the costume design of 'challengers' is genius 🧵🎾

[Music] if you're anything like me you haven't been able to stop thinking about Challengers hi hello I'm Kathy and I love costume design and film so if you're looking for a deep dive into the costum design of Challengers this video is for you if you can't tell by the sound of my voice I am a tiny bit sick but since I've been researching and prepping and like thinking about it for so long I needed to film this video and just get it out ASAP Challengers is a drama romance story with the tennis world as the backdrop the director Lu guino brought us movies like call me by your name and the 2018 susperia remake which is one of the only movies where Dakota Johnson impressed me with her acting this isn't just another sports movie it's a story about three people who are missing something in their lives and they're trying to fil that void ultimately through another person tennis is the thread that connects them together and is used as a symbolic storytelling device throughout the film every time I watch a movie my eyes always drift to the costume design I found that I was doing this a lot particularly in this movie which is interesting because at first glance the clothes don't look that exciting we don't have any sweeping ball gowns or Fantastical pieces here but we do have a lot of tiny details that impressed me I'll probably say this a million times in the future but contemporary costume design is so underrated to the untrained eye it might look like a lot of regular looking clothes but that's what makes it interesting it's fascinating to see what costume designers do when they can't rely on flashy elements but still want to create memorable looks that fit their characters one perfect example is a heart zipup sweater that Megan Fox wears in Jennifer's Body if you look at just the sweater it looks like something you can find at a mall in fact it was from the Gap Junior section seemingly normal clothes can take on a new life with great styling and how the actors wear it the movie propelled this juvenile looking garment and turned it into an aesthetic moment even more compelling for Challengers is that guadino hired fashion designer Jonathan Anderson to design the costumes instead of a traditional Movie costume designer this is not a new phenomenon many directors have tapped designers to work on films like koni for Breakfast at Tiffany's or Jean Paul gotier for the fifth element Jonathan Anderson is an Irish fashion designer who not only has his own brand JW Anderson but is also the creative director at LOE a Spanish luxury fashion house we know that he's friends with guino and according to a w magazine interview they were preparing to work together on an HBO show that never got off the ground Challengers is his first movie as a costume designer Anderson is also no stranger to tennis he designed a Roger Federer collab with Unico back in 2023 3 and a second round in 2024 probably to capitalize off the challengers hype throughout history you can see that there's a certain designated tennis look for each time period it's often defined by society's existing fashion trends but also inspired by what Champions were in the 1920s Suzanne lingon shocked audiences with her unconventional and sometimes skin bearing outfits for context women's tennis dresses look like this in the early 1900s so lon's outfit was quite scandalous in comparison and align more with the flapper mindset that emerged in the 20s even in modern times the look is being redefined by icons like Venus and Serena Williams and countless other Champions professional tennis is a sport that thrives on Conformity and regulations if you take a look at the official Wimbledon website it states that competitors have to wear allwhite cream or off-white does not count there's even specific measurements for decorative pops of color a single trim of color can't be larger than 10 mm there's also a statement or two about the color of your underwear the US Open is less strict but there are still rules players need to follow I.E logo size restrictions all right let's introduce the three main characters in our love triangle warning I can't avoid spoilers so click out if you don't want to see them first up we have tshi she's a rising tennis star who doesn't come from money just the suburbs her hard work talent and dedication is what got her here she lives and breathes tennis after her injury she becomes a coach and still manages to create a name for herself in the tennis world becoming a powerful and influential businesswoman in the process then we have Patrick and art dubbed Fire and Ice when they're doubles Partners we know that they come from money since they both went to boarding school together Patrick is fire he's chaotic Brash and maybe a little dangerous or at least he wants you to think that he's very confident in charismatic those two traits stick with him as he develops into an adult art is more reserved accurate and like ice will change his State depending on his environment his younger self is less self assured but that turns into a quiet arrogance when he grows up the screenplay describes Arts tennis style