As noted before in a previous post, the movie Crimson Peak has been a favorite with us this year and we were captivated by the display of costumes from the movie at the 24th Annual Art of Motion Picture Costume Design at the FIDM Museum. As a follow-on, the FIDM Museum Blog recently posted an article about the costumes’ designer Kate Hawley that gives some insight into the thought process that went into the costumes’ design. What was very interesting was the costumer’s use of color to sharply differentiate the characters with the heroine Edith being clothes in lighter colors, mostly shades of yellow, gold, taupe, and the like. In contrast, her nemesis Lucille is dressed in black and dark blue with bright crimson thrown in (the “drop of blood dress” as it’s termed).

The “Drop of Blood” Dress

 Besides the visual aesthetics, it’s also interesting to see the various mood boards and costume sketches and it gives insight into why the designs are what they are. Finally, we are simply stunned by the large amounts of hand-work that went into the construction of the costumes and many of their accessories. We’re no strangers to long hours of hand-work here at the atelier and it gives us an even greater appreciation of the creative effort that went into costuming this film.

We strongly urge you to check out the FIDM Museum Blog and this interview that Kate Hawley did for Variety. Enjoy! 🙂