Oceans 8 Had A Lot Of Help From The Fashion World
I
t was amazing how good they all were about having to share me,” costume designer Sarah Edwards tells Vogue of dividing her time between the eight leading ladies of 2018’s summer blockbuster, Oceans 8. “Most of these actresses are used to being the star of a movie, not having to share that spot with seven others, but they were really respectful of each other.”
The calibre of the cast – Hollywood heavyweights Cate Blanchett, Sandra Bullock, Anne Hathaway star alongside Mindy Kaling, Sarah Paulson, Awkwafina, Rihanna and Helena Bonham Carter – also made Edwards’s job easier. “We got a lot of help from the fashion world,” she recalls of the costume department bulging with every major fashion brand. “There were a lot of people really interested in being a part of it.”
It was when Cartier came calling, however, that she realised the extent of the cast's influence. The storied jeweller invited Edwards and Hathaway into its archive to select rare stones to complement her costumes as Daphne Kluger. “We sat in this incredible room and Cartier brought us trays and trays of jewellery,” she remembers. “We went through every single one and matched the jewellery to all of Anne’s outfit changes – it was incredible.” The luxury French house also created the magnificent "Nawanagar" necklace that is the focus of film’s Met Gala heist.
Ah, the heist. The master plan of Danny Ocean’s sister, Debbie (Sandra Bullock), and her team of money-hungry mates. Edwards’s team (15 styling assistants on normal days, near 50 for the gala shoot) dressed 300 extras in couture and designer dresses that PR agency KCD helped her source. “We couldn’t go to Macy’s and buy these dresses, it would never have looked real! We had to have access to authentic designer gowns.” Debbie Ocean’s crew wore archive Givenchy (Blanchett), Alberta Ferretti (Bullock), Zac Posen (Rihanna), Valentino (Hathaway), Dolce & Gabbana (Bonham Carter), Naeem Khan (Kaling), Prada (Paulson) and Jonathan Simkhai (Awkwafina), but several celebrity cameos weren’t confirmed until the shoot day. Other high-profile actors, who Edwards will not name, turned up wearing red-carpet wear from their personal collections. The more the merrier, or rather, the more fabulous the better, was the mood.
COURTESY OF WARNER BROTHERS
If the gala finery marks the film's glamorous climax, it's the everyday uniforms of the octet that underline their personalities. Take Lou, the nightclub owner played by Blanchett, whose wardrobe screams of Keith Richards – all louche tailoring, patterned shirts and silk ties. “I did a lot of research into New York in the late Eighties and early Seventies – that kind of new wave meets rock‘n’roll era,” she explains. Sure enough, Richards was on the moodboard, alongside Debbie Harry, and also street style from the team's extensive photography research. “It was important to try to incorporate real people’s style into every character,” Edwards asserts.
Blanchett’s suits came courtesy of Burberry, who “was amazing – the brand made them on such an incredible timeline.” But, in keeping with the cast’s “realness”, Edwards teamed Lou’s tailoring with thrift store items. “Her style is a real mix of everything – found items, designer items and inexpensive items that you can buy at the army navy store.”
Her eclecticism ricochets off Bullock’s somber style. “We really wanted Debbie to be cool, calm and collected, because she’s behind the heist and she’s been in prison for five years planning it,” Edwards explains. “There’s a stillness about her, so there’s a lot of clean lines and controlled colours in her wardrobe. She’s the polar opposite of Lou, because it’s an opposites attract kind of thing.”
Though Edwards is loathe to suggest a favourite character – "that’s like asking me who my favourite child is!" – or divulge whose wardrobe took the longest to curate (Bullock racks up some 65 outfit changes, with Blanchett coming close at 40), she does have a soft spot for Rihanna’s Oceanstransformation. “She plays a computer hacker from the Caribbean, so I looked at pictures of Bob Marley, and other Rastafarians,” she says. “She wears very oversized clothes, so when we see her character at the Met Gala, it's a major transformation. It’s really fun.”
