Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult star in Channel 4's new series The Great [1], which takes place in Russia in the late 1700s. As Catherine the Great, Elle gets to play the part of the longest reigning female ruler in the country, overthrowing her husband, Peter III. Of course, just one watch through the trailer will assure you that, yes, there are glorious dresses and elaborate fur coats here to see, all of which were imagined and brought to life by costume designer Emma Fryer, who previously worked on styling Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson in The Hustle.
"As an actress, Elle has worn a corset quite a few times, so she was used to [wearing it for up to 11 hours on set]."
When I spoke to Emma, she mentioned how lovely it was to come back to a period piece after focusing on more modern fashion, although, in order to dream up Catherine the Great's wardrobe, she did mix references from today's high fashion world with the contemporary. "I started with a huge resource of different visuals, from exhibitions that were in London at the time and portraits of Catherine the Great to a specific colour palette of very dark wine, red, gold, silver, black, burgundy, bronze, and grey. These shades depict the inside of the palace — this very high-end, 18th century European world," Emma told me.
You're probably wondering if Fanning was dressed in exact reinterpretations of any of Catherine the Great's looks (I know I was), but Emma said it was rather about finding Catherine's essence for her creations. "There may have been certain elements that came back to me subconsciously — say a neckline — but the fabric of the dress would have been completely different than a more contemporary fabric," she noted.
Elle, a lover of fashion herself [2], was very involved and excited to help Emma choose custom fabrics. The first thing they did was take her measurements so her underpinnings could be made, including her corset, which she wore on set almost every day for up to 11 hours. "As an actress, Elle has worn a corset quite a few times, so she was used to it."
When you scroll down, you'll become completely mesmerised by Elle's looks and also learn facts about the rest of the cast and their wardrobes. But first, check out some of Emma's inspired mood boards she was kind enough to share with POPSUGAR, which set the scene for every episode.
The Great Style Mood Board
The Great Style Mood Board
The Great Style Mood Board
The Great Style Mood Board
The Great Style Mood Board
The Great Style Mood Board
Elle Fanning as Catherine
"Catherine's not from Russia — she's this young, romantic, idealistic girl who's actually all hope, love, and sunshine. As we go through the series, her palette changes, but it never really does quite fit into the world of the palace. When she's trying to bring change to Russia towards episodes seven and eight, her palette does get a little darker and stronger with a more Russian feel about it. We were making outfits constantly for her, and we weren't just making one dress. We might be making three of the same dress depending on how the schedule worked. For example, when she gets her carriage stuck in mud, we had to make multiples of that dress, one which would accommodate the mud."
"Elle had many shoes made and some jewellery made in Italy. It took about one week to make one dress, depending on how much embellishment it had. One of her coats even had handmade buttons. Elle was really tied to one of the coats she wore and the pink dress she wears at the end of the series. It was a jump away from the palette where we started with her, so I think she really loved that. She was so excited about the costumes and that made it a more enjoyable job for me."
Nicholas Hoult as Peter
"Peter is in his own animal world. I had so much fun dressing him with all the different fabrics I was using. There was a whole mad sense of mixing and matching. He's got this incredible fur coat! There is a point where he's been ill and he's changing his ways a little bit, and at this point you'll see him in a lighter colour palette — one that's actually quite pale."
Sebastian De Souza as Leo
"Leo and Catherine have a similar colour palette which is playful and strong. He's smart and funny, and I wanted to paint that sense of colour in his wardrobe."
Charity Wakefield as Georgina
"There was definitely a sense of incorporating the period with the modern fashion world, especially when it came to Georgina. She and Grigor were the power couple in the palace. Her looks were very catwalk — very clean and strong. She was basically the fashion icon. She's supposed to be charismatic and savvy, so she wore bold colours with little decoration. I wanted to keep everything really sharp."
Belinda Bromilow as Aunt Elizabeth
"Aunt Elizabeth was great fun to dress. She had a wonderful, strange, eclectic mix of clothing as there was some cross dressing involved. When she dressed in a slightly more masculine way, she wore breeches. But there were other times when she had to have her sense of royalty about her. Her fabrics were a lot bolder than any other character and her outfits were fuelled with personality."
The Aristocrats and the Rest of the Palace
"We were making as much as we could for the cast in our work room, but for background cast members and in crowd scenes, those costumes were sourced from the UK, Italy, and France. A lot of this was part of my main task in the beginning, especially since we were working with this very specific colour palette. For example, none of the men had white shirts, and we might remove the decoration on a sleeve or the lace embellishments on a dress for the women."
"We went to this great vintage fair in London and ended up finding a lot of antique trim. We hunted high and low for buttons, because you need about 30 thick buttons for a man's cape. Finding a unique button you fall in love with and then discovering that there are only 25 of them is devastating. We also sourced a lot of lovely jewels from the markets. There's an eclectic mix of cross dressing in the series, so I could go in so many different directions. The aristocrats jumped more into the traditional Russian folklore clothing, so I could have fun mixing different textures, patterns, and fabrics."
