Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1352017
Spring 2021 The Costume Designer 25 "Your eye will automatically go to the thing with the most contrast," Bridges explains. Even when Peppy was an unknown, he wanted the audience to be aware of her presence. Though her dress—actually coral, but soft gray on camera—was muted, he used accessories to steer the audi- ence's gaze. "She wears a white hat, a white collar, a dark little tie with that coral dress so that even in the crowd, you are somehow drawn to look at her." Bridges also used texture to dramatic effect. "Of course, glittering Hollywood!" he notes. "I've found that using lamé, sequins, and beads was a subtle—or not so subtle—empha- sis on the movie business in Hollywood, all that glitz and glamour." Peppy's costumes therefore underwent a textural shift as the story progressed. "As she waits to be chosen to be a dancer, she's in a middle value—just one color. Once chosen, she goes to wardrobe. And the next time we see her on set, she's in a black and silver sequined dress. So you get the idea she's in a costume. When we see her do an inter- view as a star, she's wearing a black and lamé dress." The design process involved a lot of trial and error. "It was quite low tech!" Bridges remarks. "It was 2010, so we still had digital cameras instead of everything done on our phones. I took a picture of a color, then switched my camera to black and white and took another picture, so I could compare the two on how they read. It was really interesting because the middle value—it might be coral, it might be green, it might be sky blue, it might be tan. They all look the same," he laughs, then continues. "There are a couple of things that I wish I'd have done in higher con- trast. There was a detail on Peppy's shoes in the first scene that I sprayed on there—a little deco thing—but I didn't do it quite dark enough. You were constantly learning what would work." There were additional challenges. Bridges, knowing that the film might be shown in color in some markets, had to be judicious in selecting colors that would be effective in black and white but also harmonious in real life. And, with existing clothing from the period being nearly 100 years old, he and his team built most of the costumes for both cast and background players. Their efforts paid off. "We had a very, very small bud- get because it was a very independent film. No one thought that it was going to blow up into what it became. It was very exciting, and it also was a testament to what happens when you're just doing something because you love it. I really believed in that script. I loved the director, Michel Hazanavicius. I thought it was such a cool challenge to try to recreate that period," notes Bridges. "I'm someone that got into this business because I love the movies and grew up on them. I love that whole homage to Hollywood." Illustration by Mark Bridges Photo: Courtesy of Warner Brothers Bérénice Bejo in The Artist