Warning: Mild spoilers for Babygirl follow.
In Baby Girl, a volatile love affair between powerful CEO Romy (Nicole Kidman) and her mysterious intern Samuel (Harris Dickinson) is fueled by an ongoing ambiguous power play. are. Director Halina Lane, who brought us the quintessential Gen Z horror comedy Bodies, Bodies, Bodies, explains in her production notes: Who is the rat? Who is using whom? ”
During a brief conversation in the fancy office pantry, a smitten Romy orders Samuel to make her coffee. Sensing her plot, her subordinate cheekily retorts, shaming her for her afternoon caffeine habit.
“How many cups of coffee do you drink a day?” he asked with a twinkle in his eye. “It’s none of your business,” retorted Romy, wearing a soft pink blouse and skirt and a dove gray Max Mara wool cashmere coat. Then she answered, “7.”
“We really wanted to show how much control she has in how she presents herself,” says costume designer Bart, one half of Kurt and Bart. . “Part of it was[her]palette. She’s a very calculating, disciplined executive, and yet she has a really neutral presentation that is very feminine. It’s tone-on-tone and very pale. There’s a certain level of deletion.”
The same goes for the luxurious, tactile fabrics and textures in her luxurious wardrobe, including cashmere, silk, and sheer organza. We wanted to show what happens when she loses control and goes down the rabbit hole,” adds Burt.
This is also reflected in her mannerisms, especially the way she treats her clothes. For example, Romy ties his coat belt neatly to show (or feign) more control. “She’s a little more belted-in and a little more closed-minded,” Kurt says.
At a company holiday party, Romy wears a blush Giorgio Armani bodycon dress with delicate cutouts, delicate pleats and a draped neckline, painting the ideal image of a woman who has it all . But she’s surrounded by a perfect family in white: her loving theater director husband Jacob (Antonio Banderas) and their teenage daughters Isabel (Esther McGregor) and Nora (Vaughan Riley). Regardless, Samuel is distracted.
In the production notes, Kidman says that Romy is “so afraid to reveal her innermost thoughts, desires, feelings, secrets, and things that she is ashamed of, that she does not tell her husband about it. “I am unable to be completely honest with myself or myself.” Through exhilarating, often surprising, and dangerous trysts with Samuel, she is able to explore and express her sexual desires, usually considered a social taboo. Her wardrobe lives up to that, too.
“Harris’ character obviously makes her open up and explore other sides of herself, and when she does that,[her clothes]become looser and more open,” says Kurt. (For Dickinson’s costume, I Googled “Subway Intern” to find out about the ill-fitting but actually made-to-measure suits and Men’s Wearhouse ties. “I think the contrast is really, really interesting. ” says Kurt.)
When Romy arrives at Samuel’s low-rent hotel room with the intention of ending their affair, she sends a mixed message in her stern, almost queenly all-black attire. An Etro blouse with a floral pattern around the neck and a custom-designed ultra-tight pencil skirt.
“She’s trying to get closer because she feels like she’s revealing too much, and she ends up overdressing for this meeting,” says Bart. “The idea is that she’s trying to take control of herself again and not let him seduce her, but she’s not sure about that, so her blouse is blue and black, sheer lace. She… I’m also wearing the highest heels I wear in the movie, and that’s all for that scene.”
Samuel, who was out for a late stroll with snacks from the bodega, confessed to being confused about Romy’s intentions, citing messages about clothing. “You show up like this,” he said, pointing to her ensemble, down to her towering Valentino heels.
“What I love about this whole movie is that it’s not simple,” Burt says. “[Romy and Samuel]both find it awkward to play the roles they’re taking on, and sometimes they end up dressing completely wrong or uncomfortable for the occasion.”
Kurt added: “Samuel doesn’t care at all and the fact that he shows up wearing a dirty[Nike]hoodie shows he has no plans for their encounter.”
As Romy follows her own sexual urges and desires through a thrilling and secret relationship, her color palette also changes. “She’s starting to blossom,” Kurt says. “Those colors are getting hotter and more saturated, just like she’s getting hotter.”
Lane’s vision of Romy’s turning point includes a kind of sartorial tableau. As the camera shoots overhead, she writhes on the floor of her walk-in closet, struggling to change from her signature pink pantsuit to a slashed sapphire velvet Zuhair Murad dress. , cutouts and asymmetrical details.
“Romy is shedding her skin. She’s changing in real time,” Bart explains. “We rehearsed[the changing scene]together, how she would pull on a very tight dress and then take it all off.” Romy cheers Jacob on the opening night of his play. She puts on the stunning dress to do her job, but after receiving an email from Samuel, she lies under the guise of a work emergency.
Deep in the depths of her affair, Romy lies to her family again and rushes from her office to a rave venue in the suburbs, where she meets Samuel wearing a tank top. She is still wearing her work clothes. A gorgeous marigold pussy ribbon blouse, custom-designed cream pencil skirt, and camel coat by Jason Wu (miraculously she didn’t get lost in the sweat-soaked crowd) ). As the two dance sensually to the throbbing music and unstable lighting, Samuel slowly undoes the long ribbon tie around Romy’s neck and strips her blouse down to Journelle’s camisole.
“It’s actually very exciting to see her blouse ripped off[by Samuel]at a rave. There’s an abandonment to it,” Kurt says. “And all of her clothes are really beautiful and expensive, so to see her tearing up in a sweaty club like that was really, really exciting, and honestly, it was liberating for her. It really symbolized that.”
Romy opens and closes the film wearing a different blouse, adorned with an intricate pussy bow. Initially dismayed by his late arrival and the presence of a large number of new interns in the corner office, including the brazenly outspoken Samuel, he casually wears a dove-grey Saint Laurent top. He continued to play with his tied neck. But in the final scene, Romy reappears wearing a light shirt, neatly tied with a bow, and sitting with his back to a desk.
“When we first meet her, when she’s at her most controlled, she’s already starting to unravel a little bit,” says Bart. “It’s not like she’s going to be a completely different character. She’s wearing the same clothes, but the real big difference is that she’s herself. It’s Romy who really makes the change.”
“Baby Girl” will be released in theaters on December 25th.
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