Yahoo Lifestyle How the costumes of 'Anora' symbolise the American dream
The world has been waiting for a film like Anora.
The Sean Baker-helmed, Brighton Beach-based feature has dominated awards season buzz ever since it won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year. Led by breakout star Mikey Madison, the film follows the antics that ensue after an exotic dancer named Ani (Madison) accidentally commands the attention of a club-going VIP named Ivan (Mark Eidelstein), who she later finds out is the son of a Russian oligarch — and is keen on marrying her. What could possibly go wrong?
The result is a hilarious — and ambitious — movie that makes audiences question our views on love, a woman's independence, and what really is at the heart of the American dream. Alongside stellar performances from both Madison and Eidelstein, the inner layers of the story of Anora can be found in the film's wardrobe. Costume designer Jocelyn Pierce (The Sweet East, Allswell) took on the challenge of piecing together the wardrobe for the film with a tiny crew and relying on a tight-knit community of artists and creators to source the perfect pieces for a truly special cast.
Below, Pierce breaks down all that went into costuming Anora, including the quest for the perfect black hoodie, taking styling cues from real-life dancers, and why — when in doubt — you can't go wrong with an electric blue bandage dress.
How were you introduced to this project and how did you know you wanted to be a part of it?
So, I knew Alex Coco who's one of the producers on the film — I knew him because I costume designed a film called The Sweet East that was directed and shot by Sean Price Williams, who's another like, indie filmmaking genius. Alex Coco called me and I was in New Orleans on another film and he did a soft reach out to be like, “Are you available?” I had no idea [what] was about to drop on me, that it was a Sean Baker film. I was already a huge fan of his work and I'm such an indie film girly. I had never met Sean before, but he's obviously at the top of the list for [indie filmmakers] and has been for such a long time.
One of the outfits featured in the film that caught people's attention right away was, of course, the bright blue Hervé Léger bandage dress that Anora (Mikey Madison) wears. Tell me about the decision to include that dress because, when I see that garment, it takes me back to such a specific moment in time.
Oh, I love that dress so much — it is such a slay. We had so many other options for that look. We broke down her costumes into a few sections: there was the club, there was the girlfriend week, there was wifey, and then there was like the night of the escapade. That look would have been the first look of girlfriend week, in the way we sort of drew her fashion arc. We had a bunch of options and my assistant Murrie Rosenfield, who is just so cool and so brilliant, brought that in from her own closet. We had a bunch of options and they were all fabulous but they weren't the electric blue bandage dress.
Something that happens a lot, especially in indie filmmaking, where so much of the time it's like you can plan as much as you want, but you're moving at a speed where sometimes the magic is really in the chaos and you get lucky with these last minute ideas. When she brought that dress in that morning, all of our jaws were on the floor and we knew it was brilliant. Looking back, it also symbolises that whole scene, too — there's an American dream sort of theme underneath this movie and that moment where she's sitting on the bed with the white wall and the red sheets and the blue dress. Sometimes, you don't even realise what you're doing when you make those spur-of-the-moment choices.
The accessories really caught my eye in this film, as well, whether it was the hoop earrings or rhinestones and choker necklaces — even the silver chains Ivan wears in the film are really special. Tell me about the sourcing you did for the jewellery in the film.
For Ani, we really wanted to catch as much sort of like sparkle as we could for a few reasons. With a lot of the film being shot in a dark club or at a party with lots of lights or at night on the streets — and, of course, we shot on real film and film catches light differently. Anything that we could have shot that was shimmery that we might catch, that all felt important. Even the tinsel in her hair seen on the film poster — the way that moves in the light is captivating and it adds that extra magic. For Ivan, those necklaces he wears are made by an artist in Brooklyn named Mike Novak. Store-bought jewellery just didn't feel right for him and these one-of-one pieces are just true pieces of art. I don't think you get a true close up in the film but the pendants are like these little statues.
Custom jewellery makes sense for the son of an oligarch!
We tried to mix some higher-end luxury brands with some streetwear and there's a few times where we had custom pieces for him because Mark, the actor, is just so special and so singular. His portrayal of Ivan took us to a different place than we originally imagined and it became so nuanced. The sweatshirt that he eventually runs away in, that was done by an artist also in Brooklyn called Atticus Torre and he made that cartoon that's on the back of the piece. We looked at so many hoodies and had so many pulled from major luxury brands and streetwear brands but they all either said too much or looked too branded. When we found this artist, we were like, “That's perfect.” Because Ivan is a gamer, there's this reckless youthfulness about him and the graffiti sweater was so brilliant. The other piece that was one of one was the blazer that he gets married in, that was by an artist named Fanta.
How was it working with Mikey Madison? How closely did you two work together on really shaping who Ani was?
She's so special and she continues to blow me away. She took such a methodical deep dive into this character and just the intense training ... she learned to pole dance, she learned to speak Russian, she adapted this really specific Brooklyn accent.
Normally with fittings, you have maybe one or two sessions up front and you make your decisions there, but with Mikey it was a really fluid process. We were always fitting, we were always having new ideas coming in and it became this ongoing conversation as we got deeper and deeper into filmmaking. There's something about that openness to new ideas all the time that makes things really nuanced — and, of course, there's nothing rigid about the way that Sean Baker works either.
I can't speak for them, but for Mikey and for Sean and certainly I can say for myself, at the end of the day, we wanted to be as truthful as possible. We were spending so much time in Brighton Beach and we were spending so much time in these clubs with dancers and that there was inspiration everywhere.
How would you describe the Brighton Beach aesthetic that you guys translated for the screen?
At this point, I think I've been in every shop on Coney Island Avenue. We did so much shopping and sourcing in Bright Brighton Beach and it's so ... eclectic. I don't know if I could describe it with just one aesthetic. The shops on Coney Island Avenue run the gamut; one shop will be puffy coats and then the next shop will be $600 (about £450) coats or imitation luxury brands. It's kind of amazing.
Let's talk about Headquarters as well. How do you even begin to costume for an entire strip club full of extras?
So many, if not all of our background dancers were actual dancers and the majority of them were dancers from Headquarters. For the most part, they would bring in a suitcase of their own clothes and we would choose certain things for certain scenes. They were all instrumental and had so much information and gave us so much nuance. If you look at when Ani goes home from the club and takes the subway, she goes home in that really oversized jacket and cargo pants and Uggs. So many of the girls were like, “You have to have Uggs!” There were also the stories of the girls ensuring to go home in oversized, huge, comfy clothes, not just because they were tired from working all night but also the practicality of not wanting to be followed home or wanting attention once they leave. It was so beautiful for us to be able to witness and learn from what they knew — money can't buy that.
You're a big indie girly. What would you say are the best parts about being able to costume an indie film. And what would you say are some of the unavoidable challenges?
I think in a lot of ways the challenges become the blessings in a indie film production. For Anora, the costume department was a three-person team, which is so insane and so small. It's teensy! So, of course, that's challenging. Indie films, of course, have budget restraints, but it in turn becomes a blessing because it forces you to learn to really ask your community and reach out to independent artists or reach out to the guy with the Supreme archive! We had brands like Khaite that we reached out to that were incredibly generous because they supports artists and indie film. It becomes this beautiful outpouring of community when artists are helping other artists.
It's about the stuff that money can't buy. Sure, you could have millions of dollars and just go up and down Fifth Avenue and buy everything you like, or you can reach out to know the shop owner on Brighton Beach Avenue or the independent artist that graduated from Pratt. There's a magic there that you can't find otherwise.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
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