Cover Lily-Rose Depp stars as Ellen Hutter in director Robert Eggers’s ‘Nosferatu’, a Focus Features release (Photo: Aidan Monaghan/Focus Features)
Lily-Rose Depp stars as Ellen Hutter in director Robert Eggers’s ‘Nosferatu’, a Focus Features release (Photo: Aidan Monaghan/Focus Features)
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Take a look at how costume designer Linda Muir revived 19th century fashion for 'Nosferatu'
Linda Muir, the vision behind the hauntingly immersive costumes of Robert Eggers’s Nosferatu has received her first Academy Award nomination for her work on the film. Muir, a Canadian costume designer who has previously worked with Eggers on films such as The Northman and The VVitch, has an eerily accurate approach to historical apparel, which is fully realised in Nosferatu through painstaking research to avoid any anachronisms.
To craft the wardrobe for Eggers’s gothic reimagining, Muir combed through 19th century literature, along with illustrations and paintings from the period. Costumes were made from scratch, which meant no rentals. This was because she and Eggers were pursuing an aesthetic so precise that even the most minute of details had to be deliberate. She avoided making anything look too ironed or polished. Details from undergarments to outerwear were not only accurate to the century but also to the film’s specific setting—a provincial city in 1830s Germany.
Read more: In ‘Nosferatu’, true horror lies within the human
Above A behind-the-scenes photo of Nicholas Hoult and Lily-Rose Depp in costume as Thomas and Ellen Hutter (Photo: Instagram / @lindamuircostumedesign)
Above A behind-the-scenes photo of Bill Skarsgård in costume as Count Orlok (Photo: Instagram / @lindamuircostumedesign)
A behind-the-scenes photo of Nicholas Hoult and Lily-Rose Depp in costume as Thomas and Ellen Hutter (Photo: Instagram / @lindamuircostumedesign)
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One of Muir’s most striking achievements is the wardrobe of Count Orlok, played by Bill Skarsgård. His costume consists of layers upon layers of outdated furs, selected to reflect how a 16th century Transylvanian nobleman might have dressed. The effect underscores Orlok’s attempt to conceal his ‘undead-ness’ beneath heavy drapery. Muir even collaborated with textile artist Silvana Sacco to mimic the fabric’s “aged” effect.
Each character’s socioeconomic status and marital standing were considered, particularly in regards to the film’s female leads. Anna Harding, portrayed by Emma Corrin, wears pristine, fashion-forward dresses that are meant to look as if they were just plucked from a catalogue—a reinforcement of her status as the wealthy wife of a shipyard owner. Lily-Rose Depp’s Ellen Hutter is dressed in whites and lilacs to evoke her innocence and frailty. A scene where she rips her bodice open serves as a visual metaphor for both physical and psychological constraints.
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Above The Innkeeper's outfit designed by Linda Muir (Photo: Instagram / @lindamuircostumedesign)
Above Anna Harding's funeral outfit designed by Linda Muir (Photo: Instagram / @lindamuircostumedesign)
The Innkeeper's outfit designed by Linda Muir (Photo: Instagram / @lindamuircostumedesign)
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Muir’s approach to authenticity extends beyond the aristocracy. The group of Roma peasants Thomas Hutter encounters on his travels wear mismatched garments chosen to reflect a life of accumulated possessions, alluding to their nomadic lifestyle. It’s this attention to detail that enhances the film’s lived-in feel, a kind of realism brought to life in every frame.
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About
Julianna has been interested in leading a literary life since she first read Frances Hodgson Burnett's A Little Princess at eight. Before working with Tatler, she was an archive intern at The Center for Fiction in Brooklyn, New York. She is a textbook Pisces who devotes most of her spare time to her crochet projects, watching classic films, and going through her never-ending pile of unread books. She studied creative writing, global literature and art history at Sarah Lawrence College, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 2022. Toni Morrison, Nora Ephron, Clarice Lispector and Jia Tolentino are among her all-time favourite writers.
Work
Julianna writes about fashion, beauty, sustainability, and the arts. She is always keen on conducting interviews with talented women who are changing the game in their respective fields.
For event invites and story leads, hit her up at julianna.cabili@tatlerasia.com
