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Friday, November 10, 2023
How ‘Priscilla’ Costume Designer Stacey Battat Shaped the Film's Wardrobe
www.cosmopolitan.com: Since the first still of Cailee Spaeny in chiffon pink ruffles with voluminous black hair and thick winged eyeliner was released, the internet has been in a frenzy over her mesmerizing resemblance to Priscilla Presley in Sofia Coppola’s biopic, Priscilla.
7 comments:
Jessica Williams
said...
Good lord. This movie looks like it is very well made and the costume designer obviously put a ton of thought and effort into it. I do not know if I would be willing to watch it though. I mean, I have known for a long time that Elvis was kind of a piece of shit in his personal life. That is obvious in the worst sense in this movie it looks like. Starting to date a child so young alone is completely horrific and reprehensible but to do it for the sole purpose of molding her into what you want her to be. Into your “Ideal Woman” is so goddamn evil. I am glad that the costume designer seemed to want to focus more intently on Priscilla’s journey into her own womanhood, trying to emphasize who she actually was at the time instead of who Elvis wanted her to be. And I think that is part of the story that is most conducive to a costume designer and where I hope Sophia Coppola let the designer play and experiment the most. Of course, a lot of the costuming would be dictated by the actual history but the inner world being expressed outwardly will definitely be interesting to see.
Designing something as intimate as lingerie is a very tricky business. People's undergarments are often very revealing and showcase the innermost feelings of people; what do they look like when the clothing is stripped bare. I enjoyed how Stacey Battat outlined her timeline for the wardrobe. To have a movie that spans years, starting with a fourteen year old whose identity pretty much revolves around this idol, to finding confidence within herself. The clothing itself has such a story to tell with the structure and control of the clothing compared to the influence Elvis has over her, then, to translate that into Lingerie is really smart. I enjoyed seeing all aspects of color story, silhouette, and fabric come together to create this cohesive whole. To then have the whole movie shot in thirty days is crazy. The preparation to make sure everything goes off without a hitch is so important.
Reading this made me realize how much I love design. It’s really exciting to learn about other people’s design process or ways of “design thinking”. I also just think that it would be so fun to work on a project like this to source 120 costumes for a character in a biopic. It really is just so interesting to hear about how costume designers follow the trends or plot of the character in the story to kind of dictate the design. It can be such a subtle, but important difference when a designer sticks to the character and follows their trajectory throughout the story. I have not seen Priscilla yet, but I’m sure you can tell that a lot of thought was put into the design process. I would love to do something like this and try to develop a set of costumes for a character that reflect their changing personality throughout a story.
The costume designer definitely put a lot of effort into designing these costumes. The fact that Priscilla alone had over 120 costumes is very impressive, and the fact that each costume is crucial and meaningful to the timeline just stuns me even more. I love reading the design process of various movies, I remember reading about the costumes for the movie Ready or Not, and I was also shocked by the amount of detail going into the costumes, and how the costumes are made to be easily removable and replaceable because of all the fake blood they’re using. But with Priscilla, they had only 30 days to film, so I cannot imagine the amount of preparation they put into the costumes. I would be worrying what would happen if a costume gets dirty/ruined on set, would they have a replacement on hand? And if they didn’t what would they do?
I actually watched this movie the other week, and I walked into it knowing nothing about it, did not watch the trailer, and literally didn’t hear of its existence until I saw it on the movie theatre sign and decided to watch it. The movie itself I thought to be generally alright, but putting the plot and writing aside, absolutely stunningly gorgeous visually. The opening scene with the shots of the rug and the house and her makeup desk and her eye? Ooh. Gorgeous. The colors throughout? Amazing. The entire way that the Las Vegas scene was filmed and edited and put together? Loved it my favorite cinematography moment from the movie. I can confirm, there were a lot of costumes, and they were all super cool. It’s super interesting to read about the costume designer’s process for designing the movie. I think that the designer’s vision of Priscilla being seen through Elvis’s eyes and her outfits occasionally being a direct rebellion against him comes through very well when watching the movie.
Reading the interview with the costume designer gave me a fresh perspective on the intricate task of balancing "historical accuracy" with storytelling in movie costume design. It's a facet I hadn't really thought about. The article sheds light on the pivotal role of costume designers in narrating a story through clothing, a responsibility that goes beyond merely capturing the period's fashion. The revelation that the designer wanted to delve deeper into Priscilla's personal journey and emphasize her authentic self, rather than adhering strictly to Elvis's envisioned image, is intriguing. It underscores the complexity of the costume designer's role—being not just a custodian of historical accuracy but also a storyteller who uses costumes to reveal a character's evolution. The article challenges the conventional notion of costume design as a straightforward reflection of a bygone era. Instead, it suggests a nuanced approach, wherein the designer becomes a conduit for expressing the character's internal transformation, especially in terms of self-discovery and womanhood. This insight prompts a reconsideration of how costume design contributes not only to the visual authenticity of a film but also to the nuanced storytelling of individual character arcs.
This was such an amazing read. 120 costumes is 30 days is insane and so incredible! I love reading about a designers process and all of the different meaning behind a show or film, and so this was so fascinating to read, especially as she went so in depth on all the significance behind the different costumes. I thought it was really interesting when she commented on how the different silhouettes of Priscilla changed over time, and how they only portrayed Elvis as Priscilla saw him, rather than his usual persona. I haven’t scene Priscilla, however I really want to, now especially. I saw Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis which was incredible, though I’d love to see Priscillas perspective as it wasn’t shown to much in that film, focusing on Elvis. Her story is so unique it would be cool to see how they portrayed it in Priscilla, as well as interesting to hear what Priscilla’s thoughts on the film were.
