Move over, Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid); a brand new immortal showman is on the town with a closet to match. In Season 2 of “Interview with the Vampire,” thespian vampire Santiago (Ben Daniels) clothes the half on and off stage, upping the fashion stakes (no pun supposed). New Orleans was ripe for hanging sartorial turns, however introducing the Théâtre des Vampires within the postwar Paris panorama provides one other layer of style drama to the AMC adaptation of the hit Anne Rice e book sequence.
“We really amped up the theatricality of everything when they were in the theater, but when they were out in the world—no matter where they were—this coven was such a heightened reality,” costume designer Carol Cutshall advised IndieWire. With a whopping 14 new vampires coming into Louis (Jacob Anderson) and Claudia’s (Delainey Hayles) orbit, Cutshall individualized every by choosing a mode icon and drawing on the interval they turned vampires. For actress Estelle (Esme Appleton), it’s a twisted spin on legendary French singer Édith Piaf that Cutshall made “a little more grotesque, a little more theatrical, a little more frightening.” Cutshall offers perception into the blood-sucking stage firm headed by Armand (Assad Zaman) and the way Claudia, Louis, and even Lestat slot in.
From the script, Cutshall (who additionally designed Season 1) instantly drew parallels between Santiago’s “leaping through the air and weightlessness” and Fred Astaire’s signature spats, prime hat, and tuxedo with tails. The black, white, and grey stage manufacturing palette informs Santiago’s look, with Cutshall turning to Vincent Price horror motion pictures for inspiration. “Look at those costumes; there are so many layers of pattern clash, texture, print, and stripe, as well as all of these fabrics and textures,” she mentioned. “There was an endless amount you could give him [Daniels]; he could always take more. He’s one of those people that can support all of it.”
Santiago hangs onto his main man standing backstage in a set of luxurious dressing robes, with “great names of theater” like Peter O’Toole, Douglas Fairbanks, John Gielgud, and Laurence Olivier offering debonair cues. “All the vampires have several different speeds. It’s their look when they’re on stage, backstage, and then another look when they’re out on the kill,” mentioned Cutshall. The latter is “where you see their real personalities more,” which sees Santiago switching capes for high-collar leather-based jackets.
Regular persons are struggling within the postwar years, however that is Paris, and there may be nonetheless a way of being put collectively. “You’d look at research from that time, and still, the people on the street have such panache, and they were so chic,” Cutshall defined. While Christian Dior is designing the “New Look,” Claudia strikes a bond with one other dressmaker, Madeleine (Roxane Duran), and “has something made for her by someone who sees her.” Claudia wears the pink silk gown when she steps into the Théâtre des Vampires for the primary time. “She couldn’t be more beautiful; she’s the most vibrant flower there,” Cutshall described.
Claudia has been determined to belong and eventually thinks she has discovered her folks. To turn into a member of the coven, Claudia should ditch her fancy frock for a piece smock, which is one in all Cutshall’s favourite Claudia seems. “We were searching everywhere for these 1940s giant rubber galoshes that felt like Frankenstein boots,” mentioned Cutshall. The workwear smock was custom-built within the Prague workroom, and it isn’t solely glam that evokes awe: “It was so breathtaking to walk into the room and see the finished paint job on one of these costumes.”
It is a short-lived victory for the vampiress, as Claudia’s first onstage position as Baby Lulu is much more infantilizing than the sailor get-up from Season 1. “For her to work so hard and to want it so badly to be accepted, and then to be presented with the ultimate regression. It had to be heartbreaking,” mentioned Cutshall. “Mon Bébé Aime Les Fenêtres” [aka “My Baby Loves Windows”] is a big crowd-pleaser, condemning Claudia to put on the infant doll gown to finish all child doll clothes. Cutshall labored with 1927, the theater firm that designed the projection and stage parts, to conceive one of the best model of this costume, resulting in the daring aquamarine thrives and robust black define. “The whole Baby Lulu stage play feels like a childlike little drawing,” she mentioned.
The gown was additionally constructed and painted in Prague, and Cutshall needed to take into account the way it appeared on stage and out on the planet. After Armand punishes Claudia for a lackluster milestone efficiency, she should put on the costume in all places. “We even had to do a version that felt like she’d been wearing it for 500 performances,” mentioned Cutshall. “By the time you see her out with the sandwich board, it’s got a gray haze.”
Claudia’s devoted followers additionally put on a model of Baby Lulu’s child doll on the entrance row. “We gathered all of these different fabrics that could be dyed into that same color story to have all of Baby Lulu’s fans make this very crude, very homemade version of her dress, which we also had to paint,” mentioned Cutshall.
Vampires have lengthy enthralled audiences as Lestat, within the position of Harlequin 150 years earlier, turned heads in a whimsical pink, white, and blue ensemble. Cutshall describes Lestat’s “rockstar energy” that appealed to the “Merveilleuses” ladies who adopted “glamour gore” equipment like “little red bead guillotine necklaces” on the finish of the French Revolution. “People are busting it back out and being very rebellious and showing their finery and being very edgy with their silks,” says Cutshall in regards to the shift that Lestat embraces.
It is the other of Armand, whose minimalist tastes don’t change a lot throughout the centuries. “When we find him in 1795 if you think about the cut of those clothes, the shape on him [is] very open,” Cutshall says. “He has no predators. He is the most powerful one. He even shows Lestat, ‘I’m more powerful than you.” Relaxed, elegant tailoring continues within the ‘40s and present-day Dubai.
Cutshall had an unforgettable expertise visiting Les Mauvais Garçons in Paris to supply Armand and Louis’ midcentury seems. “I was able to get just the most incredible French workwear from them for Louis,” she says. Louis eschews the overt theater child vitality however performs the a part of a unique Parisian artwork scene. It seems that “all the world’s a stage” even for vampires.
New episodes of “Interview with the Vampire” air Sundays on AMC.
