As someone who spent their childhood growing up in the 2000s, the style of the noughties has always fascinated me. Maybe it’s because it was the era of baby tees, rhinestone Juicy Couture tracksuits, and awfully tacky bracelets, but I always found myself drawn into the excess and gaudy campy styles that the youth of the 2000s wore. The campiness and gutsy risks of fashion of this era takes the forefront of Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn, providing us an entrance into the world of British aristocracy, tied with a cheap sun-burned bow in a sporty polo. The costumes of Saltburn bring together a story of desire, obsession and love, while also allowing for costume designer Sophie Canale to use her own personal nostalgia on the 2000s to bring to Saltburn’s glamorous estate.

Leia Mendoza: First of all, I just wanted to say congratulations on the film! Saltburn was my most anticipated film of 2022 and 2023, so being here to be able to talk to you is the coolest thing ever. I’m also a fashion student, so immediately after watching Saltburn, I wrote so many questions that I was dying to ask you.
Sophie Canale: Thank you so much!

Leia Mendoza: I recently talked to Emerald a few weeks ago and we specifically talked about how costumes are character. One thing that I found that was really interesting was how when we look at each character, they’re divided by two categories: Those who care about their appearances, such as Oliver and Farleigh and then, we have characters like Felix who seem to throw whatever on. When you first signed on, who was the hardest style to visualize and who was easier to paint a picture of when you started brainstorming ideas?
Sophie Canale: I think Farleigh was my kind of journey that I went on the longest with. He didn’t sit in with the gang, he was on his own journey, so it was making sure that we found a style that worked for him. But, it wasn’t too overpowering as well, to be too distracting from everyone else in a sense that you know, he’s still part of that world. We were still making sure it wasn’t too contemporary and it was still set in the 2000s, so also taking a mixture of the 1970s. With everyone else, I had so much inspiration. They sort of lifted off the page. 

Leia Mendoza: I especially really loved Farleigh’s style. I know that Emerald was saying that you guys used mostly vintage for Farleigh to keep up with his appearance, his looks and how he’s sort of a member of the family but everyone thinks of him as someone who is not a member of the Cattons. 
Sophie Canale: I also feel like everyone else is so comfortable fully in their own…kind of, I don’t know. He’s a rule breaker, he doesn’t need to sit in the same group as everyone in the pub and look exactly the same. You know, often college students and university students, we’re tribal. We don’t even know we are. We choose to put clothes on in the morning and we instinctively kind of look the same in our friendship groups. It’s natural. We listen to the same music, we like the same sports, that’s how we all become individual or with our friendship groups. But with Farleigh, we know he’s a rule breaker. He’s lived in the States and traveled. I just wanted him to look like a rule breaker, so that’s why he didn’t sit in the same bootleg jeans and popped collars that the main uni students have. 

Leia Mendoza: I loved Farleigh’s style by the way. I just love how he doesn’t fit in with Felix’s group. In my opinion, I thought he was the best styled character. Saltburn takes place through 2006 and 2007. I would’ve been 4 around this period of time, and I would have been far too young to really understand the wardrobe of that time. One thing I really loved is how even if some of the costumes feel outdated, there’s a lot of references to things such as Britney Spears and Shakespeare that will always be relevant. How did things like pop culture, early social media platforms, and even fashion magazines from 2006 and 2007 help with creating the styles of each character? 
Sophie Canale: I think like any period drama, I would go back and research and that’s how I approached this job. Facebook was very much a part of my research because it was a new platform and everyone was using it. So, I used my friends that were in that age group at the time and I was in contact with people who were at Oxford and Cambridge. There’s some old photographs and I wanted to be able to get the nuances and fashions of that period. And also, about the social classes as well. That’s another thing, and it’s a niche in this film. We need to look at the social distinction of what people wore and what people could afford. So, also, very much looking at the editorials. I think culture is really important to get an essence of who people are. What music do they listen to? What was their last gig? It’s kind of getting backstories of people. And looking at Vanity Fair, Tatler and Vogue, looking at who was the it crowd at the time. Looking at nights out of Kate Moss and Sienna Miller and taking inspiration of what they were wearing to be able to put on screen. It was to capture exactly what people were wearing. Initially, Felix was very much inspired by Prince William and Prince Harry who were of that age group in that time period. Looking at references of their nights out in Mayfair, polo matches and what their friends were wearing at polo matches. That was the starting point, and when you develop initial influences, you then develop with the character. It’s how you style the costumes within the characters, like making Felix more relaxed. He wears no shoes around the house. There were baggier clothes of that period, but the unbuttoning of a couple buttons just in comparison to the uptightness of Oliver is that distinction. 

