This version of the story is about “Spencer” first appeared in theBelow-the Line Issueof ’s awards magazine.
Pablo Larraín’s “Spencer”The film is set at Christmas 1991 when Princess Diana, aged 30, struggles to cope with the royal pomp that has overtaken her. Kristen Stewart was also playing the role at the time. The film is deliberately fictionalized – it opens with an epigraph calling itself “a fable from a true tragedy” – and Diana’s wardrobe spins a yarn, so to speak, as well.
The film opens with Diana dressed in a plaid jacket with brass buttons. This coat is very similar to the one worn by the real princess. Jacqueline Durran the costume designer was skeptical at first, but she eventually designed the piece. “I was worried that this jacket wouldn’t quite work,”She spoke. “I thought perhaps it was too boxy and too long. But I have to say that Kristen Stewart is amazing. She understands clothes so well that she can just wear things and find a way to make them work, beyond what I could have imagined.”
Durran won Oscars for his photo research on the project. “Anna Karenina” “Little Women,”He wasn’t obsessed with replication. “Diana was photographed so often that you can look online and see what she was wearing on almost any date,”Durran. “But it seemed much more interesting to take elements of her style and toss them together and to tell a new story, one which wasn’t tied strictly to the facts. Though the film is set in 1991, Pablo stressed that we weren’t speaking about a specific moment in time.”
For example, Diana wore a red suit with white trim and a matching hat to the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth in April 1989. Durran took the inspiration from this look. “But we changed the color to a pale yellow because Pablo was very specific about the sequence of colors in the film,”She spoke. “Even though yellow is more of an Easter color than a Christmas color, he wanted it as part of his vision and I totally agreed. He also wanted to keep the hat, which looks like a pirate’s hat. Pablo loved that and so we did it in yellow, too.”
Still, Durran was conscious of the public’s familiarity with Diana’s style and so she also included pieces of clothing that were precisely right. “To unsettle the audience by doing both things,”She agreed. Durran also purchased a red-and-black bomber jacket online. “It was made by Mondi, which is an almost forgotten brand now, but it was sort of big at that moment. I was thrilled with it and Kristen was thrilled with it.”
Stewart and Durran met for the first time. “Spencer,”One nine-hour day was spent fitting all the costumes for the film. Given that Stewart is a brand ambassador for Chanel, the fashion house collaborated with the filmmakers, including on the film’s stunning centerpiece costume, a “gorgeous white evening dress with gold embroidery,” in Durran’s words. (It’s also featured on the film’s poster.)
“Chanel’s archivists provided that, based on a dress Diana wore, which they remade for Kristen,”She spoke. “And, oh, the way it is very fitted through the body and then kicks out at the bottom, in that beautiful light color. At the fitting with Pablo and Kristen, we just knew it was the one.”
Durran said that there is no magical way to make an actor appear taller through clothing. Stewart is 5’4″, half a fet shorter than Diana at 5’10”.
“There isn’t any one rule in fitting clothes to enhance your height. It’s a combination of Pablo’s camera angles and…” – Durran paused to emphasize the importance of what she was about to say next – “…the fact that Kristen Stewart is such an amazing actress. I feel like she’s still not recognized enough for how great she is and what daring choices she makes.” (Durran’s point about Stewart not being widely acknowledged was bolstered this week when the actress was snubbed for a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination.)
The costume designer is a shrewd critic. “I can’t speak of Kristen highly enough. I want to use my voice to promote her as the truly great actress that she is. Do people not realize she’s one of the great actresses? She’s on the same level as the greats. She deeply understood the logic and inner philosophy of Diana’s style in order to make this film work.”
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