Jaylan Salah’s shares the stand-out costume and hair and makeup design from the first half of the year.
A compelling and heavy-set race has emerged for the best-crafted films of 2024. Here, I dig deep into the films I have enjoyed watching, or the ones with the most compelling hair, makeup, and costume ensembles. Whether it is Feyd Rautha’s (Austin Butler) rockstar black, leather and spandex, Bob Marley’s (Kingsley Ben-Adir) dreadlocks, or Longlegs’ (Nicolas Cage) cold, cream, and pasty face—costumes, hair, and makeup elevate a film to a higher level of existence or bury it down in the dumps.
Some films benefit from more coverage detailing the costumes, hair, and makeup work, while others do not.
It makes it harder for a research critic like myself to dive deep and discover all the details of what makes a particular movie special or worth a nomination in the respective hair and makeup, or costumes departments. Nevertheless, it’s always interesting to highlight the perfect film for the right reasons. Some of my least favorite films have incredible work done in the costumes department (sorry, The Great Gatsby), and others whose camerawork and narrative I love are either insignificant or stale costumes and makeup departments-wise (Anyone remember Prince Caspian?)
Here’s my list of the top 2024 Costumes, Hair, and Makeup. Let us know about yours.
Dune: Part Two
Dune: Part Two is wondrous for its stunning hairwork, natural, stripped-bare skin tones, and desert skin. The Fremens, carrying the secret of the desert planet Arrakis, always look like they’re sheltering their face from the sun, with veils covering their entire heads and faces.
Jacqueline West is a poet of costumes. Her individually designed pieces create a supraworld to an existing universe, meticulously crafted from Frank Herbert’s novel to screen by veteran director Denis Villeneuve. From the kaftan-inspired, natural fiber Sietch wardrobe for Chani (Zendaya) to Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson)’s Touareg-inspired, modest costumes made from linen and gauze, West doesn’t hold back in constructing a world out of various shades of beige, nun-like headdresses, and bondage-y House of Harkonnen.
The Dune: Part Two hair game is another story, as told by the Paul Edmonds team. Chani’s hair has to look soft and earthy while seemingly matching the harsh sand and sun that dominate a desert planet like Arrakis. Feyd’s bald head takes hours in the makeup chair but must also accentuate his sexuality and rockstar power. Covering the eyebrows adds to the malicious nature of the character. On a planet devoid of color like Giedi Prime, Lady Margot Fenring’s (Lea Seydoux) hair has to be light blond like the sands of the desert. In contrast, Lady Jessica’s hair has to be longer with multiple extensions and perfectly color-matched to the first film.
All this attention to detail creates a space opera masterpiece, but unlike other sci-fi films where space hair means extra, wild, punky hair, the Dune Universe’s power lies in the subtlety and the ochre and brown desert hues.
Bob Marley: One Love
Biopics will always be kings and queens of costume, hair, and makeup award recognition. In Reinaldo Marcus Green’s Bob Marley: One Love, authenticity and sticking to how real-life figures look and dress have been the key to achieving reggae’s colorful, vibrant world. Although the hair and makeup team based the actors’ looks on their real-life counterparts, they also worked with manipulating particular details. Kingsley Ben-Adir is a giant compared to the real Marley, so the clothing had to create the distinct illusion of a smaller physique, all thanks to the magic of legendary costume designer Anna Biedrzycka-Sheppard famous for Schindler’s List and Maleficent, among other films.
Ben-Adir had to wear a wig to convey Marley’s famed dreadlocks. It could have ended in a farce if not for the magic of hair and makeup artists Carla Farmer and Morris Aberdeen. The makeup team also walked the fine line between the natural, stripped-down nature of the I-threes—Marley’s trio of backup female vocalists providing harmonies to his group— to individualizing every one of them. The makeup team used the clean, natural girl glam look with as little foundation work as possible to accentuate the women’s earthy beauty. Naomi Cowan’s character Marcia Griffiths was glammed up with a touch of mascara, lipstick, and foundation, applied with small fluffy brushes. Anna-Share Blake’s Judy Mowatt was all about defying perfection and showcasing the naturalism of her pregnant character performing on stage, only with a hint of Glossier blush. “k”
The Bikeriders
There’s no denying how The Bikeriders has revived the ‘60s biker culture. Apart from Jeff Nichols’ direction, the hair and makeup team is crucial in bringing the magic to the screen.
