Sven Frenzel/The CWApologies to Adelaide Kane and her costars-in-waiting, but your costumes are totally stealing the spotlight on Reign!
We've been obsessed with the gorgeous gowns and to-die-for headbands ever since we first laid eyes on the CW's breakout drama. So obsessed, in fact, that we may or may not have stalked the woman responsible for the fashion on the show. (Hey, who hasn't procured a restraining order at least once in their lifetime?!)
We chatted with Reign's super-talented costume designer Meredith Markworth-Pollack, who previously worked on Hart of Dixie and Gossip Girl (What a pedigree!), about how she found established each of the girls' looks on the period drama.
While Mary (Kane) and each of the ladies-in-waiting have their own distinguishable aesthetic, Meredith tells us she wanted them all to complement each other. (Think 'N Sync in the early aughts.) "I wanted them to look like a painting together, and it really came down to palette, which was also an important key when kind of pitching what was going to be contemporary and what was not going to be contemporary," she explains.
Mary (Adelaide Kane)
"From the beginning I had this vision of her as two women: she's the warrior queen and she's the romantic. And I always feel like usually we embody both of those elements in her wardrobe, so if there's a harsh or strong detail, it will be accompanied by something light and feminine. Sometimes it's even just her hair which works into that. Something that pops to mind is this Alexander McQueen gown that we put her in in the second episode, that she wears when she meets Simon, the British lord…It's this insane, beaded almost kind of armored gown, and with her hair down and soft, it kind of softened it up and made it a little more romantic and mysterious rather than just harsh. So I feel like that's the balance usually with Mary."
Kenna (Caitlin Stasey)
"Immediately as soon as I read the pilot, I thought Kenna to me feels like our bohemian girl, our flower child, and has this kind of relaxed hippie vibe. And then when I saw a photo of Caitlin, I thought, 'Oh, that's perfect, she totally fits the bill.' We keep her in a lot of earth tones, a lot of creams."
Lola (Anna Popplewell)
"Lola read to me as the romantic, and I immediately thought of the iconic image of Ophelia in the water, surrounded by flowers. She became our romantic type and kind of the heroine. And that kind of turned into having a 1920s vibe to her, and I think a lot of those silhouettes look so beautiful on Anna. So we kept her in a lot of plums and burgundies and pinks and lavenders, and keeping her feminine but also strong at the same time, because her character speaks out and is opinionated."
Greer (Celina Sinden)
"Greer, because she's not titled, but she's ridiculously wealthy, she's constantly trying to prove herself with her jewels and her fashion...She's always kind of slightly over the top, always kind of acceptable but a little bit over the top. She'll always have big jewels on, we kept her in a lot of emerald, kind of jewel tones, a lot of greens and deep golds and yellows on her. Constantly one too many accessories on her because she's trying a little too hard."
Aylee (Jenessa Grant)
"For Aylee, she always felt probably the most conservative out of the girls, a little more reserved, a little more law-abiding so to speak. I always envisioned her as the prep, the preppy girl as she would be in modern times. So we kept her in a lot of creams. Ironically, old vintage wedding dresses really kind of started working for her, so we got this collection in and these beautiful kind of 1950s and '60s wedding gowns that we then would kind of take apart and jewel or do something to do make them her own."
Of course, we couldn't resist asking about the castle's "ghost" Clarissa and her not-at-all creepy mask: "On the pilot, we made it probably 10 different times. That was a thing that everyone had to have an opinion on, and rightfully so. It had to be perfect. I think I have like every person in our photo department, a photo of them wearing it, and that became the thing. Then we finally made a great one that everyone finally signed off on. When she's dressed up, it's scary as hell. It really is."
Reign airs Thursday at 9 p.m. on the CW.