On ‘The Veil,’ Elisabeth Moss’ Boots Were Made for Fighting in Her ‘Nikita’ Moment

Bill Desowitz
·4 min read
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Elisabeth Moss is definitely dressed for sartorial success as MI6 agent Imogen Salter in Stephen Knight’s spy thriller “The Veil” (currently streaming on FX). The chameleon-like spy, who travels from Istanbul to Paris to London with suspected ISIS terrorist Adilah El Idrissi (Yumna Marwan), sports an array of designer clothes suitable for every inconspicuous or dangerous situation. This provided costume designer Anthony Unwin (“Shoshana”) the perfect opportunity to be stylishly creative.

“The Veil” establishes a strong silhouette for the introduction of Imogene as she springs a trap on an unsuspecting enemy spy at the airport. “It was very much about creating this image in the silhouette that was quite powerful,” Unwin told IndieWire. “I used Alexander McQueen shoulders with the jacket and Jimmy Choo patent leather shoes. And then a silk Joseph blouse underneath that and pencil skirt. I was kind of creating the character from that with [mostly] British brands. It gave a great essence that I know Lizzie loved as well because it gave her a sense of power.”

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The fun for Unwin was hinting at who the character really is behind the fabricated Imogen identity and building from there. All we know is that she’s a professional liar with the ability to extract the truth by getting close to people and manipulating them. Her true identity (other than the fact that her father was British) remains hidden beneath her shape-shifting role-playing.

“She is this international spy that’s very aristocratic British but [based] in Paris,” added Unwin. “So it’s playing with those ideas in the fabrics, the textures, and then keeping that modern with a woman of action constantly on the run, but also quite fun within the movement of it.”

'The Veil,' Elisabeth Moss
‘The Veil’TAMALET CHRISTINE

When Imogen arrives at the freezing refugee camp in the mountains between the Turkish and Syrian border to intercept Adilah, she’s bundled up in a fashionable jacket, sweater, and jeans with snow boots. “How do I make minus 20 still chic and sophisticated?” said Unwin. “Because her character is that, there’s a knowingness to her, which I really like, the way that she plays people and works with them. So that was a Nobis jacket, and then, underneath, Lululemon was the way of kind of pulling it in and getting silhouettes and shapes again to the character.”

The first two episodes involve a road trip with Imogen and Adilah, an opportunity to take off the layers and highlight a blue linen shirt and jeans. Unwin kept the tones generally neutral until they got to Paris in Episode 3, where Imogen is most comfortable on her home turf amidst the beauty of the surroundings.

Here, Imogen sports a cashmere coat, cream blouse, and black pants for surveillance in a cemetery. “Because of the element, I wanted the fabric, so it’s silks, it’s cashmere, it’s linen,” Unwin said. “And I work with really great English and French brands: McQueen, Dior, and these are well-cut pieces that are altered as well. Hermès gave us the watch. And Lizzie really works well in heels. She could run in heels, do high jumps.”

Speaking of which, for a street fight scene accompanied by Adilah, Imogen is wearing black again. “So I wanted a femme fatale theme, a little ‘Nikita’ moment, a little tough,” added Unwin. “And, again, it’s something with Lizzie that we were discussing, talking about how this could be fun and what we could do.

'The Veil,' Elisabeth Moss
‘The Veil’Christine Tamalet/FX

“Let’s do some Isabel Marant high boots, let’s do the leather jacket, let’s do the bodycon dress that also had a bit of an A-line cut skirt to allow for movement,” he said. “So the dress is an L.A. brand, actually, called CO, and I altered it. We brought in the waist, and we shortened the length.”

Then there was the gun holster, which Unwin also made. “It wasn’t really anything that’s practical or real, but we had the idea that kept the lines clean. It wasn’t too bulky, but it worked within the scenario.”

It was another instance of making Imogen a chic chameleon. “If this character isn’t going to be popping, she wants to be blending in, she wants to be one of the crowd,” Unwin said. “But then when she needs to stand out and attract attention in the right way, she can, which is why the black leather jacket really kind of worked in that moment because it was impactful.”

New episodes of “The Veil” premiere on Tuesdays on Hulu.

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