as controlled and disciplined and Patrick with his wild improvisation and raw athleticism Tashi is the ultimate combination of both in the Amazon featurette Video Anderson summarizes his driving force for each character with tshi they focus on the ideal of success and power the woman that has it all she crafts Her Image by showcasing markers of success aka the luxury pieces she wears there's a great quote from W magazine that says as you become more successful you get to this point where everyone else who is successful has the same luggage or the same jewelry they all aspire to the same thing which becomes slightly generic and he really sticks with that idea for tashi's developing style adult tshi doesn't wear anything daring classic Silhouettes and neutrals become her thing in a red carpet interview Anderson says he looked to pro tennis players like Roger Federer for inspiration for Arts looks he describes art as a blank canvas logos and branding are prevalent in his looks he's literally a walking brand endorsement his tennis outfits are very put together and coordinated he's what you imagine a popular professional athlete will look like Anderson says there's an arrogance to the Perfection Patrick's character has that old money aesthetic and Anderson used JFK Jr as a style blueprint his outfits are mismatched but he's so a taste that even if it's put together badly it somehow looks good while art is pristine Patrick is unkempt he's never seen in matching sets and you get the feeling that he just throws on whatever to really hone in on his wealth Anderson mentions in a wwd interview that Patrick's wardrobe features a lot of worn in luxury things like his wallet which is expensive but falling apart Challengers jumps back and forth Through Time a lot but to make things easier I'm going to analyze the scenes in chronological order and break down the costumes that way the easiest way to divide everything is into three main chunks number one is what I call the student era there're still in school/ Stanford this ranges from 2006 to 2007 number two is their middle ERA this is their transition time they're still early in their careers and figuring their out this is from 2010 to 2011 and number three we have their final ERA this is when they're full-blown adults and that is when their final showdown match happens in 2019 let's begin with 2006 we're at the US Open sometime around August September we have Fire and Ice winning their doubles match art is wearing all white Patrick is wearing a mixture of black and white their rackets match their respective elements red for Patrick and blue for art they change into casual outfits to watch tshi play for the first time art is wearing a green striped button-up shirt while Patrick has a light blue polo shirt on art is wearing jeans and Patrick is wearing khaki shorts even their watches are different Patrick's watch has a classic round face with a leather band while Arts is a bulkier black sports watch probably a Timex Iron Man tshi is wearing all white like an angel while her opponent is wearing a patterned blue tennis dress this is the first time the boys see her play in real life and they're mesmerized white is a good choice here since white occurs when all the colors of the spectrum combine mirroring the screenplay mentioning that she's a combination of Fire and Ice red and blue the next scene is when the boys meet Tashi at the Adidas party it looks like Patrick wore the same outfit as before his Polo and shorts art however changed his shirt to a pink button up this Behavior matches their personalities Patrick doesn't necessarily care too much about his outward appearance expecting his Charisma to do most of the work while art wants to make an effort Tashi is dancing in her blue strapless dress which was custom made using loue fabric she has black heels gold hoop earrings and her signature cross necklace neace side note she is wearing this cross necklace in every single scene so while I won't mention it in every description just know that she's wearing it all the time another interesting thing is that art and Patrick's outfits are kind of like a weird inverted yin-yang thing when you put them next to each other Art's bottoms are blue and Patrick's top is blue this could signify that each of them is lacking something the other one has they're both halves of a hole with Tashi in the boldest blue it means she's a combination of both up next is the famous Hotel makeout scene both boys start off in their boxers and scramble to put on a top when tshi knocks on the door we've got a Stanford t-shirt for art and a green striped shirt for Patrick which he leaves unbuttoned this is interesting since art is now wearing a college shirt which is a common trait linking him to tshi since they're both going to Stanford in the mad rush to put on clothes Patrick grabs the green shirt that was hanging off the back of his chair which happens to be Arts maybe it was a subconscious way to channel art since the two already bonded over Stanford tshi comes in wearing a Juicy Couture velour zipup sweater which was apparently Zena's idea according to Anderson in an interview she's also