7 comments:
Good lord. This movie looks like it is very well made and the costume designer obviously put a ton of thought and effort into it. I do not know if I would be willing to watch it though. I mean, I have known for a long time that Elvis was kind of a piece of shit in his personal life. That is obvious in the worst sense in this movie it looks like. Starting to date a child so young alone is completely horrific and reprehensible but to do it for the sole purpose of molding her into what you want her to be. Into your “Ideal Woman” is so goddamn evil. I am glad that the costume designer seemed to want to focus more intently on Priscilla’s journey into her own womanhood, trying to emphasize who she actually was at the time instead of who Elvis wanted her to be. And I think that is part of the story that is most conducive to a costume designer and where I hope Sophia Coppola let the designer play and experiment the most. Of course, a lot of the costuming would be dictated by the actual history but the inner world being expressed outwardly will definitely be interesting to see.
Designing something as intimate as lingerie is a very tricky business. People's undergarments are often very revealing and showcase the innermost feelings of people; what do they look like when the clothing is stripped bare. I enjoyed how Stacey Battat outlined her timeline for the wardrobe. To have a movie that spans years, starting with a fourteen year old whose identity pretty much revolves around this idol, to finding confidence within herself. The clothing itself has such a story to tell with the structure and control of the clothing compared to the influence Elvis has over her, then, to translate that into Lingerie is really smart. I enjoyed seeing all aspects of color story, silhouette, and fabric come together to create this cohesive whole. To then have the whole movie shot in thirty days is crazy. The preparation to make sure everything goes off without a hitch is so important.
Reading this made me realize how much I love design. It’s really exciting to learn about other people’s design process or ways of “design thinking”. I also just think that it would be so fun to work on a project like this to source 120 costumes for a character in a biopic. It really is just so interesting to hear about how costume designers follow the trends or plot of the character in the story to kind of dictate the design. It can be such a subtle, but important difference when a designer sticks to the character and follows their trajectory throughout the story. I have not seen Priscilla yet, but I’m sure you can tell that a lot of thought was put into the design process. I would love to do something like this and try to develop a set of costumes for a character that reflect their changing personality throughout a story.
The costume designer definitely put a lot of effort into designing these costumes. The fact that Priscilla alone had over 120 costumes is very impressive, and the fact that each costume is crucial and meaningful to the timeline just stuns me even more. I love reading the design process of various movies, I remember reading about the costumes for the movie Ready or Not, and I was also shocked by the amount of detail going into the costumes, and how the costumes are made to be easily removable and replaceable because of all the fake blood they’re using. But with Priscilla, they had only 30 days to film, so I cannot imagine the amount of preparation they put into the costumes. I would be worrying what would happen if a costume gets dirty/ruined on set, would they have a replacement on hand? And if they didn’t what would they do?
I actually watched this movie the other week, and I walked into it knowing nothing about it, did not watch the trailer, and literally didn’t hear of its existence until I saw it on the movie theatre sign and decided to watch it. The movie itself I thought to be generally alright, but putting the plot and writing aside, absolutely stunningly gorgeous visually. The opening scene with the shots of the rug and the house and her makeup desk and her eye? Ooh. Gorgeous. The colors throughout? Amazing. The entire way that the Las Vegas scene was filmed and edited and put together? Loved it my favorite cinematography moment from the movie. I can confirm, there were a lot of costumes, and they were all super cool. It’s super interesting to read about the costume designer’s process for designing the movie. I think that the designer’s vision of Priscilla being seen through Elvis’s eyes and her outfits occasionally being a direct rebellion against him comes through very well when watching the movie.
Reading the interview with the costume designer gave me a fresh perspective on the intricate task of balancing "historical accuracy" with storytelling in movie costume design. It's a facet I hadn't really thought about. The article sheds light on the pivotal role of costume designers in narrating a story through clothing, a responsibility that goes beyond merely capturing the period's fashion. The revelation that the designer wanted to delve deeper into Priscilla's personal journey and emphasize her authentic self, rather than adhering strictly to Elvis's envisioned image, is intriguing. It underscores the complexity of the costume designer's role—being not just a custodian of historical accuracy but also a storyteller who uses costumes to reveal a character's evolution. The article challenges the conventional notion of costume design as a straightforward reflection of a bygone era. Instead, it suggests a nuanced approach, wherein the designer becomes a conduit for expressing the character's internal transformation, especially in terms of self-discovery and womanhood. This insight prompts a reconsideration of how costume design contributes not only to the visual authenticity of a film but also to the nuanced storytelling of individual character arcs.
This was such an amazing read. 120 costumes is 30 days is insane and so incredible! I love reading about a designers process and all of the different meaning behind a show or film, and so this was so fascinating to read, especially as she went so in depth on all the significance behind the different costumes. I thought it was really interesting when she commented on how the different silhouettes of Priscilla changed over time, and how they only portrayed Elvis as Priscilla saw him, rather than his usual persona. I haven’t scene Priscilla, however I really want to, now especially. I saw Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis which was incredible, though I’d love to see Priscillas perspective as it wasn’t shown to much in that film, focusing on Elvis. Her story is so unique it would be cool to see how they portrayed it in Priscilla, as well as interesting to hear what Priscilla’s thoughts on the film were.
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