Hugo – Costume Design – Sandy Powell

“For the kids, we had to allow for growth and also I wanted the look to be very particular and coordinated… The Station Inspector’s uniform was deliberate so as to be able to identify him from across a crowded station… Since this is a film to capture the imagination of children as well as adults I wanted to use a color that would resonate and therefore was able to use a bit of artistic license in doing so.” – Sandy Powell on her costume designs for Hugo with the FIDM Museum

Hugo captures the imagination of its viewers through its story, but its surroundings is ultimately what takes us to that place. And rightly so, as it is a movie about the origins of films, tracing back to original filmmakers, Georges Méliès in particular.

Georges Méliès created what can be described today as close to fantasy, with far away landscapes and bizarre scenarios. His sets and costumes were unusual and his special effects techniques help illustrate that. Such effects include the stop trick, multiple exposures, time-lapse photography, dissolves, and hand-painted color.

Sandy Powell did a wonderful job in recreating those fantastical costumes in the Georges Méliès flashback scene. The undersea filming had salmon-pink lobster-like costumes and the main female character on the filming wore a seaweed green dress with  short red hair. These stand out against the blue background and theme of the scene and are brought to our attention, allowing us to create our own amazing ideas of what may be going on – making our dreams.

Méliès’ green costume in the flashback sequence, as well as his wife’s white costume when hanging up as a shooting star, are both extremely detailed. So much that the soft textures of the fabric are pronounced enough that you can almost feel it.

In the Arabian-style dragon scene, the actors’ soft-looking orange and navy costumes again stand out against the blueish-gray background and contrasts with the sharp-edged greenish-dragon they are fighting. The skeletons that appear later in that scene also match with the soft-looking aesthetic of most of the other costumes in the entire film.

This includes outside of the flashback scene. Most of the characters’ costumes appear to made out of wool or a similar material – especially Hugo and Isabelle. This may have been partly done to achieve particular color shades and palettes decided by Powell. If you notice, every color is a bit off in hue, brightness-dullness, and/or darkness-lightness from what we normally imagine of blue, pink, green, etc.

Take the station inspector’s uniform for instance. The blue seems to be brighter than normal while only a tiny bit darker, creating a unique color that is noticeable in the crowed train station – just like Powell wanted. You can definitely pick him out easily in the film, which adds to his character of being the perceived antagonist. The gold that accents the costume is than what is normally seen, yet contrasts the blue very well.

All of these unique colors draw the audience into this fantastical adventure that Hugo goes on in what is otherwise a dark, dull setting. And the coordination between main costume colors and accent colors is noticeable different enough to highlight detail, but not enough to be distracting. Going back to the soft texture that the costumes seem to have, it helps create a storybook feel that brings childhood memories back and allows the audience to unlock their imagination. This adds to the movie’s overarching idea that filmmaking is where dreams are made as well.

I, myself, took away the color palette with utmost clarity after viewing Hugo, and it still continues to resonate with me. It is probably one of my most favorite color schemes in a movie, and it is all thanks to Sandy Powell’s costume design and aesthetic choices.

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Sandy Powell’s full interview with the FIDM Museum can be found here: http://blog.fidmmuseum.org/museum/2012/02/sandy-powell-on-her-costume-designs-for-hugo.html

Hugo Trailer:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Y6OoN1FR6Y

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