Morshead created Drea and Eleanor’s standout looks for the movie’s climactic Admissions Party.
“We wanted that to be super special,” she explained. I knew it would be at nighttime and there would be fire, lights and a crowd. So how do we get them to stand out from a crowd that’s also going to be really dressed up? I wanted something that could really reflect.”
An image of Carla Bruni became the inspiration for Drea’s green iridescent gown, which had a surprising design element added to it. “My assistant costume designer introduced me to the beauty supply stores in Atlanta,” Morshead said, “which are incredible and the chains on those dresses are actually two belts that were $1.50 each.”
When it came to Eleanor, “I loved the idea of an androgynous oversized suit,” Morshead noted. “She’s still just too cool to be like, ‘I’m going to get a dress or gown.’ Like, of course she’s wearing a cool suit and can pull it off.”
“I remember I woke up one day and was like, ‘Orange zippers. I need to make something with orange zippers,'” she continued. “I went to the fabric store and I bought 75 orange pants zippers and we sewed them all together and then wrapped it around and made it kind of a corset top.”
But the bright lamé fabric was a gamble, Morshead admitting, ‘A lot of people were like, ‘I don’t know, Alana.’ And I was like, ‘I know, it could be terrible. But let’s just do it, we need to try it!’ Of course, we did it and we were like, ‘This is it!'”
