You have now worked with Robert Eggers on several films, including The Northman (2022), The lighthouse (2019) and The witch (2015). What is it like to work with one filmmaker on so many different projects?

Every project is different because the material is different. But the way we work together, the MO is the same and it just becomes easier and more amicable because you know what each other’s shortcut is and know what works for each of us.

Robert has such a clear vision for each of these films. I can imagine this impacting your research process.

When Robert writes each of these incredible scripts, he begins with his own very detailed research and incorporates that research into the script. Then it’s up to me to go into more detail, be more specific and ask the questions we need to answer. Robert always delivers what he wants and what he sees, and his visions are always unique. He makes a very nice look book, and we get this information, and then I put it up all over my walls and start thinking about what that means, what that means.

What is your process when they give you the scripts and lookbooks?

Then I start finding the texts, paintings and images I need to make sense of it – because we are the ones who find the textiles, make the forms and adapt the actors from the ground up. Every single layer of costume, from corsets and undershirts to nightwear, stockings and coats – it was all made for this film. Specifically, it is also German. So we found the traditional costume magazines that are German for very specific years. Count Orlok’s costumes are all from a different time, as he was centuries older than our main characters, and then we have these Orthodox Romanian nuns and priests who are very specific. The research is really extensive and I really love it.

Willem Dafoe and Lily Rose Depp Nosferatu

When it comes to the source material, there’s so much here, from the traditional Eastern European vampire story to the original Nosferatu 1922 film about everything we know about Dracula, right up to the Francis Ford Coppola film Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992). How did your Orlok relate to—or not relate to—everything that came before?

There was a discussion between Robert and I that our approach would be more about subconsciously evoking something than recreating it. Our approach to designing Orlok’s costumes was to create what Robert saw and how we could reference the original Murnau film (1922) and the actual book that Bram Stoker wrote. Coppola Dracula is so stylized, with really stunning costumes, but that wasn’t what we did. Ours was more rooted in reality, in a more authentic-looking world. This meant researching very specific silhouettes. The cloak, for example – it is not a Dracula cloak made of black satin – is the cloak of a Transylvanian noble, which due to the time and culture is a cloak with sleeves worn as a cloak. So the silhouette, the collar and the height it reaches to the back of Orlok’s head was definitely reminiscent of Murnau’s vampire.

Walk me through your costume choices for your Count Orlok.

I start my sketches and sourcing textiles and think about things like: Will he be visible in firelight, camera light or moonlight? So let’s choose textiles that have gold or silver threads to reflect the light back. Then we start looking at the actors. Then we see that this coat needs to be more voluminous, that the coat needs to be lined with fur to give it the right weight, how long the sleeves should be and so on.

I imagine the design process needs to involve some quick pivots.

There was one cape that ended up being so heavy that we had to add a quick release strap to get it in. It is truly an ongoing process throughout the preparation phase.

One thing I noticed about the cinematography is the transition from color to a kind of black and white grayscale. How did that influence your costume decisions?

Robert really likes black, white and gray and I love color. It’s always a conversation between him and me. I try to control the colors and use very specific favorites and color combinations. I’m also going by what is accurate for the time, which is the actual textiles of the years before 1838. If you look at the actual patterns from textile books or pattern books of fabric swatches from that period, this was a wild time for patterns. You can have a fabric front with stripes, paisley and ombré in the same fabric and while that’s interesting, it’s very distracting. It is therefore a question of figuring out how to evoke this period with appropriate textiles that are not intrusive with prints, patterns or colors, but also distinguish each character from the others.

Nicholas Hoult and Lily Rose Depp

What was the challenge of costuming this film?

All the different cultures (depicted in the film) have to be researched, the fabrics sourced and the designs discussed with the tailors. And with Nosferatu, It was a real process because we prepared and shot in Prague, and in our costume shop there weren’t many people who spoke English, so a lot had to be done through translation. So this was another fascinating player that brought the entire workshop together and emphasized the importance of following the designs and research materials closely.

This entire cast is exceptional, but I have to specifically ask about Lily-Rose Depp, who is truly known for her personal sense of style. What is it like working with her?

Lily-Rose was exceptional. She was always interested in historical information. There may have been parts of costumes that needed to be adjusted because you couldn’t tell from your sketches that they needed to be worn on the body and worn by people – but no one came in and said, ‘I’m not going to do that.'” I’m not going to wear that.’ What I loved about both Lily-Rose and Emma Corrin was that they said, ‘I would wear that now!’ And doing these very detailed period films made me realize that really great ones Designs, really great clothes are timeless. You connect with something you wear, regardless of period, when you love what it makes you feel. This also applied to Robert Pattinson when he tried on the oilskin The lighthouse. He was very pleased with the way it looked.

Were there any wardrobe issues you faced on set?

One day I was working in the design office when I received the call to come to the construction as quickly as possible. Everyone was madly crowding around Lily and Lily looked desperate. As I approached her, I noticed that the back of her wedding veil had three or four large tears. I’m talking about a wedding veil that I found in London which is a vintage wedding veil. It was like a spider web, it was so thin. We took apart the original veil and washed it, and everyone treated it like the Shroud of Turin – then it became this beautiful wedding veil with handmade lilacs, made for us outside of Florence.

In the shot, Lily had her back to the camera and the velcro around the camera caught on the veil, then the camera was ripped back and the veil was simply shredded. We stitched this like crazy, and the shot is backlit, meaning everything you do with it is visible. We all joined in, and Lily was great, and we just kept going. We managed to sew it back into graceful folds. I don’t think you can see it in the movie!

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.