Costume designer Sarah Evelyn had worked with Ryan Murphy before The Beauty. So she knew that when you meet with him, you start by writing down “every single thing he says.”
Murphy and Matt Hodgson’s FX/Hulu horror series is about a biotech billionaire, Byron Forst, obsessed with maintaining his youth. Forst, portrayed by Vincent D’Onofrio and later by Ashton Kutcher, invests in the production of a drug called The Beauty, which transforms ordinary people into supermodel versions of themselves. There’s just one problem: The drug has lethal consequences.
Evelyn says that creating costumes for the all-star cast, which included Isabella Rossellini, Jeremy Pope, and Rebecca Hall, was challenging and at times intimidating — but also rewarding.
Evelyn’s career has included dressing Brad Pitt for Bullet Train, Ryan Gosling for The Fall Guy, andthe casts of Murphy’s Hollywood and American Horror Story Season 7. She talked with us about her process on The Beauty.
Sarah Evelyn on Designing the Stunning Costumes of The Beauty
MovieMaker: Did you work closely with Ryan Murphy to create looks?
Sarah Evelyn: Yes. I think while Ryan is writing [a series], he’s also visualizing it. So, before you even start making the costumes, you go into the meeting with Ryan and write down every single thing he says. I had my voice notes on and had an assistant taking notes because it’s all happening really fast. He’s not just talking to you about costumes; you are also talking about the environments and production designs, which are also really important. Then you go back, and really you start by taking his words and concepts and start making really in-depth mood boards. That’s step number one.
MovieMaker: What happens when the actors enter the picture?
Sarah Evelyn: After the mood boards, now you get your cast, which can be a hard jump because you had something in your mind, and now your actor comes in with their own ideas. My job is to make those two meet. It’s a lot of taking in information, processing it, pushing out visuals to confirm that you understand what is being said, and then presenting my interpretation of it all.
MovieMaker: I read that Ashton Kutcher wanted his character, Byron Forst, to have a Burning Man outfit because Forst was a “burner,” which is why we see D’Onofrio in a jacket full of teddy bears. How did you come up with that jacket?
Sarah Evelyn: For his transformation robe, Vincent said, “I want something that’s very burner.” So I put together a board of some of the craziest things I’ve seen [from Burning Man]. There was a picture of a burner in a crazy jacket with stuffed animals or toy baby dolls pinned together. And Ryan was like, “I want that.”
MovieMaker: Isabella Rossellini, who plays Byron’s wife, Franny, had such an elaborate, vibrant, eye-popping wardrobe. How did you create her looks?
Sarah Evelyn: Ryan and I talked about modernized 19th-century silhouettes. We were really mixing old and new, which can be really challenging. Initially, she was going to wear all blacks, but once Isabella Rossellini got cast, she said, “I’m seeing these silhouettes in bright colors. I’m thinking of fruit — vibrant, beautiful, lively colors.” So, we came up with these silhouettes and ideas, and we were like, “Alright, let’s just make these pieces that we can kind of build on.”
Then we went out to all the designers with our mood boards, and essentially said, “What can we pull? What can we buy?” We also went to couture rental houses. We brought it all in for her one fitting and just started playing. Of course, I could not have been more intimidated, but she was so amazing, and we built these awesome outfits.
The Beauty is now streaming on Hulu. You can read more of our Emmy contender interviews here.
Main image: Sarah Evelyn says fruit helped inspire Isabella Rossellini’s The Beauty wardrobe. Photo by Philippe Antonello/FX.