Emma Stone in “Bugonia.”
©Focus Features/Courtesy Everet
“How do you reinterpret something that’s already been done?” That’s the question “Bugonia” costume designer Jennifer Johnson asked herself when she began working on the Yorgos Lanthimos film.
Johnson is no stranger to contemporary costuming, having worked with Lanthimos on his previous, present-day set feature “Kinds of Kindness.” But “Bugonia” introduced new challenges. Johnson spoke with WWD about working on the director’s latest, starring Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons and Aidan Delbis.
For Johnson, “Bugonia,” an English-language, contemporary reimagining of the 2003 South Korean film “Save the Green Planet!” by filmmaker Jang Joon-hwan, had to feel tangible. “It was really important for Yorgos that it feel more realistic initially; that we play it a little straight.”
“Bugonia” follows conspiracy theorist Teddy and his cousin Don, played by Plemons and Delbis, as they kidnap and hold captive big pharma CEO Michelle, played by Stone, suspecting she’s an alien sent to destroy the planet. The film satirizes key elements of the zeitgeist, with costumes acting as signifiers for wealth and status — second skins for the main characters.
Understanding Stone’s CEO Michelle starts with her shoes. “She wears the most archetypal representation of wealth — the [Christian] Louboutins and the red sole was very important,” said Johnson, a reference to the 1992 introduction of the high-heel red soles from the designer. The costume designer began taking the most “stock” — “Not sad, but undesigned.” — variation on Stone’s wardrobe.
“I had a series of suits that played it really straight and banal,” Johnson said. “We started off with that, but then it evolved.” The designer looked to British luxury fashion house McQueen‘s collections, particularly the fall 2023 ready-to-wear line, for the final look, which “Emma and Yorgos really loved,” Johnson said.
“Everything else we made from scratch but the McQueen jacket just was so perfect. Why reinvent the wheel? The shape and the silhouette is nice. There’s something playful, not so straight, but it’s very subtle.” Other pieces sourced by Johnson and her team included Michelle’s “Saint Laurent bag” and “she has the Cartier watch [with the maroon strap].”
As much as it is a thriller, “Bugonia” is a class commentary, juxtaposing Michelle’s excessive wealth signifiers in her wardrobe to the clothes conspiracists and kidnappers Teddy and Don wear. “Sometimes the most difficult costume is the most banal, straight-forward costume,” Johnson said. “You really want to make sure those intentions, and those choices really serve the character and the story well.”
Aidan Delbis, Jesse Plemons and Emma Stone in “Bugonia.”
©Focus Features/Courtesy Everet
After kidnapping Michelle, negotiations take place between the three characters, with Teddy and Don changing from their silver bodysuits to business suits complete with ties and blazers, a significant choice reflecting the characters’ objectives.
“Teddy felt it was very important that they look like they’re grown up; like they have authority over [Michelle], that she take them seriously,” Johnson said about the choice behind the costume change. “They thought the best thing to do was to almost speak her corporate language visually.” The suits, Johnson said, also served as “subtle kind of signifiers of employment and status.”
Michelle’s corporate skin, like her hair, is eventually stripped away. A pivotal dinner scene features Stone’s character in a rosy dress, completely antithetical to the straight-laced, black and white color scheme of her corporate costume. For such a seemingly simple piece, Johnson and her team were “collecting things for a long time” to try and hit the perfect equilibrium between Stone’s movement, the dress’ colorways and the intimate story behind the dress that connects back to Teddy.
Emma Stone, Aidan Delbis and Jesse Plemons in “Bugonia.”
©Focus Features/Courtesy Everet
“We had some dresses that were much more fancy, but it felt so cumbersome knowing the tension that’s at that table,” Johnson said. Once the “perfect” dress was found — in what Johnson referenced as a “cheap and cheerful kind of dress shop” — it opened the door to various meanings and interpretations.
“There was a lot of attraction to that floral dress for myriad reasons,” said Johnson, adding, “In the end that print was so incredible because [of] the color. Michelle has a pretty strict color palette, it’s black, white and maroon; but the rose and mauve really ties into the entire movie.”
Emma Stone in “Bugonia.”
©Focus Features/Courtesy Everet
There are misconceptions about contemporary costume design. The craft and decision-making might look easy, though Johnson knows it’s anything but. “Contemporary costume design is really challenging and it’s also challenging to convince people of why it’s challenging,” she said.
“It’s a lot of work making it feel real and making it feel like it’s a part of the character and it’s just another layer of their skin and part of their DNA,” Johnson said. With “Bugonia,” Johnson and her team’s craftsmanship yield character designs that feel grounded, steeped in realism, with merely a hint of the extraterrestrial.
“Bugonia” is in select theaters Friday, with a wide release on Oct. 31.