‘Oppenheimer’, ‘Chevalier’ & ‘Maestro’ Costume Designers On Honoring Historical Figures Through Design
13.01.2024 - 19:11
/ deadline.com
When creating a biographical drama of a historic figure, there’s a delicate balance between striving for historical accuracy and focusing on crafting a compelling, human story. This awards season has seen its fair share of biopics, testing their costume designers in different ways.
Oppenheimer uses timeless wardrobe pieces to sketch its self-consciously stylish hero. With few recorded images to draw on, Chevalier takes some informed liberties to tell the story of 18th-century musician Joseph Bologne. Maestro, meanwhile, draws on style trends and snapshots from a storied life to dress famed composer Leonard Bernstein.
Oppenheimer
For Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, costume designer Ellen Mirojnick says the focus was not on creating a biopic, but a portrait of a man who changed the world. “Chris was very clear,” she says. “We are not making a documentary. We are not looking for exactness nor preciousness, or anything that is stylized and put there just because it’s the correct period.” This meant finding “timeless” pieces for the costumes, rather than clothing that just fit the time period.
With that in mind, Mirojnick instead focused on a few iconic things that became the foundation of her designs, most important of which is his silhouette. “What we found in the research immediately was his silhouette stayed the same from the beginning to the end of his life,” she says. “It was very elegant, very fine tailored and there was a simplicity to the style.” The silhouette became the main focus of her designs, as it accounted for how the jacket hangs on Oppenheimer’s frame, how the fabric bunches around his legs and, of course, there’s the iconic hat.
Mirojnick worked closely with Cillian Murphy in the design process of the