wearing black shorts gray crew socks and Adidas Slides the next day art and Patrick are playing to win tashi's number she's wearing a white tank top stretchy gray pants gold hoops and a white G-Shock watch both of the boys are wearing white shorts art has white shoes a white hat a Navy Polo while Patrick is wearing black sneakers and a blue plaid shirt continuing the blue theme from last night for the final scene in ' 06 it's sometime after the US Open this is a scene where they're both talking about whether or not Patrick slept with tshi we know that they're both in the mark rebelette Tennis Academy because of the signage and the shirts that they're wearing here Arts outfit looks more put together he's got a polo shirt and color coordinated outfit while Patrick is just wearing a simple white T-shirt the first scene in 2007 takes place in Stanford sometime before may there's a quick establishing shot of Tashi in her workout gear which features a black Adidas tank top with the green bra strap poking through white shorts with a red stripe on the side and she has white socks and sneakers on as well in this scene art is greeting her in his Stanford gear he's wearing that Stanford tea with a long black shirt underneath and white shorts socks and sneakers the scene right after this is when art and tshi are having lunch together art is wearing the exact outfit he wore in the previous scene however tshi has changed into the iconic Gray I told your shirt which was directly inspired by a JFK Junior Paparazzi shot from the 9s that shirt is an offshoot of JFK senior's political buttons from 1961 which had the I Told You So wording while they're having lunch tshi mentions that Patrick is going to come visit for the Pepperdine match and eventually art plants the seeds of doubt and tells tshi that Patrick isn't in love with her sometime later when it's the Pepperdine match Patrick visits art on the Stanford tennis courts art is wearing a backwards Stanford hat black shorts white shoes and a white long sleeve under his red shirt Patrick has a white shirt and sunglasses paired with blue jeans for the chural scene in the cafeteria art has changed into black slides and socks instead of sneakers but otherwise the outfits are unchanged here the Fire and Ice colors are switched and rightfully so especially because art is out here trying on some manipulation for size which Patrick notices and points out next we jump to tshi and Patrick making out in her dorm room while tshi and Patrick have their fight in the dorm room she puts on a white shirt and begins stretching Patrick grabs his jeans and her gray I told you shirt and then leaves now it's time for the Pepperdine match Stanford's official colors are red white black and gray so the audience is sprinkled with people wearing those colors especially art who is wearing a red t-shirt and black shorts he matches tshi who's sporting a red Wilson tank white skirt and sneakers even her tennis bag is red after her injury you can see how the two really match especially when Patrick comes running in the room wearing the gray shirt and they both yell at him the red color ties them together and shows that they're on the same team this is the chance art has been waiting for if you've watched my importance of color and costume design video you would know that red is a multifaceted color and could be interpreted in a variety of ways here for our final scene in this year assuming that it's months after her injury we have tshi hitting the ball with art her recovery isn't going as well as she would hope and she's yelling at Art not to go easy on her she's in the Stanford colors dark gray hoodie with red Stanford letters red shorts white sneakers art is wearing a light gray shirt dark blue shorts and white shoes and socks now onto 2010 it's the Cincinnati open in August we get another establishing scene where art is practicing with his coach and tshi comes by to say hi art is in a blue set with white socks and shoes tshi is also wearing blue in this scene linking the two together and this scene is basically a flipped mirror image of the Stanford one when the two are having dinner at Applebee's tshi is wearing a light blue dress with the Cal neckline on top of her cross necklace she's actually wearing a new necklace it looks like a singular hoop pendant but we know it's not her final cardier necklace since the chain on this one is shorter art is now wearing a dark sweater with a 1/4 zipper jeans and gray sneakers when they go outside tshi has put on her black leather jacket and we can finally see her produ cork sandals and her black bag let me just say those cork sandals are so 20110 it hurts now it's 2011 we're at the Atlanta open in July here we have another establishing shot of running drills with art she's an all black he's in all white Patrick comes to watch them and surprise surprise he's wearing the gray I told your shirt after all this time in the next scene it's 3:00 a.m. Toshi is sitting by herself in the hotel and drinking she's definitely not having a good time and probably mourning her career quick outfit rundown she's wearing a white silky blouse with a p texture dark pants and