Dressing for success
Oscar-winner Mark Bridges on designing Phantom Thread’s stylish finery
GIVEN IT’S ABOUT one of the world’s top fashion designers (albeit one who’s slightly on the wane, at least creatively speaking), you’d have expected Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread to deliver handsomely on the snazzy suits and divine dresses. And you’d have been right. Mark Bridges snagged an Oscar (and a Jet Ski, for making the ceremony’s shortest speech) for his work on PTA’S dark love story. Here, he tells us how he came up with just some of the looks for the film’s three lead characters: Vicky Krieps’ Alma Elson (1-3), Lesley Manville’s Cyril Woodcock
(4) and Daniel Day-lewis’ Reynolds Woodcock (5).
1 LONDON DATE DRESS
“This is the dress that Reynolds is draping on Alma at the country house. The plum colour was Daniel’s idea. It’s Reynolds’ love letter to her. There was supposed to be a scene before their date in London that got cut out where Alma travels to find Reynolds because she hasn’t heard from him and in the meantime he has made this dress for her. The suggestion being that she is always on his mind, which is why he wears so many variations of this colour himself — the mauve bow tie, his magenta socks. The embroidery is inspired by a Balenciaga gown that myself, Daniel and Paul saw up close at the V&A museum archives. I made a coat to match because I think it sets the outfit off beautifully, and because I thought we’d be shooting outside more and I wanted to keep Vicky Krieps warm!”
2 BARBARA ROSE RECEPTION DRESS
“The DNA sprang from a vintage ready-to -wear dress that myself, Daniel and Paul came across in Paris. It reminded me of the kind of thing costume designer Irene used to do. I wanted it to be a different colour, but Daniel chose champagne gold. Really, even though they are attending an evening function in the film it would not have been considered polite to wear black. This outfit adds up on many levels of ‘don’t want to be here’. I was going to use this dress during the fashion show if I needed, to reflect the fact that although Reynolds is designing things for his clients, Alma also gets to wear them in public. Alma wears a version of Countess Henrietta’s dress during the fashion show, and who’s to say this is not why Henrietta stops going to Reynolds? She thought that one and only dress was made for her.”
3 ANTIQUE LACE DRESS
“Again, I let Daniel pick the colour for this one because Reynolds makes this dress especially for Alma. I’ve seen this outfit photographed without the lace shawl, but I really prefer it with. It ups the notch of luxury and volume. Reynolds talks about his mother having taught him his trade and the fabrics he uses, the velvets, satins and heavy lace; these were seen as a bit old-fashioned at the time of the story. There were new techniques coming into play... It’s not that Reynolds was running behind, but it would have been interesting to see how he’d have gone on to designing in the 1960s. I had long satin gloves made for the dress because they are the ultimate in couture. It’s something I saw Christian Dior doing a lot at the time — opera- length gloves that perfectly match his gowns.”
4 CYRIL’S BLACK COAT
“I found a 60-year-old coat that was kind of rough and tired, but I liked the stand collar and the lines. Plus it looked great on Lesley, so I had it remade by a tailor in London, Thomas von Nordheim, in a satin fabric. It was something that Lesley very much wanted to have because it was so striking. When she came onto the set wearing it for the first time Paul said, ‘Is this a dress? Can she wear this as a dress?’ I said ‘no’, but she walks into the restaurant scene, sits down and it stays on. Paul wanted it as a coat, he was going to have it as a coat! It’s a fashionable item for someone in Cyril’s position. Cyril is scary but sexy. It’s not like she’s in a turtleneck or anything — she shows a little décolletage and wears heels.”
5 REYNOLDS’ DAY SUIT
“Savile Row tailors Anderson & Sheppard made all of Daniel’s suits because he felt that’s where Reynolds would go. This was the first suit made and was quite heavy, but having worked with Daniel before (on Anderson’s There Will Be Blood, in 2007), I knew he had no problem wearing a weightier fabric for the sake of period accuracy. Plus there was no central heating in the townhouse we shot in between January and March. He was the lucky one while Vicky was always freezing! When we got the suits they were a little new so we delicately broke them down by bagging the pockets and bending the elbows. At one point wearing the country jacket Daniel said, ‘Mark, we might have gone a bit far!’ So I literally shaved the piling off the fabric and gave it back to him. The day suit, like all Reynolds’ clothes, is intended to feel lived in.”
PHANTOM THREAD IS OUT NOW ON DVD, BLU-RAY AND DOWNLOAD