This post contains spoilers and explores themes of sexual assault.
Going on your first girls holiday is often seen as a rite of passage. We've all seen the documentaries and reality shows, and many of us have experienced those neon-lit strips of bars and clubs, but there is a darker side to the teenage party holiday explored in Molly Manning Walker's debut feature film. "How to Have Sex" is an assured coming-of-age story about consent [1] and friendship that is hard to shake off once you've seen it.
Awarded the coveted Un Certain Regard prize at Cannes Film Festival [2], the movie received critical acclaim prior to its release. It highlights how intimacy can go from mutually pleasurable to scarring if we buy into the misconception that communication and empathy aren't sexy. While the film spotlights the pressure teenagers experience, it's also a joyous study of girlhood, looking back on Walker's own teen holidays.
"It's so important that this film feels real and that people recognise themselves in it, or, if they don't, they recognise the characters."
Set in Malia, Greece, this compelling debut follows Tara (Mia McKenna-Bruce), Em (Enva Lewis), and Skye (Lara Peake) awaiting their GCSE results on what promises to be "the best holiday ever". Tara is looking to lose her virginity, while the girls half-jokingly bet on who will have more sex.
Choosing the right outfit is half the fun of their mission, and we see them borrow clothes from their respective hand luggage and hype each other up. And it's their outfits that serve so much more than just an aesthetic. The writer and director sat down with costume designer George Buxton to bottle up today's Gen-Z-on-holiday vibe, while incorporating details that speak to the film's bigger themes.
To portray this stylistic messaging, Buxton travelled to Malia for research, talking to young holidaygoers and collecting an "incredible archive of thousands of photos". "It's so important that this film feels real and that people recognise themselves in it, or, if they don't, they recognise the characters," she tells POPSUGAR.
Below, Buxton shares her and Walker's behind-the-scenes colour-coding and how some foreshadowing accessories contributed to creating the world of "How to Have Sex".
Green Is a Theme Throughout
We rarely see Skye wearing anything other than green, cutout outfits. "Green is obviously synonymous with envy," Buxton reflects. "Skye's actions are bitchy, but she's just an insecure 16-year-old girl. She's projecting, she doesn't know herself at all."
While Tara seems to be more self-aware and "doesn't need to peacock with clothes", Skye wears her green dresses like a uniform to look older.
"We do women a real disservice by telling them what sexy is supposed to look like, and we do Skye a disservice as a 16-year-old to tell her that this is what's sexy," Buxton says. "If certain clothes make you feel good, brilliant. Just make sure you dress for yourself and not for someone else."
Skye Peer Pressures Tara Into Wearing Green
One of the most powerful scenes sees Tara clad in a neon green mesh dress she's borrowed from Skye as she walks down a deserted street. For Buxton, this was possibly the statement piece of the entire film. "It just had to scream at you," she says. "As soon as it went on Mia's body, I was like, 'That's the one'."
The more sexually-experienced Skye pushes a couple of her green, fast-fashion-like outfits on Tara, whose wardrobe mostly features parachute pants and t-shirts. By wearing her friend's signature colour, Tara tries to conform to her aesthetic, signifying Skye's peer pressuring her into ticking things off her holiday list – including having sex.
"That dress is pure Skye's fashion, it's cut right down, it's see-through. But it has to make Tara the focal point as well," the costume designer says.
Pink Is the Safest Colour
A counterpart to Paddy's predatory ways, Badger's goofiness and genuine interest in Tara find an expression in his outfits. "We introduced pink as a safety colour," Buxton explains. "Tara wears pink and Badger often wears it too. His trunks are always pink."
After a white party goes wrong, Badger walks Tara back to the hotel and helps her to bed, realising something must've happened. There's a spark between the two characters, with their sweet exchanges becoming an ode to the missed connections we have in life.
"He's not pushing anything on her," says Buxton. "He is a safe place."
Tara’s Angel Necklace and Paddy’s Ccorpion Ring
Jewellery is among the Easter eggs Walker peppered throughout her film. On holiday, Tara never takes off a necklace with block letter charms spelling the word "angel", a piece that was inspired by one of the film's crew members. "My wonderful costume supervisor, Nancy Kane, wears that necklace," Buxton recalls.
The necklace speaks to Tara's naïvety and niceness, qualities that make her the kind of friend who holds your head when you've had too much to drink and cheers you up with dad jokes, as she does with Badger (Shaun Thomas).
"I also introduced predatory animals within people's jewellery," Buxton adds, pointing out that Paddy (Samuel Bottomley) wears a scorpion ring that foretells the darkest developments in the film, while Skye rocks a snake ring.
Em's Bohemian Style
Straight-A aspiring vet Em is half of a queer holiday romance that comes about in a wholesome, organic way. "Her priorities are just different," Buxton says, revealing she and production designer, Luke Moran-Morris, set on purple as Em's colour.
"She dresses like a queer, 16-year-old London girl. She has a more stylish, hippie vibe" compared to her friends, Buxton explains. "She wears Doc Martens and socks, has beads in her braids, and her rings look like the ones you might get in The Lanes in Brighton," where the costume designer is from.
"How to Have Sex" is in UK cinemas now.