loafers we know that she's engaged at this point which she tells Patrick and she isn't wearing her wedding band which does show up later on and Patrick comes comes into frame wearing the same gray I told you shirt for the other half of the scene where art spots him together he's wearing a thin gray hoodie with black sweatpants and gray sneakers there isn't a wedding ring on his finger so this is just double confirmation that they're just engaged at this point 2019 starts with the Atlanta open the timeline here is a little bit muddy because in the scene where art is waking up his phone says July 3rd but the two weeks earlier title card would place these scenes around like July 21st so a little bit later in the month so it's sometime in July art has just woken up from his alarm Bashi is already awake and getting ready both of them have upgraded their underwear game art went from boxers to briefs and tshi went from mismatched colorful underwear to Black matching sets while art is doing his physical therapy tshi is watching TV wearing a tight black strappy dress on the couch we can see the brown L flamco tote with the $500 elephant charm you know they got money at this point I don't have much to say for the outfits in the next two scenes since they're fairly quick there's a shot of them on the court practicing and tshi is in head to toe black with the red uni logo visible art is super far away but he's wearing a white top and black shorts cut to them walking in the hallway same outfit for tshi art has put on a blue jacket with that bright red uniclo logo present in this next scene they're basically in the waiting room art has changed into his game outfit which is a matchy matchy coordinated set his white polo shirt has grid lines and a teil collar with a matching teil armband when he look looks up at a picture of his younger self he's also wearing teal her outfit consists of capri jeans black pointy heels and a silky white blouse after art loses the game with de marier they're back at the hotel tshi is wearing a silky green pajama set underneath a fluffy white robe Patrick has a white shirt and dark blue pants on he's wearing a Rolex Daytona reflecting their wealth status at this point in real life Federer has a partnership with Rolex cut to New Rochelle a few days later Patrick is trying to check into a motel but his card is working his outfit is a mish mash of colors light olive windbreaker with a gray shirt underneath blue athletic shorts and gray sneakers with green accents and gray socks after winning his first round Patrick is in the locker room swiping on Tinder he's wearing blue boxer shorts while the guy he defeated is wearing red briefs there's a lot of instances where red and blue are dapose against each other in this movie at the hotel bar his date is dressed up in her work clothes Patrick is super casual wearing a black Fela shirt and jeans he spots tshi for the first time in a while she's an all black a p Lowe top that's semi Shear slacks and Chanel espadrilles the most interesting part of this scene is that while she's wearing her cross necklace she's wearing a brand new necklace that we've never seen before it's a golden circular pendant with a mother pearl center so it's not a hoop like her earlier necklaces this is the only time she wears a filled Circle instead of a hoop so it's an odd detail that sticks out to me maybe it symbolizes a sudden change or her being caught off guard since she didn't expect to see Patrick at this Hotel we're back in the hotel for another tshi and Patrick scene we know the days have gone by since he mentions he's staying at that girl's house now aka the Tinder date I love tashi's sweater here it's the rose Fiji Kashmere sweater in a lovely brown color and wears it with blue capri pants and black pointy heels she's back to wearing both of her signature necklaces again Patrick wears a blue sweater with a 1/4 zipper and a white shirt underneath he's actually wearing the academy shirt underneath and I only know this because of the VIP fan auction lot which shows the two of them together it would make sense thematically if he's just re-wearing old clothes since he's broke and most likely clicking to the Past here Patrick is asking tshi to coach him which is interesting because if we rewind a little art wears a similar sweater with a/ 14th Zipper at Applebee's when he asked Tashi to be his coach there's so many freaking parallels in this movie I keep finding them as I as I go through my notes now it's August 3rd day before the match we have the sauna scene I have nothing of importance to add here since they're just in their towels I just liked looking at them later in that night when Lily gets tucked into bed our couple has a chat while they're getting ready to sleep this is the scene where art says he wants to retire his pajamas consists of light blue bottoms and a heather gray shirt for her we have a silky black night gown with lace details on the Hem and neckline I noticed the white shirt and camel jacket which she wears later are lying at the bench at the foot of the bed if you want good close-ups of her bracelets skip forward to the part where she cradles