ECLECTIC EFFIE
For Effie Trinket, the outlandish and brash publicist for the brutal Hunger Games depicted in the movie, costume designer Judianna Makovsky created a spring-trends-on-steroids look complete with peplums, tinted hair and floral fascinators, making actress Elizabeth Banks nearly unrecognizable.
In creating her mood boards for the project, Makovsky, who also dressed Harry Potter and his Hogwarts chums in “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” says she looked to theatrical designers such as Alexander McQueen and John Galliano for inspiration. “There is a silliness about runway,” she says. “But it’s also quite genius.”
Like many of McQueen’s fantastical, impractical shapes, Makovsky wanted Effie to have a constricted silhouette while displaying an unlikely mix of outrageous style and schoolmarm stuffiness. “She’s prim and proper, and she always has her gloves and always has her hat,” she says.
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Runway look: In his 2012 spring couture show, French designer Alexis Mabille debuted similarly bold looks including major flower power and bold blue makeup.
Christophe Ena/AP
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KATNISS: FROM BLEAK TO CHIC
“It has a retro feel even though it’s set in the future,” says Makovsky of the flick, which begins in the dull and dismal District 12, where Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) lives with her poor coal-mining family. “We drew her [original] look from classic American workwear of the 1920s and 1950s. Her dress is made of vintage fabric. And it’s a typical beautiful late-’30s dress.”
Prior to the start of the actual games, Makovsky was determined to keep Katniss looking young and fresh for her first TV interview with host Caesar Flickerman.
“In the book, her dress is described as covered in jewels, but I worried it would be too ‘Dancing With the Stars,’ ” she says.
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For the Hunger Games’ opening ceremony in the Capitol, Katniss’ stylist Cinna (Lenny Kravitz) is tasked with turning her from drab to fab. To do so, he dresses her in a black leather bodysuit that ignites into flames. “It all has a very shiny, dramatic aspect,” Makovsky says of the form-fitting, futuristic look.
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CAPITOL COUTURE
In addition to outrageous haute runway looks of the modern era, Makovsky looked toward late Italian designer, and Coco Chanel contemporary, Elsa Schiaparelli, for her vision in dressing the high-society Capitol community. “There’s an edge of elegance, but a wit to [her designs].”
Makovsky says of Schiaparelli, who is being honored with an exhibit at the Met in May. But rather than purchase couture, Makovsky sourced clothes from outlet malls and thrift shops because she had to dress 600 people on a budget. “We built a lot of stuff and we rented vintage pieces,” she says. “We kept the silliness, but created something with more elegance.”
WELL SUITED
“A suit has been a suit for 150 years,” says Makovsky, who chose to keep the Capitol men, including Seneca Crane (Wes Bentley), the Capitol’s head gamemaker, classy and refined. Bold colors, surrealist shapes and assymetrical lines are also reminiscent of designer Elsa Schiaparelli’s work, which borrowed from Salvador Dali as a muse. “Fashion designers look to the past to create the future,” adds Makovsky.
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