How “Nosferatus” Costumes Reinvent Vampire Fashion

You have collaborated with Robert Eggers on several films now, including The Norwegian (2022), The lighthouse (2019), and The witch (2015). What is it like working with one filmmaker on so many different projects?

Each project is different as the material is different. But the way we work together, the MO is the same and only becomes easier and more friendship-oriented because you know what each other’s shorthand is and you know what works for each of us.

Robert has such a clear vision for each of these films. I imagine it affects your research process.

When Robert writes each of these incredible scripts, he begins with his own very detailed research and embeds that research into the script. Then it is up to me to elaborate and become more specific and ask the questions we need answers to. Robert always gives what he wants and what he sees, and they are always unique to his visions. He makes a very beautiful look book and we get that information and then I put it up over my walls and start thinking about what it means, what it means.

So when he hands in the manuscripts and looks at books, what does your process look like?

Then I start to find texts, paintings and images that I need to make sense of – because we are the ones who have to find the textiles, make the forms, care for the actors from the skin on. Every layer of costume, from corsets and changing to nightwear, stockings, coats – all of this was made for this film. Concretely, it is also German. So we found the costume journals that are German for very specific years. Count Orlok’s costume is all from a different period because he predates our main characters by centuries, and then we have these Orthodox Romanian nuns and priests who are very specific. The research is really extensive and I really love it.

Willem Dafoe and Lily-Rose Depp in Nosferatu

When it comes to the source material, there is so much to work with here, from traditional Eastern European vampire history to the original Nosferatu 1922 film to everything we know about Dracula to the Francis Ford Coppola film Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992). How did your Orlok – or not – reference everything that has come before?

There was a discussion between Robert and I that our approach would be more to evoke the unconscious than to recreate. Our approach to designing Orlok’s costumes was about how to create what Robert saw and how to reference the original (1922) Murnau film and the actual book that Bram Stoker wrote. Coppola’s Dracula is so stylized, with really amazing costumes, but that’s not what we did. Ours was more grounded in reality, in a more authentic-looking world. That meant researching very specific silhouettes. The cape, for example—it’s not a black satin Dracula cape—is the cape of a Transylvanian nobleman, which, due to the period and culture, is a coat with sleeves worn like a cape. So the silhouette, the collar and how high it goes to the back of Orlok’s head definitely evoked Murnau’s vampire.

Walk me through your costume decisions for your Count Orlok.

I start with my sketches and buy fabrics and think about things like, will he be seen in fire or camera light or moonlight? So let’s choose textiles that have gold or silver threads in them to reflect the light back. Then we start doing our wear and fittings with the actors. This is when we see that this coat needs to be bulkier, that the coat needs to be fur lined to give it the right weight, how long the sleeves need to be, etc.

So the design process must involve some quick turnarounds, I imagine.

There was one cape that ended up being so heavy that we had to add a quick-release harness to go into it. It is really an ongoing process throughout the preparation period.

One thing that struck me about the cinematography is the transition from color to a kind of black and white grayscale. How did that affect your costume decisions?

Robert is extremely fond of black and white and grey, and I love colour. It’s always a conversation between him and me. I try to control the colors and use very specific favorites and color combinations. I am also guided by what is accurate to the period, the actual textiles from the years up to 1838. If you look at the actual patterns from textile books or swatch books with fabric samples from the period, this was a wild period for patterns. You can have a fabric face with stripes, paisley and ombré in the same fabric and it’s interesting but very distracting. So it’s about trying to figure out how to evoke the period with appropriate textiles that don’t overwhelm with either print or pattern or color, but also differentiate each character from the others.

Nicholas Hoult and Lily-Rose Depp

What was a challenge in costuming this film?

All the different cultures (represented in the film) must be researched, the fabrics sourced, the designs discussed with the tailors. And with nosferatu, there was a real process because we were preparing and shooting in Prague and our costume shop didn’t have many people who spoke English, so a lot had to be done through translation. So it was another actor that was fascinating in terms of bringing the whole workshop together and stressing how important it was to be precise in following design and research materials.

This entire cast is extraordinary, but I specifically need to ask about Lily-Rose Depp, who is truly known for her personal sense of style. How is she to work with?

Lily-Rose was extraordinary. She was always interested in the historical information. There might have been parts of costumes that needed tweaking because you didn’t realize from your sketches that these were supposed to go on the body and be worn by people – but no one went in and said, “I will” don’t wear this.” What I loved about both Lily-Rose and Emma Corrin is that they said, “I’d wear that now!” And that’s what I’ve come to realize when I’m making these very detailed period films , is that really nice designs, really great clothes, are timeless. You connect to something you wear regardless of period, if you love it, it makes you feel. That was also the case with Robert Pattinson when he tried on the oilskin The lighthouse. He was very interested in how it looked.

Were there any wardrobe malfunctions you had to deal with on set?

I was working away in the design office one day when I got this call to come to set quickly. Everyone was frantically gathered around Lily, and Lily looked hurt. I came to her and the back of her wedding veil had three or four big tears in it. I’m talking about a wedding veil that I found in London, which is a vintage wedding veil. It was like a spider web, it was so rubbish. We took the original veil apart and washed it and everyone treated it like the Shroud of Turin – then it was shaped into this beautiful wedding veil with handmade lilacs made for us outside of Florence.

In the picture Lily’s back was to the camera and the velcro around the camera caught the veil and then they whipped the camera back and the veil just ripped. We absolutely nailed it, and the shot is backlit, meaning everything you do to it will be visible. We all rolled with it and Lily was great and we just kept going. We managed to sew it back into graceful folds. I don’t think you can see that in the movie!

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.