Awesome Interview by Mandi Bierly on how costume designer Tish Monaghan dressing Edward, Jacob, Bella, the Volturi. Have fun reading! - Lydia
You have to immediately like a costume designer who’ll admit that
she’s wearing sweatpants while chatting with you from her Vancouver
home. We phoned Tish Monaghan, who took over styling duties for The Twilight Saga: New Moon and Eclipse, to
talk about how Edward ended up in a suit, why Jacob’s muscles are
bulging through his shirt (when he actually wears one), what department
mandated that the wolf pack’s jean shorts be extra tight, and more.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Anyone who’s listened to the Twilight DVD commentary knows that Robert Pattinson wasn’t a fan of Edward’s pea coat.
TISH MONAGHAN: He wasn’t a fan of the pea coat. He wore it in virtually every scene, and I think maybe he just got tired of it. I’m guessing. [Laughs] He just wanted a more mature look. That was part of Edward’s Grade 11 year, and now he’s getting into his graduation year, he’s in a relationship. He had worn hoodies and jeans and sneakers, and Robert, the director [Chris Weitz], and I all wanted to portray him more as a gentleman, more elegant and classic. With our vampire characters, I always went back to the time period in which they were turned to see if there’s any element I could try to simulate in contemporary clothing. He came out of the Edwardian period, around 1910. Of course, most of the gentleman from that time would be wearing suits, coats, hats, etc. We had to pick something that was iconic for the character that would suffice to be used throughout the whole film. At the very beginning of the film, he has one school outfit, and then there’s Bella’s birthday party and disaster strikes. So Edward ends up in that same costume for the remainder of the film. I was thinking of just putting him in a dress shirt and a pair of pants, but Robert wanted to be in a suit.
TISH MONAGHAN: He wasn’t a fan of the pea coat. He wore it in virtually every scene, and I think maybe he just got tired of it. I’m guessing. [Laughs] He just wanted a more mature look. That was part of Edward’s Grade 11 year, and now he’s getting into his graduation year, he’s in a relationship. He had worn hoodies and jeans and sneakers, and Robert, the director [Chris Weitz], and I all wanted to portray him more as a gentleman, more elegant and classic. With our vampire characters, I always went back to the time period in which they were turned to see if there’s any element I could try to simulate in contemporary clothing. He came out of the Edwardian period, around 1910. Of course, most of the gentleman from that time would be wearing suits, coats, hats, etc. We had to pick something that was iconic for the character that would suffice to be used throughout the whole film. At the very beginning of the film, he has one school outfit, and then there’s Bella’s birthday party and disaster strikes. So Edward ends up in that same costume for the remainder of the film. I was thinking of just putting him in a dress shirt and a pair of pants, but Robert wanted to be in a suit.
So I found a modern contemporary look that would be appealing to him
and to the massive fan base, a very slim cut, and a fabric that to me
was a bit Old World — this beautiful tweed fabric that we got out of
England. It had the gray base, which is kind of essential for the
Cullen characters in their cool tones, but also had little interesting
flecks of blue, which is also Cullen, and a tiny little bit of rust,
which I liked because Bella wears earth tones and that kinda linked her
into the picture. The general texture of the suit would hold up well no
matter what setting he was in: Inside the house for the party, or in
the forest, or in the Volturi chamber. We had to show wear on the suit,
and it’s much easier to rough up something that has texture to it than
just a flat piece of wool. His pants are worn at the knees, they’re
rumpled.
I don’t know if anyone’s looking at his pants when he removes his shirt in Italy.
The fans were very excited to see that, I don’t know if Robert was particularly excited to perform that in front of 1,500 people. I think it was quite hard for him to do. We originally tested Edward in a plain white shirt, as a forlorn-looking option. That is also what Robert wanted — he wanted something that would wash him out. But you need to have a color that makes you pop, and so we actually dyed the fabric this beautiful ink blue ourselves. It highlighted his vampire white skin really well. I think it’s a great moment when we see him in these clothes that he’s worn from September to May. When he goes to sacrifice himself, he’s in disrepair. Robert and Chris wanted his shirt to have a rip across the chest, so that’s what we gave him. It’s really kind of tragic to watch him take off his shirt, because he really is sacrificing himself. It looks like he’s just giving up. He’s exposing himself and he’s completely vulnerable, and he just takes his shirt off and he drops it at his feet with his eyes downcast. Then he gets attacked by Bella, who shoves him inside the doors. [Laughs] I don’t find it like a beefcake moment. It really is a moving moment, and I think Robert did a really amazing job for that scene.
The fans were very excited to see that, I don’t know if Robert was particularly excited to perform that in front of 1,500 people. I think it was quite hard for him to do. We originally tested Edward in a plain white shirt, as a forlorn-looking option. That is also what Robert wanted — he wanted something that would wash him out. But you need to have a color that makes you pop, and so we actually dyed the fabric this beautiful ink blue ourselves. It highlighted his vampire white skin really well. I think it’s a great moment when we see him in these clothes that he’s worn from September to May. When he goes to sacrifice himself, he’s in disrepair. Robert and Chris wanted his shirt to have a rip across the chest, so that’s what we gave him. It’s really kind of tragic to watch him take off his shirt, because he really is sacrificing himself. It looks like he’s just giving up. He’s exposing himself and he’s completely vulnerable, and he just takes his shirt off and he drops it at his feet with his eyes downcast. Then he gets attacked by Bella, who shoves him inside the doors. [Laughs] I don’t find it like a beefcake moment. It really is a moving moment, and I think Robert did a really amazing job for that scene.
