For the fashion-minded, watching movies put their characters in some stunning outfits is worth the price of admission. It’s especially true of blockbusters like Dune: Part Three, where the act of creating these costumes is an undertaking in and of itself.
Vogue recently interviewed returning costume designer Jacqueline West about her work on the third installment. Compared to the earlier films, West noted this entry gave her a “different vision” to work with, given its 20-year timeskip. Her process begins with reading the script, then talking with director/co-writer Denis Villeneuve about each character’s headspace. And after that, she and her concept artists go about finding references or sketches for him to look over.
West recalled how, once she signed on for the first Dune, Villeneuve used the word “modieval” (a blend of “modern and “medieval”) to describe the film’s world. It’s similar to how Dune creator Frank Herbert “imagined the distant future [by] looking to the ancient past,” but Part Three required some changeups on her end. The “medieval” part of the term instead became “Renaissance-like,” West said, because the film’s story “gets darker, and then there’s a redemption.”
Costume influences for Dune: Part Three include artist Francisco Goya, tribal clothes of Etruscan and North American civilizations, Cristóbal Balenciaga’s “sculptural sartorial language,” and “the ecclesiastical imagery of the early papacy.” West got “more modern” here than the last two films, and pointed to Paul Atreides as proof: she looked at recluse Howard Hughes for inspiration, which led to the “substantial fabrics and rich leather” that make up his robes. Chani, meanwhile, wears a sleeker stillsuit likened to scuba divers made from a Lycra coated in a rubber texture that can stretch with the body.
Speaking to the new characters like Anya-Taylor Joy’s Alia, West wanted her to feel similar to the Bene Gesserit. Dressed largely in white, Alia also wound up a Carrie reference after West had a phone call with longtime collaborator Jack Frisk and his wife Sissy Spacek, the original Carrie White. Their talking led to concept art of Alia covered in blood, prompting West to draw her with “more and more and more” blood, as seen in the trailers. Scytale was given robes with his stillsuit to come off “unsettling and menacing”; and Hoyt’s fancy threads convey that he’s “almost presented like a gift to Paul.”
West’s full talk with Vogue also covers making costumes to combat the weather and the samurai-looking House seen in trailers. You’ll be able to see her work when Dune: Part Three hits theaters next month on December 18.
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