Yahoo Lifestyle ‘Conclave’ Costume Designer Lisy Christl on Why the Cardinal’s Crosses Were an Important Character Detail
“Conclave” costume designer Lisy Christl made some changes to the vestments worn by the Catholic cardinals, whose look in real life is quickly recognizable, to bring them to the screen. The first change: the fabric. Christl opted for a heavier wool than what is used in the real-life clothing.
The other big modification was to the standard red. For the film, Christl explains, “I went to a costume house in Rome, and they gave me an original robe. I showed it to [director] Edward Berger and our DP (Stéphane Fontaine) and said, ‘If you look at this for two hours, it might be difficult on your eyes.’” Christl, who was nominated for an Oscar in 2012 for “Anonymous,” looked at older robes dating back to the 15th century through the 1960s and noted they were darker. She chose that darker shade because it would read better on camera.
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The film, currently in theaters, revolves around the cardinals gathering in Rome to elect a new pope. Ralph Fiennes, John Lithgow and Stanley Tucci lead the cast. Christl points out that each prelate came from a different political background or country, some were more liberal-leaning, and others were conservative.
Their choice of cross would reflect that view.
“The [common] language is the cross,” she says, noting that some had gold crosses while others had silver. Fiennes and Tucci’s liberal characters had simple silver crosses. Christl added while a lot of liberal cardinals also wear wooden crosses, she decided not to adapt that for the big screen “because it looks a bit childish” on camera.” She continues for the conservative-leaning Cardinal Tremblay [Lithgow], “He has a richer golden cross. So does the traditionalist Cardinal Tedesco (Sergio Castellitto).”
Each cross was made in collaboration with a family workshop in Florence, Italy.
As for Isabella Rossellini’s Sister Agnes, Christl took creative liberty with the design of her outfit. “The color comes from the order of nuns who take care of the Casa Santa Marta. I thought it would be nice if her cape was blue and her dress was black. Her scapular has pleats, which I added,” Christl says.
Christl couldn’t use the crosses worn by the nuns, so “we invented it.”
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