Arts face face because you can see them at midnight tshi grabs the jacket oversized shirt and exits the bedroom she puts them both on and goes out to meet up with Patrick who is wearing a black tank top and his signature watch when they both exit the car in their anger and then proceed to make out you can see that tshi shoes are white and he's wearing brown shorts SL black socks and gray sneakers it's finally the last scene August 4th the final showdown tshi has a l shirt dress that's tied at the waist it's a mix of white and blue fabric potentially hinting at her being split slash needing both of them to feel whole the brown loua bag and Chanel espid drills are there alongside her signature jewelry she adds a couple of new jewelry pieces for this final scene but I'll go over that later the look is finished with her personal 3287 sunglasses which are also on the movie poster but just recolored to purple and then for art and Patrick I thought it would be good to make this chart just to kind of like compare and contrast the two let's start with their tennis rackets art has a neon green and black one Patrick has a red one with blue streaks in terms of shirt art has on a uniclo branded shirt it's a white grid shirt with a blue collar and blue sleeve accent color Patrick doesn't have any fancy branding he does have a random Italian brand in Pau kind of like slapped on his chest he's wearing a black tank top with red and white graphical streaks in terms of accessories art has the matching blue armband and Patrick has nothing except for his bandaged fingers for their bottoms art has blue shorts that per perfectly match the rest of his outfit and Patrick has plaid shorts that kind of look like boxer shorts for socks we have art in white and Patrick in Black which is a common color theme throughout this movie and for shoes as well since art has white sneakers and Patrick has a dark blue/ gray sneaker both men are wearing a grid light pattern C art shirt and Patrick's plaid pants plus they're wearing their Fire and Ice colors respectively that was a lot are you okay are you still with me even though I went through every single outfit in the timeline there are three more observations that I wanted to highlight the clothes and styling really help show the passage of time you can use the hair length to help inform where in the timeline you are younger Tashi has long hair 2010 2011 tshi has an in between length that's past her shoulders and final form adult tshi has that shorter lighter hair her clothes start off in jewel tones and become more neutral when she becomes a powerful businesswoman she upgrades from a white G-Shock watch to a cardier watch which is a two-tone band gold and silver Fire and Ice both boys experience a similar trajectory of change young Patrick has curlier hair in this BTS photo of the hair and makeup notes you can see that Patrick's 2011 wig now has gray hairs he's clean shaven up till the end of the movie continuing his age luxury Motif he wears the same watch with the leather strap he's the only character who keeps the same watch throughout the whole movie Art's hair transformation is a little less dramatic between his Stanford days and early career career he keeps that long wavy hair though I'm sure they had different wigs for the different time periods his most drastic change is at the end where he Sports a shorter cleaner haircut he doesn't wear his backwards baseball cap anymore he also replaces black Timex with a silver Rolex it's fascinating to me how clothes can help age up or age down an actor they didn't use any digital daging technology which is super impressive everything is achieved through the impeccable styling of period appropriate Silhouettes hair and makeup and accessories a perfect example of this is the outfit tshi wears in the hotel that Juicy Couture velour tracksuit jacket is very 2000s and exactly what a hot girl would wear in that time add the black short shorts and Adidas Slides it's perfect casual but still cute it's not trying too hard I wouldn't be surprised if she was wearing like a Victoria's Secret pink body mist or something natural makeup is used to highlight her youthfulness she's an athlete so it's not like she would wear fake eyelashes even her French manicure was a PO pop nail Trend during that time we need to talk about the jewelry I've been wanting to chat about this because it was one of the things that caught my eye during my initial watch tshi has staple jewelry pieces that evolve through time she's one of those people who wears the same things every single day you rarely see her without her signature pieces young tashi's most recognizable piece of jewelry is her gold cross necklace it's a very simple necklace you can even spot it on her Adidas poster she also wears gold hoop earrings on multiple occasions tiny ones for tennis matches and large ones during the party in the Applebee scene she's still wearing her cross necklace but the new addition is a circular hoop pendant by this time she's still early in her coaching career so she wouldn't have the funds to purchase a $2,000 necklace yet the larger hoop earrings from the Adidas party make