The new film adaptation of Little Women is out on Boxing Day, just in time to provide a cosy few hours after the stress of December 25. Directed by Greta Gerwig, and starring Saoirse Ronan, Florence Pugh, Emma Watson, Laura Dern and Meryl Streep, the film has won much acclaim, and has already been nominated for a clutch of awards. But as 2020 approaches, bringing with it the potential for Oscars, BAFTAs and several other prizes, the film has a good luck charm: Academy Award-winning Costume Designer Jacqueline Durran.
A graduate of Royal College of Art, Jacqueline has long been one of Britain's most admired costume designers. Her work has been seen in Anna Karenina, Pride & Prejudice, Disney's Beauty and the Beast, Macbeth and the forthcoming The Batman. She has regularly collaborated with filmmakers Mike Leigh and Joe Wright. Oh, and she was responsible for that green dress which the world has envied ever since Keira Knightley wore it in Atonement.
'I think I always had a love of clothes', she tells Grazia. 'But I didn't particularly want to go into fashion. I just loved clothes. I just sort of realised from my early 20s that costume was a possibility. You learn a lot of history: you're always learning. Working in a costume department of a film, there are hundreds of people, ageing the clothes, dyeing the clothes, looking after the clothes on set. There are so many possibilities. It would be great if that was known.'
Despite being one of the world's most beloved costume designers, especially in period dramas, her participation in Little Women was not guaranteed. 'I tend not to work in America,' she explains. 'I'd heard that Greta was making the film, and then some time passed so I presumed someone else was doing it. And then, I just got called, saying that Greta wanted to talk about Little Women. I couldn't believe it. I couldn't resist it.' Her name had come up, she said, thanks to Greta's love of the films of Mike Leigh.
'Each one has colours, inspired by the notebooks Marmee gives them for Christmas. So Jo's colours are red, combined with indigo. Meg is pink or green. Beth is brown and pink, and Amy is blue.'
'We had initial conversations just about the spirit of the film', says Jacqueline. 'And what she was looking for and how she wanted to shake up the period film genre to an extent. I started my research, going through photographic books and art books, just trying to get a picture of the period and trying to find the images that I felt related to the specific dates. We were looking at pictures of artist's communities of the 1880s, trying to see the kind of style that someone radical might be wearing, how they might wear their clothes.'
For Jacqueline, a scene where the March sisters go out for the day by the sea was a favourite. 'I really loved the beach scene,' she says. 'Because it gave us the chance to dress everyone up. It felt like a time where they were in the middle of growing up. It looks like an American Impressionist painting.'
With four sisters, possessing such different personalities, Jacqueline needed to find a way to make them stand out. 'It was really important to make, distinctive characters for each one', she says. 'And also, each one has colours, inspired by the notebooks (their mother) Marmee gives them for Christmas. So Jo's colours are red, combined with indigo. Meg is pink or green. Beth is brown and pink, and Amy is blue.'
But it was Amy, whose growth from young girl to woman is the starkest in the novel, posted the greatest challenge. 'She has the biggest change because she's the youngest at the beginning', Jacqueline says. 'So she's in the most childish clothes - the shorter skirts, for example - but she also has the most period detail, because she's so fashionable. And then you have grown up Amy, in Europe: the time period is clear to see.'
Little Women is in cinemas December 26th
READ MORE:See the Little Women trailer