Corsets, Crushed Buttons, and Vampire Fashion in Robert Eggers' 'Nosferatu'

You know Linda Muir’s work.

She’s one of the most meticulous and thoughtful costume designers working today, bringing an extraordinary level of historical detail and character insight to her collaborations, particularly with writer/director Robert Eggers.

When The Witch came out a few years back, one early and common bit of praise was for Muir’s period costuming. They’ve continued to come together on other complex, beautiful work.

In Eggers and Muir’s latest partnership on Nosferatu, her work reveals details about the world and its characters without saying a word—although she's quick to challenge simple interpretations.

The film is a reimagining of the classic Nosferatu story, which itself is a reimagining of Dracula. Here, young Ellen (Lily-Rose Depp) summons the evil Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård) from the dead, and he spends years lusting after her, determined to dispose of matrimonial obstacles like Thomas (Nicholas Hoult) or the meddlesome Professor von Franz (Willem Dafoe). What unfolds on screen is an ice-cold, visually rich gothic horror.

Ahead of the film’s Dec. 25 release, we spoke to Muir about the film.

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A costume designer's job

The costume designer's journey began in theater, where her attention to detail garnered praise early on.

“When I was designing costumes for theater, the comment that I frequently got from friends and colleagues was, ‘You really should be designing for film because you do so much detail and really a lot of it can't be seen,’” Muir said.

Her transition to film and television began around the 1970s and '80s.

“There was a bit of the perception that people in theater did costuming one way, and people in film and television did costuming another way,” she said. “And I thought, ‘Well, that's interesting because I do it in both, and I do it the same in both.’”

The primary difference Muir found wasn't in the approach to design, but in the collaborative process with actors. In theater, she was much more hands-on with talent for longer periods. In film/TV, she soon saw she was involved much earlier in the creative process.

“I would actually be the first person that actors frequently talk to ... I was the first person to actually bring the director's ideas and the things that we had discussed and things that I would be working on to the actor to think about and to comment on and to incorporate.”

Her desire to collaborate has found a perfect match in her work with Eggers.

“With a director like Robert, you have the best of all possible worlds because he is such a collaborator, and he's just so generous with his ideas and with his passion and with his time,” Muir said.

Lily-Rose Depp stars as Ellen Hutter in director Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu, a Focus Features release.Courtesy of Focus Features / © 2024 FOCUS FEATURES LLC

How costumes reflect the character's world

Nosferatu’s protagonist, Ellen, is a tortured soul whose early paranormal run-ins with Count Orlok are dismissed as a purely feminine malady and simple sleepwalking (more movies should use the word “somnambulist,” I think). There’s a hint of patriarchal control overshadowing everything in the film.

I commented that Ellen stands out among the cast, frequently undone and free of her restrictive corset (although it’s later literally used as a restraint). At one point, the character literally rips her bodice apart. Does Muir see this as her bucking expectations of the period?

She challenges simplified readings of her costume as merely reflecting liberation from societal constraints.

“I'm not sure that I agree that she frees herself from the costume or clothing requirements of the period,” she said. The bodice-ripping is practical, she feels, to what’s happening to Ellen in the scene—which is, no big deal, just a possession of sorts.

For Muir, Ellen's character is revealed more subtly through her wardrobe choices.

“I think that maybe where we see a young woman at that period not responding to the demands of the society is that she chooses to wear fewer outfits.” This approach contrasts with other characters like Anna (Emma Corrin), who sports “a different outfit and different accessories for each of the script days that we see her in.”

I said, “I think maybe what I was latching onto was her—by necessity—wearing a lot of more of her underclothes and flowy outfits, and being seen in that more almost ethereal sense.”

Muir nodded. “I think also what Robert and I were going for with contrasting Ellen with Anna, for instance—and this would, I think, hold true for the hair and makeup as well, because Traci Loader did a very translucent makeup for Ellen—and so in the clothing, I went for more gossamer, more diaphanous.”

Lily-Rose Depp stars as Ellen Hutter in director Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu, a Focus Features release. Aidan Monaghan / © 2024 FOCUS FEATURES LLC

Building Orlok's costume

Another fascinating part of Muir's process was her creation of Orlok’s costume, which required extensive historical research and innovative solutions to modern limitations. Finding Orlok’s look took Muir into museums and other historical resources.

“Robert was very clear from the very beginning ... that for him, Orlok was rooted in reality. He was rooted in the nobility of the period roughly 1580 on,” she said.

Orlok appears in a dolman tunic and heavy “mente”—an overcoat usually associated with Hungarian noblemen in the 16th century. It gives him a sense of enormity and bulk.

He also has some trousers on.

“I happened to in one interview, just kind of as an aside, comment on his 'sexy Mick Jagger trousers,’” Muir said. “And that seemed to be picked up as if Mick Jagger was truly the source.”

“You were going for rock star, I'm sure,” I said.

Traditionally, Orlok’s costume would have multiple layers, some of which Muir didn’t have immediate access to in her research. She had to pick and choose what layers to incorporate.

“And the overall look was to establish Orlok as a once-real person with a life, with money, with wealth, with entitlement, with attitude.”

Another challenge came in materials. How could they source luxe fabrics like the ones an aristocrat would wear?

“It has become more and more and more difficult over certainly the decades that I've been working in costuming to actually put your hands on really fabulous textiles,” Muir said.

Orlok’s tunic was made of a silk velvet that she and her team degraded, even crushing the buttons.

“You just add layers and layers and layers and layers, and when it's on the stand and it's been sewn, it's finished, and then you're going to start breaking it down,” she said. “There's the moment of, ‘Oh, it's so beautiful.’ And yes, but it's even more beautiful when we start to put all of this history into it."

Nicholas Hoult stars as Thomas Hutter in director Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu, a Focus Features release. Aidan Monaghan / © 2024 FOCUS FEATURES LLC

Advice for other costume designers

For aspiring costume designers, Muir offers advice that speaks to the technical and interpersonal aspects of the role.

“Don't be afraid to ask questions. Don't be afraid to sound stupid. Because, really, what is stupid? Stupid is not asking questions.”

Costume designers might find themselves on a disorganized team, she said, and if you don’t ask the questions, who will?

“I think that asking questions and making suggestions constructive—try to be constructive, try to be positive, and don't be afraid to sound silly.”

She also emphasizes the importance of broad engagement with art of all kinds.

“Reading not simply costume books, but reading in general and watching films and listening to music, going to plays, anything like that, it all ends up being used at some point. It comes back out of you.”

Her reflection on Nosferatu's success points to what sets great costume design apart.

“If people are interested in costuming and they connected with Nosferatu in a real way, maybe think about the fact that perhaps what makes it somewhat different from other horror films or versions of Nosferatu is the amount of research and care and love, passion and love, that went into it.”