Dressed to Kill (and Thrill): Costumes Fit for an Oscar

Babylon (Paramount)

We meet Nellie LaRoy (Margot Robbie) in Babylon just as she’s skidded her car onto the front lawn of a glamorous Hollywood house party she’s hoping to crash. She steps out of the car in a skintight red ensemble with a plunging neckline that immediately signals this is someone who captures people’s attention—even in a rollicking bash with an elephant, debaucherous dancers, and a little person hopping around on a penis-shaped pogo stick. Babylon costume designer and three-time Oscar nominee Mary Zophres says of Robbie’s lady-in-red entrance, “We knew that it needed to be striking, we wanted it to be sexy, and we wanted it to stand out in the crowd.”

Director Damien Chazelle told Zophres early on that he wanted to avoid typical looks from the 1920s and 1930s in his Hollywood period piece. But the designer wanted this look to be something that Nellie, a scrappy aspiring actor, could have made herself at home during that period. “She’s trying to get away with as little clothing as possible but still be allowed into the door,” says Zophres, who went through six different prototypes before landing on this look. At first, the vintage-silk top was paired with pants, but then, inspired by an image of a woman from the Ziegfeld Follies, Zophres created a pair of hot pants and wrapped a sarong around it. “Instantly, you know somebody daring is wearing that,” Zophres says. “Someone who’s got a zest for life and is not afraid to take chances.”