Dried grease under the nails achieved the grease and dry dirt look that aesthetic rubbed off on all bikers, covering heavily inked actors with makeup and leaving bikers at their so-called cleanest, still looking unclean. This aesthetic has been Ashleigh Chavis’ mission on The Bikeriders set, making the dazzling Austin Butler less attractive and less distracting from the surrounding biker grunge, ruining Norman Reedus’ teeth, and turning the “very” British Jodie Comer into a tough Midwestern wife.
Costume designer Erin Benach—renowned for designing iconic movie jackets—and her team have created a masterpiece with the costumes, scouring vintage shops and aging jeans to look like they’ve been worn every day for years. Benach and the team over-dyed all the denim (jackets, jeans, and vests) with a blue-green tint to make it look like the bikers haven’t showered or changed. Spraying and painting mud and dirt complimented the look Chavis wanted on the bikers, which was caked dirt and dust, so that these bikers looked worn out, road-weary, and dirty. A great costume designer knows when to overdress or dress down a character, and that’s what Benach does exactly with each actor in the cast, analyzing them according to personality and using the referential Danny Lyon book for guidance.
Longlegs
Longlegs is a polarizing film, but it succeeds in gathering different people around the same campfire, reminiscing on the terrifying Satanist serial killer and his morbid resemblance to the childhood fear of one’s parents. So, creating a character that is a bridge between a nurturing, overarching parent and a washed-up rockstar has been the work of a genius. Mica Kayde’s costume design relies on the contrast between the flour-white faded existence of Longlegs and the darkness surrounding agent Lee Harker (Maika Monroe), creating a grim environment of buried traumas and sinister omnipresent creatures.
There’s nothing scarier than a faded rockstar glam. The idea of sexy punk hair, makeup, and an overall cooler-than-cool, gender-defying hair and makeup turn into something eerie and morbid as the rockstar loses that aura, that air of youth and captivating visibility. So for the head of the department, Felix Fox and the special makeup-effects artist Harlow MacFarlane to create that look in collaboration with director Osgood Perkins, there had to be toning down of whatever intense theories Nic Cage had for the character.
Cage has been heavily influenced by European cinema, whether in his acting choices or even as he imagines his character, an androgynous person lying in the vicinity of time. The vision doesn’t entirely clash with Perkins’ idea of Longlegs’ face becoming a mask of his identity, the botched plastic surgeries, and the pale complexion, the wild, unruly white hair, all bringing together a being tormented but also sadistic and ravaged by madness like an old-school movie scientist frustrated by the limitations of science, in Longlegs’ case it is the limitations of plastic surgery at the time.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Award seasons present many conversations that make the modern average audience member’s mouth water. Actors spend hours in makeup chairs for a complete transformation, and movie starlets sacrifice beauty for layers and layers of grime and dirt that sculpt their faces as if the characters have wasted years of their lives under the glowing heat of the desert. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga carries the legacy of George Miller’s post-apocalyptic fictional world on its back, Chris Hemsworth’s prosthetic nose, and Anya Taylor-Joy’s bald prosthetic. Giving characters a coppery glow that allows them to shine despite the oil and grease forehead look has been one of makeup and hair designer Lesley Vanderwalt’s main goals. That paint that makes the eyes pop, but that glow that makes those characters shimmer against a highly saturated color grading.
Costume designer Jenny Beavan explains that Miller as an auteur, heavily weighs in on the process before actors are cast, so actors’ involvement becomes less impactful. She describes a wild assembly of old parachutes, tents, and hospital gurneys to use as fabric for the movie costumes to perfectly reflect the harshness of the Wasteland and the dreary effect the desert has on clothes and people, and how savvy the people living under those conditions have learned to become. A pro like Beavan understands fully how to share the concept of the world she is creating through costumes, skulls, and animal bones, but also how to dress a familiar character like Furiosa, whom she, as a costume designer, has grown to love as a particular actress through dressing a different one.
