ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Anyone who watches aJordan Peelemovie knows that there are no accidents, everything is intentional.
I’m sure there were plenty of discussions about what each character was going to be wearing.
What was Jordan’s input, and what was your collaboration like in terms of the costumes?
Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, and Brandon Perea in ‘Nope’.Universal Pictures
Every detail is thought about collaboratively.
And definitely with costumes, [there was] a lot of back and forth.
It wasn’t likeWes Anderson, who comes up with all the ideas, basically.
Keke Palmer in Nope.Universal Pictures
It was more like, I have ideas, and it was a constant conversation.
And until camera rolled, maybe there were still things to think about.
So it was very exhilarating.
Steven Yeun as Ricky ‘Jupe’ Park in ‘Nope’.Universal Pictures
Every costume means many things, sometimes just to Jordan.
There’s such a shroud of secrecy over his films.
I was sent a script to get to make a pitch to join him on the adventure.
Daniel Kaluuya in ‘Nope’.Universal Pictures
These days, you actually have to come up with quite a lot in the interview stage.
So I had a pretty fully-fledged design concept for each world.
There’s a scene where OJ, Emerald, and Angel are all wearing different graphic tees.
Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer in Jordan Peele’s ‘Nope’.Universal Pictures
What was the meaning behind the T-shirts, and how did you find them?
And it’s a bit nebulous how much time passes.
I think Jordan likes to leave things up to interpretation and imagination, get you thinking.
They’re Angel’s band T-shirts.
His band T-shirts are either post-punk or proto-grunge.
As well as Angel’s the kind of character who likes obscure bands.
Definitely like The Jesus Lizard, and Wipers and Rage.
I mean, they’re all bands of Jordan’s teenage years.
So, I think it works on a lot of levels for Jordan.
It was something that Angel would be into, but also meaningful for him, and me too.
I think the Jesus Lizard was a thousand dollars.
But it was also such a beautiful, vibrant image.
It goes with some of the other imagery.
Jordan saw it and said, ‘This gives me life.’
Well since we’re talking about Angel, what was the philosophy behind his clothes?
He was a dark, brooding, cynical character.
Let’s shift to Ricky (Steven Yeun).
Were there UFOs on that red suit he wears in his final scene?
Yes, we embroidered UFOs and also alien heads onto [the suit].
The shape of the kids' costume alien heads is a specific shape.
And so, those alien heads, and the spaceship are on the cuffs and on the back.
I created it with a company in Texas that specializes in that kind ofNudie suit.
It’s always been big in the country music world.
They have the best chain stitches.
It’s a dying art with these special machines that render the embroidery in a nice chunky fashion.
It was a custom suit for Steven.
What was the idea behind his character’s look?
And then also tried to make some strong visuals when he’s in the red suit.
What was the other direction?
There was a whole other direction, which was anti-what we did.
I’m glad we came back around to doing something a little nuts.
It also gives some insight into his character longing for this Hollywood career that he used to have.
I mean, it’s flashy.
We played right on the edge of him seeming a bit ridiculous.
He’s very thoughtful, but really responded in the fitting to having this sort of Willy Wonka aspect.
What about OJ’s clothes?
So, we landed a bit in the middle.
We tried to blend the more modern, urban aesthetic with a more traditional rancher look.
We did a lot of hyper-specific swag.
We do try and be in the zeitgeist.
So T-shirts with your local pizzeria or whatever is very cool now to do.
So we mixed a little bit of that too.
And the idea that he just ended up with these T-shirts.
So, he gets a hoodie from a trucking company and he wears a Mario’s Catering T-shirt.
He wears his branded ranch hat, Haywood Hollywood Horses.
We did a lot of branding.
So having him branded was important.
Where did you find his Malcolm X hat?
So there’s some little biblical echo going on, but very, very subtle.
Did Daniel have any input into this?
He doesn’t stay in character all the time, but he stays in a mode.
He was very quiet and a bit shruggy.
In fact it was hard to get him to do fittings.
Just because I think OJ is not into trying on clothes.
Finally, can we talk about Emerald’s look?
The Prince t-shirt is supposed to be something from her childhood.
Or she wears a leather Western vest that’s her mother’s.
And then, just little shiny objects.
Yeah, so that was the general idea.
Random, accidentally cool.
And she also wears cowboy boots under her jeans, a nod to what her family job is.
Where are her jeans from?
They are men’s jeans byRipndip.
Oh, they’re great.
They’re what teenage stoner boys wear.
So, the idea is they’re old jeans of Angel’s.
But yeah, the cut and the way we styled it is also very trendy.
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