Leia Mendoza: Speaking of Oliver, I have to talk about the costumes at Oliver’s birthday party. I actually dressed up as Oliver in his antler ears this year for Halloween. 
Sophie Canale: Did you? Yay!

Leia Mendoza: I did! I had a discussion about this with my close friend after watching Saltburn, but we loved how both Oliver and Felix’s costumes both represent the angel and the devil, the bad and good of humanity that they both carry. Farleigh wears a horse head to disguise himself, and we see a lot of armor also being worn. Since A Midsummer’s Night Dream and Greek mythology were inspirations for the party, what elements of these two subjects did you find most fascinating during the research process? 
Sophie Canale: I think initially, the party was A Midsummer’s Night Dream so taking the characters from A Midsummer’s Night Dream and I didn’t want to portray them as a play, but I wanted for them to have key elements. So, looking at Titania and the fairies for Elspeth, and working with Valentino who loaned the beautiful gold dress which has such a beautiful texture and a leaf-like element. The world of A Midsummer’s Night Dream is very much about the fairies and the woodlands, and I wanted to bring that into the party vibe. So, that worked really well as a dress. Taking slight elements of the fairy is with gold jewelry to give her the hint of a fairy. Because we’re shooting at night, we have to look at color palettes and having to look at silhouettes. We have the amazing maze scene, so we had to look at shadows and light. With Felix, he’s so nonchalant and he doesn’t care since he’s disregarded Oliver at this stage in the film. He doesn’t care. The only effort he’s going to do is put on a pair of wings. It’s such a distinctive silhouette and gives Felix this nonchalant look that he carries throughout the film as well. 

Leia Mendoza: You’ve worked as a costume designer for shows like Bridgerton in the past, which also follows the upper class side of Britain that we as Americans normally do not get to see. In a way, Saltburn is also a period piece even if it’s more modern day. The evolution of British aristocracy is so fascinating to me as someone who has studied fashion history throughout college. Would you say that even though these are two different time periods, there are some similarities between coming up with extravagant costume designs?
Sophie Canale: I think in Britain, we have social classes so inevitably, that will be portrayed within clothing. We have working class and we have upper class, and if we have Regency with Bridgerton or we have Saltburn in 2007, of course there’s going to be a distinction. There’s going to be a distinction on what people can own and what people can afford. If you’re going to be representing so many different people in one film or TV series, that’s inevitable. I think that would be across the world if you’re concentrating on such a vast amount of people within one project. 

Leia Mendoza: You talked about how you used even personal Facebook photos of your friends during this time period to serve as inspiration. Were there any specific outfits that you created for Saltburn that were inspired by your own personal style throughout 2006 and 2007? 
Sophie Canale: Definitely the university students and the girls. I think the useless belts, the wide belts, and the denim skirts with black leggings were stuff that I definitely donned sometimes. I was actually traveling in Australia in 2007, so there was quite a lot of inspiration from my traveling companions that I was able to take and put on screen. It was really fun and interesting to create something that was from a period that I remember myself. 

Leia Mendoza: I also just want to give a huge appreciation to the Juicy Couture pants and the “Dump Him” t-shirt. 
Sophie Canale: That’s popular culture and that’s what you have to take! As a costume designer and with a team, research exactly what was out there at the time. Costume is about capturing characters and people, but also history. If that history is the 16th century or if it’s a 2007 “Dump Him” t-shirt, you’ve got to put it on screen! What I love about clothing is character and real life, and it was such an amazing opportunity to work on something like Saltburn that was set in the 2000s because I want to put reality onto screen so it captures it. 

Leia Mendoza: Thank you so much! Congratulations on Saltburn and congratulations on making the best styled film of 2023 in my opinion. I think you’ve done an incredible job. Thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview! 
Sophie Canale: My pleasure! Honestly, it was so lovely to talk to you. Thank you so so much!

Saltburn is currently in theaters and will be streaming on Amazon Prime on December 22, 2023.
You can read our review of Saltburn here.