Emma's Outfits in The Prom Were Made to "Mix the Boy With the Girl," and You'll Love Them All

"Ryan Murphy always has a vision and a tone that he wants to represent in the show or film we're working on. For this one, he really loved the colour palette of the film logo. There was a raspberry pink and a really vivid green, purple, and an aqua turquoise colour. So that was kind of our overall colour palette," Eyrich explained, referencing the outfits in the first scene that paint the picture for the rest of the movie. "We had a big meeting in the beginning of filming, and [Ryan Murphy] just saw [the cast] walking down the street in Manhattan on Broadway in those flashy colours, all sparkly so it picked up the lights. All we had to do was figure out who was going to wear what colour so that they were coordinated."

"With the overall umbrella of those four colours in mind, we implemented a plan with the principal characters," Eyrich said. Dee Dee, played by Meryl Streep, wears an outfit that was completely built and hand-sequinned, head to toe — and the same went for Barry, played by James Corden. All the crystals on his turquoise jacket were glued on. Nicole Kidman's character, Angie, slipped into a dress that Eyrich found from a company in London. "It was so perfect, she walked right into it. The shoes had to all be custom made because of the dance numbers, and in the rain, we had to make sure everyone was safe," she explained.

You'll get major ModCloth vibes from Emma, played by Jo Ellen Pellman. She wears printed ties, plenty of stripes, layered jewellery, collared shirts, sneakers, and combat boots, with touches of mustard throughout. Eyrich confirmed that most of Emma's wardrobe was thrifted. "Our inspiration was that because she was raised by her grandmother and they didn't have a lot, living in a small town in Indiana, she was a thrift-store girl. Jo Ellen loves to thrift — she's always shopping vintage clothes in her personal time — so she had a lot of input, and it was really fun working with her because we both share a love of vintage. She'd wear maybe a sweater from Urban Outfitters, but the shoes are from a thrift store and the shirt is also something she's had in the closet for a while. We wanted to keep it realistic, so we just kind of threw the odd pieces together to show that she didn't mind owning her unique self." As for the ties? Eyrich said Murphy requested a modern-day Annie Hall vibe, "mixing the boy with the girl in her own way."

You'll notice that Mrs. Greene, played by Kerry Washington, wears a lot of pink. Eyrich confirmed that was intentional and that it helped show her conservative side. "We had a colour palette for everybody. For Mrs. Greene, it was this blush tone — and just that polished, very put-together look. Her nails were always glossed, her purse matched her shoes, and she demanded that exact same perfectionism of her child, who tried to mimic her. So we had Alyssa in a lot of pink as well."

Shelby, played by Sofia Deler, and Kaylee, played by Logan Riley Hassel, dress similarly throughout the film, usually in miniskirts and fitted tees when they're not in their prom dresses. "We wanted it to be like they're the popular cheerleader girls that most of us experienced. They're the ones who have the cutest clothes. They made the squad, and they get cute boys or girlfriends. While everyone else wore jeans, these girls stood out in their cute little skirts. Plus, they did so much dancing. Every scene they had was a dance number. Those skirts are just so easy to dance in! We just liked the idea that they'd keep that cheerleader vibe throughout the whole movie," Eyrich said.

The dance number at the end was Eyrich's favourite moment to style from the whole film: "Besides the cast being there, there were also two other big groups, including a full dance troupe that worked throughout the movie to train dancers. They all had to have a specific colour palette and sparkly outfits as well. And then you have all the specialty background roles that we had to dress. There were hundreds of people all coordinated at once in this final look. It was a puzzle — a big, sparkly, shiny puzzle," she said.

As for the leads, Eyrich broke down each of their outfits. "We knew Barry (James Corden) had to be in a silver tux with a teal-y turquoise accent because it was scripted and matched the tux he wore when he was in high school. Then, almost everyone else had a custom design except for Trent (Andrew Rannells). His aqua, shiny blue suit was purchased. Dee Dee (Meryl Streep) was in a Dolce & Gabbana top that was actually a dress we cut into a tunic. Then we made her custom capri pants because to dance in. Angie (Nicole Kidman) wore a purchase, and Mr. Hawkins (Keegan Michael-Key) wore custom."

"We knew Emma would be in a powder-blue tuxedo, so then we thought, 'OK, what would Alyssa look good in that would be a complementary colour?' We played a lot on contrasts, so we went with that red, very pink colour because it contrasts so beautifully with the pale blue," Eyrich said.

At the end of the film, Mrs. Greene (Kerry Washington) wears this rainbow Gucci dress to Alyssa and Emma's inclusive prom. "What we did there was incorporate all of the colours into one dress like the Pride rainbow to represent the LGBTQ+ community," Eyrich said of the incredible design.

"My best memory is the cast dancing in the fitting room — seeing Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, James Corden, and Andrew Rannells just busting a move. We would always have them DJ, and we'd play music while they each did their fittings. It just brought me great joy to see the energy each one of them put into their part. Ariana DeBose would sing during her fitting, and it just gave me chills. We'd play Donna Summer, and she would just bust it — it was so amazing," Eyrich said.