Promising Young Woman: Costume designer, Nancy Steiner, breaks down Carey Mulligan's killer looks

 

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.

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Promising Young Woman: The meaning behind Carey Mulligan's costumes

 

In the era of the #MeToo reckoning, Promising Young Woman presents a story of revenge that is clever, comedic, and darkly entertaining. In theaters now and available on demand from January 15, the directorial debut of writer and director Emerald Fennell–who was a showrunner for Killing Eve Season 2 and also joined the cast of The Crown as Camilla Parker-Bowles–centers on Carey Mulligan as Cassie, a woman who dropped out of medical school after her best friend and classmate was sexually assaulted. Although the film is driven by this dark theme, the unexpected story that unfolds is packaged in visually sweet aesthetics (most of the time), thanks to its sunny Los Angeles backdrop and costume design by Nancy Steiner.

With previous work on Sofia Coppola’s The Virgin Suicides and Lost in Translation, working on a female-led crew isn’t new for Steiner, but an opportunity that she wishes happened more often. Hollywood’s gender inequalities, whether it’s concerning the number of female filmmakers in the director’s chair or the rates at which women are paid (which for those in the costume department often fall far lower than other majority male positions in the industry), make projects like Promising Young Woman feel special for those involved. “There’s a different energy working with women,” Steiner tells L’OFFICIEL. “It feels more collaborative.” In this case, the result is a genre-bending rom-com thriller flick that lets the woman control the narrative–even when things begin to unravel.

During the day, Cassie appears as an unbothered 30-year-old who lives at her parents’ house and works as a barista. At night, however, she puts on a party girl disguise and goes out to bars and clubs in the hopes of luring men into her trap–but it’s not what you think. Cassie acts blackout drunk, slurring and stumbling, and waits for a seemingly nice guy to offer to escort her home. Every time, the man leads her back to his house and attempts to have sex with her, consciousness and consent be damned. But Cassie interrupts, dropping the act and surprising the man, stone cold sober, asking, “What are you doing?”

A main component of her ploy, Cassie always looks the part. In the film’s opening scene, she wears a skirt suit and heels to fit into the business bar atmosphere, where men in suits observe her until the “chivalrous” Jerry (Adam Brody), checks on her and offers her a ride, completing the evening like all the others. Another night, Cassie purposefully smudges her makeup to accompany her sloppy drunk ruse. These looks offer a stark contrast to Cassie’s feminine day-to-day style, where she is seen at the coffee shop in an Urban Outfitters rose-speckled baby pink top and her braid tied off with a bow. According to Steiner, Cassie’s wardrobe is just as purposeful in these moments as they are when she’s going out at night.

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