Little Women’s Costumes

Clothes Make the Man, Woman and the Film

Image Above: The March Sisters-Little Women; Header Image: Timothee Chalamet as Laurie and Florence Pugh as Amy Marsh in Little Women

BY: Andy Shoulders

Yes, it’s yet another retelling of a classic story, but Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of the Louisa May Alcott novel “Little Women,” starring Timothee Chalamet, Saoirse Ronan, and Meryl Streep, still manages to bring a fresh eye to a familiar tale.

The film’s Oscar-winning costume designer, Jacqueline Durran, whose resume includes other period dramas such as “Atonement” and “Pride & Prejudice,” is one of the most prolific women in the film industry. She’s won a slew of awards – BAFTAs for “Vera Drake” and “Anna Karenina,” a Costume Designer’s Guild Award for “Atonement,” and an Oscar for “Anna Karenina.” Needless to say, Durran was an easy choice for “Little Women.”

One of the earliest signs of Durran’s costume clout can be seen in the trailer, which seriously upped the March sisters’ headwear game. The trailer opens with a pan to all four sisters wearing classic summer straw hats with the expected structure and ribbons (although Jo, the more tomboyish of the four, dons a floppier, non-ribboned variety). By fall, the sisters switch to felt, with Jo choosing a newsboy cap that later turns into a slightly more sophisticated beret.

Streep’s headwear, favoring a Havishamian black lace veil, is a clear sartorial reflection of her character: a wealthy, crotchety widow.

Gerwig and Durran took inspiration from the era in which “Little Women” was written (namely Winslow Homer’s 1870 painting “High Tide”) in crafting the cast’s costumes, as well as the softer, dustier colors of the movie’s cinematography.

One new way of showcasing the original text was having Jo (Ronan) and Laurie (Chalamet) subtly exchange items of clothing throughout the movie.“Jo is a girl with a boy’s name, and Laurie is a boy with a girl’s name,” Gerwig told Vanity Fair. “In some ways, they are each other’s twins. They find each other before they’ve committed to a gender. It wouldn’t be wrong to call Saoirse handsome and Timothee beautiful. Both have a slightly androgynous quality that makes them perfect for these characters.”