The Favourite's hair and make-up artist talks wigs, badger make-up and bending the rules

Olivia Coleman in The Favourite

At first glance, the Oscar-nominated The Favourite appears to perfectly represent the period in which it is set, from the lavish interiors of Hatfield House to the dramatic silhouettes of Sandy Powell’s costumes and the powdered wigs of the politicians. But the closer you look, the more everything seems a little, well, off. After all, it wouldn’t be a Yorgos Lanthimos film if things appeared exactly as they should.

“For my first meeting with Yorgos, I’d done all this research. And so I sort of regurgitated the information, about what the look of the period was, and he said, ‘well we don’t know, we weren’t there’. So there was free rein, really,” said Nadia Stacey, who was responsible for all of the make-up, hair - and, crucially, wigs - you see in the film. “I sort of feel as though you need to know the rules to break them. So the silhouettes tended to be true to the period, but we played around with the colours: some wigs were sprayed with pastel chalks, and others we put bows in, when there wouldn’t have been bows. Everything had a bit of a quirky twist.”

Read more here

Leather fetish gear and make up for men: Why The Favourite is bang on trend

Not just a black comedy with a feisty feminist heart, the Oscar-tipped film The Favourite is packed with trends for 2019. “As well as looking at references and images from the period, I always look at fashion,” says The Favourite’s costume designer, Sandy Powell. “There is always something in contemporary fashion that is inspiring.” We agree. So here are the film’s most inspirational fashion moments.

Armour up

When Rachel Weisz’s Duchess of Marlborough slowly puts Olivia Colman’s Queen Anne in leather armour before a horse ride, it’s not only a sexy woman-on-woman subdom leather fetish moment for the ages, but the logical conclusion of the autumn/winter 2018 “fashion-as-armour” trend as seen on the catwalk at Alexander McQueen.

Monochrome matters

One of the things that makes The Favourite such a visual feast is its gleefully non-period approach to wardrobe. Powell amped up the film’s fashion cred by making bursting bodices black and white – monochrome being, of course, a perennial trend. Oscar de la Renta, Victoria Beckham and JW Anderson are fans for this spring – but, if you’re more cosy than corset, head to Weekday for monochrome knitwear.

Read more here

The female empowerment behind the costumes for 'The Favourite'

Those familiar with director Yorgos Lanthimos' penchant for dark comedy and mesmerizingly unsettling auteur cinema won't be shocked that his latest project, The Favourite, premiering today, is a far cry from the stereotypically stilted English period piece. Set during Queen Anne's reign during the 1700s, the film tells the story of two royal cousins who become rivals, vying for the affection of their needy and emotionally unstable monarch. Rachel Weisz plays Lady Sarah Churchill, the Duchess of Marlborough, who serves as the longtime confidante to Queen Anne (Olivia Colman) and the only person blunt enough to tell the Queen to her face that her makeup makes her look like a badger. And because Anne would rather spend her time in bed, doting on her numerous pet bunny rabbits than rule the country, Sarah control the affairs of the state from the sidelines, and in turn, wields tremendous power in the ongoing war between England and France. 

DESIGNER SKETCH FOR QUEEN ANNE

SANDY POWELL

And then there's Abigail Masham, played by Emma Stone, who was once a lady herself but has found her family name disgraced due to her father, who gambled away all of their money and honor. Abigail arrives to the castle drenched in manure and Sarah takes pity on her once-esteemed cousin, granting her the position of her personal maid. Although Abigail seems sickly sweet on the surface, she slowly begins to plot her rise by currying favor with Anne. Unlike Sarah, Abigail is more than happy to humor even the most nonsensical of the Queen's whims, whispering doting compliments into her ear and providing the affection that Anne never received from her longtime friend.

Like the black comedy's unconventional tone and dialogue, the costumes for The Favourite defy expectations and stereotypes, casting women as the main political pieces in the chess board of war and men as the secondary characters in comparison. One wouldn't typically think of a corset genre film as empowering for women, portraying the unrealistic beauty expectations of the time period, but that's exactly what costume designer Sandy Powell, best known for her work on Shakespeare in Love and Velvet Goldmine, set out to do. 

"The whole film is a reversal in that most films are about men and women quite often are the pretty things in the background," she tells CR. "Even though the men have proper parts to play, they are secondary to the women and [Lanthimos] said he wanted the men to look overly made-up, ridiculous peacocks and the women to be much more naturalistic with barely any makeup."

Read more here:

No makeup and black and white costumes allows the women of 'The Favourite' to shine

Queen Anne addresses court

Early awards season, um, favorite, "The Favourite," is all about the ladies. Director Yorgos Lanthimos's latest film illuminates palace political intrigue and the complicated, if not dysfunctional relationships of gout-ridden Queen Anne, close friend and advisor Lady Sarah Churchill and palace newbie, Abigail Hill. The period piece stars Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone, respectively.

While "The Favourite" is set in early 18th-century England, there are a number of historically inaccurate flourishes, from the sharp (and at times expletive-laden) dialogue, to the costume, hair and makeup, starting with the black-and-white wardrobe. 

The early 18th century is rarely portrayed on film, which presented costume designer Sandy Powell with a few challenges, starting with limited rental options. Of course, the situation also offered opportunities for Powell to flex her three-time Oscar-winning skills. She created an overall palette of black and white for the three leads and the royal court. She had Lanthimos's inspirations in mind, including historically authentic imagery and period-incorrect references, like 17th Century Dutch paintings and Igmar Bergman's 1972 film "Cries and Whispers." Powell also performed her own historical research, looked to present-day fashion and referenced Peter Greenaway's 1982 period film "The Draughtman’s Contract," which holds sentimental value from early in her career.

Read more here