German punk princess Nina Hagen isn’t the most obvious inspiration for a Disney movie, but " Cruella ” is also not your typical Disney movie.
The new live-action origin story about the black-and-white-haired cartoon supervillain is less about a maniacal dalmatian-skinner than an aspiring designer with a punk sensibility out to disrupt the stuffy ways of the past in 1970s London.
Departments like hair and makeup and costume design work overtime to blend into the fabric of a film.
But in "Cruella,” the story itself gives them the spotlight.
So director Craig Gillespie and star and producer Emma Stone enlisted some of the best in the business to help: Two-time Oscar winning costume designer Jenny Beavan, who has mastered everything from Merchant Ivory period films like "A Room with a View” to the post-apocalyptic looks of "Mad Max: Fury Road,” and BAFTA-winning hair and makeup designer Nadia Stacey, who transformed Stone into an 18th century social climber in "The Favourite.”
With the script and Gillespie's comprehensive mood board and soundtrack in mind, Beavan and her team set off both designing originals and scouring London's vintage stores for real pieces and things that had at least the spirit of the '70s, when the buttoned up styles of Dior and Balenciaga were giving way to the likes of Vivienne Westwood with zippers and holes everywhere.
One of the final looks that stood out for Beaven was Cruella’s military-styled jacket paired with a big skirt and Doc Martens.
Stacey said she was given one rule for Cruella: The black and white hair needed to be on the same sides as in the cartoon. Anything else was fair game.
Stacey found inspiration not only in Nina Hagen but Blondie frontwoman Debbie Harry, who she said often paired edgy stylings with pink lipsticks.
One of Stacey’s most striking looks (and one that many beauty bloggers have already recreated and sent to her) features Cruella with a black spray paint mask across her eyes with the words "The Future” stenciled out. The font, she said, was inspired by a Sex Pistols album cover.
Stone, she said, was game for anything. She didn’t have to dye her hair for the role, but Stacey said she would have in a heartbeat.
The whole endeavor was an epic undertaking with a reported $200 million budget. There were some 277 costumes for the principal cast, 47 changes for Cruella/Estella and 33 for Emma Thompson’s Baroness.
One gala scene alone required 152 wigs and dressing 149 members of the supporting cast. Another pivotal party had 80 dresses and 88 wigs, each of which required four hours of prep.
"Cruella” is currently playing in theaters and available to rent on Disney+.