10 Costume Designs That Defined an Entire Character

Costume design is one of the most important aspects of filmmaking when it comes to establishing a character. Almost always, an audience gets to see what a character looks like before they ever hear them speak a syllable, so the visual elements of a character are vital for delivering the right first impression. Is this a good character or a bad one? Are they rich or poor? Do they present male, female, or otherwise? Audiences can answer many of these questions from a single still frame, which speaks to the power of costuming. The way a character’s costuming changes throughout the movie also informs their arc and helps underscore their journey.

Hair and makeup also have a lot to do with this, but for the time being we’re going to focus on 10 superb costumes that do a heck of a lot of heavy lifting when it comes to developing the characters that they have been placed upon.

10. Pepa’s Red Blazer, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988)

‘Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown’ (1988)Credit: Lauren Films

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown director Pedro Almodóvar is a master of on-screen color. One of his favorite colors to use is red, but he doesn’t just splash it into the frame indiscriminately. Red is the color of passion, love, and violence, and he places the color on his main character, Pepa (Carmen Maura), both so she stands out from the majority of the other characters in the movie and because she is the character in the door-slamming farce who is most profoundly impacted by love. She has been driven to the brink of madness after being abandoned by her lover, so her red blazer indicates the fiery feelings that she has been trying to hold inside as her external circumstances grow more and more frenzied.

9. Cher’s Yellow Plaid Suit in Clueless (1995)

‘Clueless’ (1995)Credit: Paramount Pictures

Cher Horowitz (Alicia Silverstone) is the lead character in Clueless, which is a modernized retelling of Jane Austen’s Emma. In addition to her iconic yellow plaid suit being a dazzling testament to her fashion sense, the outfit underscores two important facets of her character. First, she has the confidence to stand out from the crowd. The eye-catching color looks completely different from everything being worn around her, even the high-fashion outfits of her best friend, Dionne (Stacey Dash). Second, she follows the beat of her own drum to a degree that is a little indulgent, which she slowly learns over the course of the movie as it occurs to her that being unapologetically herself shouldn’t include ignoring the beats of other people’s drums.

8. Satánico Pandemonium’s Stagewear in From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)

‘From Dusk Till Dawn’ (1996)Credit: Miramax Films

The vampire stripper Satánico Pandemonium (Salma Hayek) memorably wears almost nothing but a snake during her act in From Dusk Till Dawn. In addition to the snake being an eye-catching replacement for a more typical feather boa, it represents the way that her sexual allure is a mask for the fact that she’s a dangerous predator.

7. Elle’s Pink Suit in Legally Blonde (2001)

‘Legally Blonde’ (2001)Credit: MGM Distribution Co.

Legally Blonde is another movie that uses a bold color to show how a character stands out from the crowd. When socialite Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon) goes to Harvard to prove herself to her elitist ex, her shockingly pink wardrobe makes her an instant fish out of water among the muted tones worn by her classmates. In spite of her wardrobe being judged, she refuses to abandon pink, which is a color often associated with femininity in American culture. This quality highlights the fact that her femininity is ultimately an asset in the courtroom, as it allows her to see a fresh angle in a case that is missed by the men on her team.

6. Eric Draven’s Outfit in The Crow (1994)

‘The Crow’ (1994)Credit: Dimension Films

Not everything has to be so complicated. In The Crow, Eric Draven (Brandon Lee) dresses like a hella cool rockstar who has come back from the dead as an avenging angel because that’s exactly what he is.

5. Grace’s Wedding Dress in Ready or Not (2019)

‘Ready or Not’ (2019)Credit: Fox Searchlight Pictures

The fact that Ready or Not’s Grace (Samara Weaving) is still wearing her wedding dress while being forced to participate in a deadly game of hide and seek with her new in-laws is no accident. The costume design accomplishes many things at once. First, it acts as an ironic counterpoint to the fact that this is supposed to be the happiest day of her life. Second, the white fabric will allow red blood to stand out perfectly on the dress, highlighting the ordeal she’s going through. Third, the turtleneck element makes the dress feel formal and restrictive, just like the family she has now unfortunately found herself trapped in.

4. Querelle’s Sailor Uniform in Querelle (1982)

‘Querelle’ (1982)Credit: Scotia

Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s erotic drama Querelle follows the titular sailor (Brad Davis) docking in a small port town, where his sheer sexual magnetism tears apart the fabric of local society. His costume perfectly accentuates his mysterious, alluring aura. The symbolic purity of the outfits bright white color is at odds with the amount of skin that’s showing, while the hat and other symbols of his position are a reminder that he belongs to the sea and that his time in town will only be brief.

3. Giselle’s Wedding Dress in Enchanted (2007)

‘Enchanted’ (2007)Credit: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

The wedding dress worn by Enchanted’s Giselle (Amy Adams) has a completely different function from Grace’s in Ready or Not. Here, it is meant to represent the fact that Giselle comes from a Disneyfied, animated world where their notions of romance are over-the-top in a way that doesn’t square with the gritty reality of New York City. Her voluminous skirts not only make her look like a fish out of water; they literally make it difficult for her to exist in the cramped physical spaces she visits around the city.

2. Darth Vader’s Uniform in the Star Wars Trilogy (1977-1983)

‘Star Wars’ (1977)Credit: Twentieth Century-Fox

Much ink has been spilled about the iconography behind Darth Vader (played on set by David Prowse and voiced by James Earl Jones), so I won’t belabor the point. But Vader’s uniform is perhaps the most perfect villain costume in cinema. The pure, uniform blackness of his clothing makes him stand out against his mostly bright-white compatriots, while his metallic, vaguely insectoid helmet removes any trace of humanity from his visage.

1. Lorelei’s Pink Dress in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)

‘Gentlemen Prefer Blondes’ (1953)Credit: 20th Century-Fox

The pink dress worn by Lorelei Lee (Marilyn Monroe) while she performs “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is iconic for a reason. In addition to being gorgeous, the bright pink fabric evokes femininity in the same way that Elle Woods’ costumes would later do in Legally Blonde. The boldness of the color highlights the way that the character in the song performs femininity, putting her womanhood front and center in order to get what she wants out of men.

So what are some of your favorite film costumes, and what do they tell you about the characters who wear them? Sound off in the comments below!