The tear across the chest was to symbolize that his heart was torn out when he thought he lost Bella?
Maybe. [Laughs] They just said, “Rip it across the chest.” I said, “Are you sure? No shirt’s gonna rip like this.” And they said, “Yes.” So I did it.
Maybe. [Laughs] They just said, “Rip it across the chest.” I said, “Are you sure? No shirt’s gonna rip like this.” And they said, “Yes.” So I did it.
Why couldn’t he remain shirtless for the indoor fight scene? Why put on the robe?
Originally, the guards who grab him were supposed to be coming from the outside — that’s why they give him the robe. But the setting was changed, and they grab him on the inside. So why do they hand him this robe? Because, quite honestly, it looks very cool fighting with this long, flowing garment, and it does hide pads, protect him.
Originally, the guards who grab him were supposed to be coming from the outside — that’s why they give him the robe. But the setting was changed, and they grab him on the inside. So why do they hand him this robe? Because, quite honestly, it looks very cool fighting with this long, flowing garment, and it does hide pads, protect him.
Moving on to the wolf pack, was it easier to dress them since they were shirtless?
We still had to have a lot of fittings with them. You had to be very careful with where the shorts fall on the hip bone, we had to make sure everything sits at the same place when they run. Each individual actor had their own request, but we also had requests from the visual effects department, because if we had big, loose shredded shorts on when they morphed into wolves, it’s too much work and too many hours to magically get rid of that clothing on camera. They wanted the shorts as close-fitting to the leg as possible, whereas the natural tendency of the guys would be to have something baggier so that they didn’t look like they were wearing hot pants. [Laughs] So if I knew they were going to morph, then they had tighter-fitting shorts, and if they didn’t have to morph, then we would give them something a little bit looser and longer. There were lots of Levi’s, American Eagle, Old Navy. Quite honestly, I tried to shop where I figured the wolves would shop. [Laughs] So we went to Wal-Mart. The general concept was that anytime they went off to hunt, those shorts got destroyed because they’d change into a wolf. So they all had a secret little stash, buried in a hole somewhere in the forest, where they went running naked. [Laughs] That’s what we imagined. They had an unlimited selection of cut-off pants.
We still had to have a lot of fittings with them. You had to be very careful with where the shorts fall on the hip bone, we had to make sure everything sits at the same place when they run. Each individual actor had their own request, but we also had requests from the visual effects department, because if we had big, loose shredded shorts on when they morphed into wolves, it’s too much work and too many hours to magically get rid of that clothing on camera. They wanted the shorts as close-fitting to the leg as possible, whereas the natural tendency of the guys would be to have something baggier so that they didn’t look like they were wearing hot pants. [Laughs] So if I knew they were going to morph, then they had tighter-fitting shorts, and if they didn’t have to morph, then we would give them something a little bit looser and longer. There were lots of Levi’s, American Eagle, Old Navy. Quite honestly, I tried to shop where I figured the wolves would shop. [Laughs] So we went to Wal-Mart. The general concept was that anytime they went off to hunt, those shorts got destroyed because they’d change into a wolf. So they all had a secret little stash, buried in a hole somewhere in the forest, where they went running naked. [Laughs] That’s what we imagined. They had an unlimited selection of cut-off pants.
And did you or did you not pay special attention to where
the sleeves of Jacob’s T-shirts fell on his biceps? Because job well
done.
Absolutely. Everything was geared towards making sure that his arm muscles really showed. There’s a scene where he’s working on a motorcycle, and his muscles are really pulling against this plaid shirt he’s wearing. He looks very strong and very built, and we tried to do the same with this T-shirts. There was no way since it was the same actor that we could show somebody that had grown like six inches. So it was Chris Weitz’s genius idea to tailor his clothes, to make the sleeves a little bit shorter, a little bit tighter — make it look as if he’d grown out of his clothes in a couple of months and hadn’t had time to go get new ones. We found T-shirt brands that fit him well with hardly any adjustments and just stuck with those in earth tones — The Gap, Banana Republic, American Apparel, Levi’s. We tried more expensive T-shirts, but he looked too pretty.
Absolutely. Everything was geared towards making sure that his arm muscles really showed. There’s a scene where he’s working on a motorcycle, and his muscles are really pulling against this plaid shirt he’s wearing. He looks very strong and very built, and we tried to do the same with this T-shirts. There was no way since it was the same actor that we could show somebody that had grown like six inches. So it was Chris Weitz’s genius idea to tailor his clothes, to make the sleeves a little bit shorter, a little bit tighter — make it look as if he’d grown out of his clothes in a couple of months and hadn’t had time to go get new ones. We found T-shirt brands that fit him well with hardly any adjustments and just stuck with those in earth tones — The Gap, Banana Republic, American Apparel, Levi’s. We tried more expensive T-shirts, but he looked too pretty.
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