“Emilia Pérez” is set to be the next greatest fashion film
Every few years, a truly daring and original film comes around that completely busts genre, speaks to the zeitgeist, and changes the way you look at cinema. Emilia Pérez is one such movie; the Spanish-language musical stars groundbreaking transgender actress Karla Sofía Gascón as Juan “Manitas” Del Monte, a notorious Mexican crime lord who secretly transitions into the film’s eponymous female lead. Zoe Saldana and Selena Gomez also electrify the screen as Gascón’s costars.
The film debuted to an 11-minute standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, and made its debut on Netflix earlier this month. Harper's Bazaar caught up with the film’s artistic director and costume designer, Virginie Montel, to learn more about bringing this important, out-of-the-ordinary crime comedy to life—and how some unbelievably chic Saint Laurent pieces by Anthony Vaccarello came to appear on screen.
What attracted you to Emilia Pérez?
The story. The story is so incredible that I wanted to imagine how it could be real. I was so excited by this story and wanted to do right by it. When Jacques [Audiard, the director] first proposed the project, I did not know if it would be an opera or not. There was also this dimension to make some of the characters in a different way than a classical movie. You could go further—maybe not to a caricature—but there was a way to read these characters that you aren’t allowed to on regular movies.
How did you research costumes for this film?
I worked with Jacques on the artistic direction as well as being the costume designer, so when I did research, I went through all the worlds of the movie—sets, materials, colors, prints, and all the artistic ambiance. The work is strongly influenced by photos, paintings, and drawings from Mexico and Latin countries. Even though we shot entirely in Paris in studios, we referenced a lot of contemporary art from Latin countries, especially with colours. We knew we wanted to have a strong, colourful movie that sometimes isn’t what we always want in movies. Most movies, even if it’s stylised, there is usually a certain point when we stop in order to be more realistic. On Emilia, what was a strong point was the fundamental that this movie as a musical had a certain poetic license.
What was a challenge you surmounted with this film?
There are so many worlds in Emilia—one day we are in a trendy London restaurant, the next we are on a street in Mexico, the next we are in a hospital. As we were shooting in a studio, we didn’t have streets or anything, so our solution was to make the set with humans—so we did a lot of interesting work with extras. We built the world using the extras who were coming to set. They were dancing and singing around the set, and they were the engine to bring this film to life.
I understand you collaborated with Anthony Vaccarello on some of the costumes. What did that collaboration entail?
Saint Laurent came in quite late on the project—maybe one month from the start of shooting—so we were already quite aware of what we wanted [from a costume perspective]. It’s the kind of movie that everything depended on everything else—the light depended on the costume and so forth—and our cahiers were already quite built when Anthony came on the project. But we worked with the team to find pieces from his archive at Saint Laurent.
Which Saint Laurent pieces that made it into the film are you most proud of?
The Saint Laurent pieces were really for [Selena Gomez’s character] Jessi, when she’s with Gustavo in the car. She wears these very fancy sparkling diamond shoes. They also made this shirt for us because she had to open her shirt, kind of like Marilyn Monroe, to say goodbye to her lover. We wanted something that could really open the right way. For me, that is very Saint Laurent. And they made it for us with our perspective—because Jessi needed to open the shirt to show her [breasts] to her lover. Also, when she is in Switzerland, she has this very big fur—it is a faux fur, by the way—and that’s very Saint Laurent.
What was it like working with Zoe Saldana and Selena Gomez, who are so well-known for their fashion sense?
It was a pleasure to work with the entire cast but especially with Zoe and Selena. We didn’t know what they would be like. They came to Paris to shoot in our studio, our crazy story. We didn’t know. But this production was like a theatre troupe. Our actors came, they had already been practicing the singing and dancing on their own, and we ultimately came together, and it was so open to work together. Everybody trusted everybody, and nothing was imposed by anybody, especially the actresses.
There was one time Selena couldn’t wear the look we had selected. She had to dance around and the shoes were too high, too uncomfortable, and the jumpsuit was too open. So it’s always a collaboration, especially when there is singing and dancing. It was really nice and beautiful sharing this experience with each actress. They really trusted us.
How did the amount of singing and dancing in this film influence your costuming decisions?
It was interesting. The choreography uses a lot of contemporary movements, movements of the everyday that become dancing, so we didn’t have this preoccupation that the clothes needed to stretch too much for dancing.
How did you develop the character—or perhaps characters—of Manitas and Emilia? Did you create throughlines that connect them both stylistically, or did you want the characters to really feel distinct and stand apart?
There is a connection. When we cast Karla as Manitas, we tried so many different looks, different hairstyles, different prosthetics, but we always had this connection between the two lives. Manitas has this innate femininity with his long hair—which is the real hair of the actress, Karla. Manitas wore a lot of jewelry, maybe even more than Emilia. She wears these rings, this big Cartier jaguar ring, and also has golden teeth, and velvet tracksuits. Before we finally meet Emilia in London, there are a lot of female ideas in Manitas’s looks: long hair, jewellery, velvet, and strong colors. And when we finally discover Emilia, she has all the tenderness that Jacques wanted us to find—very soft makeup, a perfect black dress, no risks, very elegant. When she moves back to Mexico for the first time, she has a bit more of a shape. Our reference was Catherine Deneuve or Monica Bellucci—very bodycon.
Are there any fashion moments you’re especially proud of?
Emilia has this one dress that is blue and bronze. We see her in it when her kids arrive at her home, also when she falls in love with Epifanía, and also towards the end. It’s silk and from Equipment.
Did your actors try to steal anything from set?
Not that I saw!
Emilia Pérez is available to watch on Netflix.
You Might Also Like
