able to walk about in daylight and is younger than the other vampires (100 years old we find out). As he is better able to assimilate, he dresses in a more 'modern' style of the 1940s and 50s - the era when he would have been a young man. Always in different shades of beige (Colin is meant to drain people of their energy by 'boring' them to death) season 3 sees his normal dull pullover and pant sets replaced with some beautifully tailored 40s cream suits.

Al Qualanadar ruler, Nador (centre)

Nandor, the ex ruler of fictional Persian state no longer in existence, 'Al Quloanudar' has perhaps the most cultural influence on his outfits. Laura researched the silhouette and textile designs of 1400s Persia. Laura states "I found it really fascinating last year [season 3] I did a lot of research into Nandor’s background, and I really wanted to make him as authentic as possible. So I started looking up Persian textiles and a lot of art from that period. I visited a museum in Toronto called the Agha Khan, where they currently have a great exhibition showcasing paintings of this Iranian epic poem. The kings in those dynasties started to get interested in illustrating the poem, so there were many illustrated versions commissioned around the 1400s. So I’ve been looking at those images to bring inspiration, even some of the colors. I was surprised by the way they would wear things the silhouettes."

Nadja and Lazlo, vampire power couple

Jermaine Clement stated that he always wanted vampire couple, Nadja and Lazslo to be matching. "We would bend over backward to do it, and then sometimes people wouldn't even notice. It's always a challenge because usually I'll find an amazing Nadja (Natasia Demetriou) fabric, and then it will be a struggle, like with Nadja's peacock outfit for Episode 3. How do we make peacock masculine for Laszlo (Matt Berry)? We use the same wool that we used for her coat, but we dyed the color a little bit deeper. And then this season, it's the same thing, especially with the talking heads. I'll always try to make them look matching as much as I can because I want to honor Jemaine's initial request and vision. But you know, I have to say it is fun when they have scenes when they're not together and we can go a bit crazier on each of them." 

With regard to their backgrounds and the information she has to work with, Laura says, "Laszlo has a Victorian feel to him; we think he got turned in the mid-1800s. He’s from England, and Nadja has that Greek-ish background. Her story’s a little bit looser. She was born in, I think, the 1600s, but we go a little more Victorian with her as well. The show is contemporary, so that’s when they were born, but we have the freedom to use elements from the 80s – they’ve lived through all the decades. We can say, oh, they picked up this piece when they were clubbing in the 90s, or they picked up something you know they’ve got all these collected pieces."

Guillermo, Season 3

And what of Guillermo? The vampire-hunter familiar/bodyguard, ancestor of Van Helsing who is desperate to be made a vampire by his master, Nandor. Harvey Guillen who plays Guillermo is the beating heart of the show (literally). As a familiar, he started out in cosy jumpers and chino trousers, but as he's gained confidence and realised who he is, has started dressing in a more sophisticated fashion, aligning himself more with the vampires.

"He’s always wanted to be a vampire, and this is something that Harvey has brought to the table. Because he wants to be a vampire, Harvey always wants to bring in this idea that Guillermo is trying to dress the part.

The trench coat is something that was introduced in season two. When he had to do the fighting, that was his Van Helsing moment. Because he’s now the bodyguard, we had to toughen them up even more. We introduced waistcoats! We’re trying to keep him that soft and cuddly and Guillermo,  but at the same time, he is the bodyguard now. So he has a leather waistcoat with his Bandelier of detachable stakes."

Fashionista vampire, The Guide

Perhaps one of the most interesting characters fashion-wise is Kristen Schall's 'The Guide' aka 'The Floating Lady.' When we were first introduced to her character, in her French hood and veil with her, flowing peroxide locks, she looked perhaps the most iconic version of a bride of Dracula. Laura Montgomery states that from this representation, "I just decided; she’s obviously a fashionista. So for this season, she has a whole closet because she’s in, I think pretty much every episode. I wanted to play with the silhouettes – she has a lot of structure with a mix of 1600s meets very modern. There were a lot of designer influences – a lot of Alexander McQueen and Gareth Pugh." The Guide most certainly has a touch of Lady Gaga about her. 

Seasons 3 of What We Do In The Shadows can be viewed on BBC iplayer