another appearance when 2011 rolls around she adds the engagement ring and the cardier watch to her Staples it's hard to tell exactly what necklace she's wearing on top of the Cross here but after squinting at my screenshots I think she's wearing the same hoop necklace from the previous year because has the shorter chain 2019 tshi has a very luxurious jewelry box filled with a bunch of cardier pieces right now she has the cross necklace and The cardier Trinity necklace which features three different types of metal Hoops intertwined with one another the cardier panthier watch is on her left wrist and the two gold cardier love bracelets are on the other those love bracelets actually require the use of a screwdriver to take them on or off the only non-designer piece is the handmade Beed bracelet that Lily made and those sit next to the two cardier love bracelets obviously she's wearing her engagement ring and wedding band it's kind of hard to spot her earrings but we can assume that she wears them all the time since they're from the same collection as her Trinity necklace the windy makeout scene with Patrick is where you can see the studs clearly is for the final tennis match she wears additional jewelry pieces that we've never seen before one is the partially paved Diamond choker and the other is a big ring on her right hand so in total she's wearing three rings three bracelets on her right wrist and three necklaces during the final tennis match all three of our main characters borrow SL steal each other's clothes and wear them in different scenes as you can tell everything in this movie reinforces the idea of the intertwined three from tashi's Trinity necklace to the multiple parallel scenes for example art spinning out his gum into tshi or Patrick's hand or Patrick and art saying I'm going to say something and this might make you mad tatashi wearing someone else's clothes is a very intimate act in my opinion he's offering it to you because you're cold or pretending to be cold it smells like him and has touched his skin for the green stripe button-up shirt art wears it the first time they watch Tashi play but Patrick grabs it when Tashi comes to their hotel room for the I told you shirt Tashi wears it during her lunch with art and Patrick grabs it after they fight and wears it in Atlanta years later and finally the white T-shirt art is wearing it when they're talking in the hotel room but tshi wears it when she meets up with Patrick that one is less obvious but it was clarified by Zena in an interview I hope this video helped you realize how much detail went into the costum design for Challengers Jonathan Anderson referenced American capitalism SL branding and kept those themes in mind while designing the costumes besides the custom Lou pieces he truly captured the time period and created costumes that fit within the character's lifestyle slor contemporary costume design features regular clothes you could buy off the rack so audiences might not respect it however it allows for the designer to really focus on the characterization and Dro those visual cues for us I really love digging and finding out how much attention to detail was present there was a prop auction which ended up being cancelled which is a shame because I wanted to see more shots of the costumes if they end up posting the Lots maybe I'll do a quick part two if I see anything interesting Jonathan Anderson is teaming up with guadino for his upcoming movie queer which has a 2024 release date it's based on a novel with the same name written by William S buroughs and guino has stated that he wanted to this movie since he was in his 20s I'm super excited to see how they'll tackle the costume design for this story I'll end the video with a W magazine quote from guo himself in Italy we say Italians I'm so sorry laito non Monaco which means that the way you look doesn't make you the person you are in life but in cinema the opposite is true the way a character looks does very much provide insight for an audience before anything is revealed through drama interaction or behavior on on screen costume design is also fun because it has nothing to do with the Personal Taste of the director or the costume designer it really is about the characters and how they are in front of each other and the camera for me costume design is in a word essential subscribe if you want but only if you want and let me know your thoughts on this video on Challengers all that all that stuff [Applause] a [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Gimme Puff Sleeves

Views: 139,524

Keywords: gimmepuffsleeves, challengers, costume design, johnathan anderson, jw anderson, luca guadagnino, zendaya, tashi duncan, tashi donaldson, art donaldson, patrick zweig, film costume design, movie costumes, costume analysis, challengers movie, challengers jewelry, tennis movie, movie fashion, film costumes, tenniscore, tennis fashion, costume sketches, challengers costume analysis, challengers costume design, i told ya shirt, loewe challengers, cartier jewelry, movie theories

Id: jNbZYBbiZfo

Length: 28min 43sec (1723 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 18 2024