How the May December Wardrobe Spirals from ‘Delicate Princess’ to Creepy ‘Mimic’ (Exclusive)

May Decemberstarring Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore, is one of those movies that stays with you long after it’s over.

Loosely based on the real-life crime case of Mary Kay Letourneau, the film makes you think about the characters, the real people the story is based on, and all the subtle nuances throughout the film — including how something as simple as the characters’ closets help tell the story for everyone.

To the average eye, costumes in May December look like ordinary clothes. Savannah, Georgia-based wife and mom Gracie Atherton-Yoo (Moore) is dressed in what you’d expect from a Southern woman: pastel colors, Hill House sleepwear, and flowers. Similarly, Elizabeth Berry (Portman), the city actress set to play Gracie in a film about her life, is edgier and wears designer pieces in dark neutrals.

But costume designer April Napier, assistant costume designer Hunter Hamilton and Napier’s team went a step further and entered the minds of each character, including the complicated brain of Joe Yoo (Charles Melton), to insert the finest details to ensure each outfit was sure to be perfect for every character in the Todd Haynes-directed film that has already garnered plenty of awards show talk.

Below, Napier walks us through her creative process and describes how she built the characters’ wardrobes and used them to tell each of their stories — including how one particular piece was part of Joe’s breakdown.

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Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman in May and December.

Francois Duhamel/Courtesy of Netflix

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Both Gracie and Elizabeth are very interesting characters because you’re not sure who the protagonist is (if he is). Tell us about their wardrobes and the shades of each. How did you create them?

There’s a performative femininity to Gracie, isn’t there? It is very fragile and trying to hold on to something that is on the verge of collapse. She wanted to have a kind of delicate princess, so we knew we had to have soft textures. We knew we had to have a palette of lavender, pink, ivory, flowers.

I looked at the pictures of the photographer Tina Barney, she has this book called Tina Barney: Theater of Manners. I looked at Deborah Turbeville, who is an art photographer and did a lot of commercials for fashion houses in the 70s. I watched one in particular that she made for Valentine. We looked at Robert Altman 3 womenbecause it was Sissy Spacek, Shelley Duvall and Janice Rule, and there are all these colors of lavender and femininity.

We started with Julie and we had a very short preparation period and a short shoot — it was only 23 days of shooting. But we got Julie on Friday and we mapped out all her changes, so we knew where everything was going to fall. It comes in lavender, ivory, pink, floral colors. And then the end, of course, with the white dress. We also knew she had some hunting gear there.

We knew then that Elizabeth needed to transition to a moment when she started imitating Gracie. So we knew Natalie was going to come in as someone from an urban place, it’s Los Angeles, it’s New York, it’s somewhere in the city. She has a uniform, like all of us. We used Jane Birkin as a touchstone. She walks in and she’s wearing that blazer, which is The Row, and jeans, a simple white T-shirt, Redone I think, and then a Celine scarf around her neck. So it’s sort of her uniform.

And then he goes to a Memorial Day party. We knew we wanted to start it off in black, grey, navy, monochrome and navy. Todd didn’t want her to go to the party in black, because it would be so upsetting, and she’s trying to fit in somehow. Everyone there wears some elements of red, white, and blue, so she wears this deep dark red, kind of slip dress the color of oxblood. He also has Hermes’ straw hat on his head.

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Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore in May and December.

Francois Duhamel / Courtesy of Netflix

It almost gets creepy when Elizabeth starts dressing like Gracie. He’s really sinking into her. That shot of the two of them in their floral dresses really hits home. They’ve become one, and it’s almost creepy.

Yes it is. Elizabeth’s color palette begins to lighten and soften until you see her in pink and lavender. Todd gives us a big list of movies we should watch for inspiration, and one of them is called Pumpkin eater. There’s a roast scene in the movie, where the two actresses are in very similar outfits, and I used that as inspiration when Elizabeth showed up at the roast with Gracie.

Gracie is wearing that floral dress with the linen apron, and then Elizabeth shows up and says, “Oh, look how beautiful you look,” and she’s wearing a copy of that outfit. Very similar Pumpkin eater, but it is in a more graphic, like a more urban pattern. And then Gracie gives her a floral apron, so she has a floral one on top.

When you see them outside, when they’re looking at Joe on the roof, Elizabeth is really imitating. Learn all of Gracia’s language.

There is also a scene at the graduation, in their same white dresses. Elizabeth is wearing her big Saint Laurent glasses, but you can see her falling apart. Everything is falling apart. Her whole shield just fell off. That’s insane.

That was in the script. Alone [Burch, screenwriter] wrote in the script that they meet on the field, like two white knights, so we knew they would be in white. You don’t always follow the script to the letter, but in this case we knew we wanted to be.

So Elizabeth is in a much more architecturally clean dress, and then Gracie has more ruffles, but they meet together. Gracie has a vintage Armani bag and Elizabeth has her little crossbody. Elizabeth wears her Saint Laurent shades and Gracie wears big Celines, but they’re more 70s. And here they are together. Another mimic.

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Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman behind the scenes in May and December.

Francois Duhamel/Courtesy of Netflix

Speaking of Joe, he definitely feels like a Savannah dad, but you probably had to get inside the head of a man who had to grow up fast and leave his childhood behind when creating his wardrobe. How was that?

He’s wearing some kind of costume, trying to fit in, in the south, and there really is a uniform for men there. They all have khaki pants, khaki shorts, oxford shirt, blue polo, wear Sperry Top-Siders. He is playing the role of a father, trying to play the role of a grown man. He was a young man when they fell in love. He is Korean, so he is already somewhat ostracized from the community. So he’s just trying to fit in.

The way he wears his clothes — his demeanor is really down. And then there’s the scene when he’s on the roof. We put him in that striped rugby, the Abercrombie rugby, because that’s where he breaks down, and it’s like his security blanket. It’s something he’s had in the back of his drawer forever. We washed it up and made it dirty, like it’s the only thing he’s holding on to, which is great in that specific scene.

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Charles Melton in May and December.

Francois Duhamel/Courtesy of Netflix

The costumes in this movie are so subtle. It’s easy to overlook the details you enter.

That’s the thing about costume making. You do a lot of research and think deeply about the psychology of the characters and the environment, where they live, what they listen to.

I like to do costumes that have a really delicate hand, just to support the story. I don’t want it to be like costumes [gestures wildly]. I want it to be very natural, very lived, very understated. But you have to be precise when you do it, so you have to spend a lot of time really dissecting just where the thing fits. And it’s more about how it fits and the size. Is it pressed? Is he naughty? There are so many details that go into it. Sometimes with costumes they don’t shout, but inform. For this we had to make sure it had enough twist to be subtle and off enough but still quiet.

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