'Yellowjackets’' Costume Designer on Season 2’s Gory Delights
"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links."
In Season 2 of Yellowjackets, stories lurk in every costume. A high-collared blouse covers a gruesome scar. A worn-down cat sweater recalls childhood trauma. Seatbelts from a crashed plane and a raw bearskin are lashed together to create a cape. If you’re into complex psychological dramas with more twists and turns than an M.S. Escher print, this show is for you. The deliciously suspenseful Season 1 offered secrets and thrills around every turn—and many of us walked away with more questions than answers.
If you’re not familiar with Yellowjackets (which, in that case, what are you waiting for?), here’s the elevator pitch: it’s a survival epic that follows an elite girls’ soccer team after a plane crash leaves them stranded in the Canadian wilderness in 1996, and how those same characters in 2021 move on with their lives (or don’t), having made it back to society. The full story of what happens to the girls during their nineteen months in the woods is revealed to us bit by bit, in a shocking bingo card that includes everything from supernatural abilities to some light cannibalism. Now, in Season 2, winter has come, which means that things are only going to get more intense for the team.
For a show like this, which takes place in two time periods with a complex ensemble of characters, getting the costume design right is crucial. We caught up with Yellowjackets’ Season 2 costume designer Amy Parris to learn more about how she used costume design to create continuity between the show’s two simultaneous plot lines, how she simulated just the right amount of gore, and how she developed characters using costume. As the costume designer for Stranger Things, as well, she’s clearly no stranger to productions that skew a little… odd.
The new season of Yellowjackets is streaming now. And if you’re wondering if it’s going to be any good, we’d just like to point out: the show has already been renewed for a third season.
You were not the costume designer for Season 1 of Yellowjackets, which can often happen with television productions as peoples’ availability changes, and so forth. What is it like to begin with Season 2?
I hit the ground running. I spoke to Marie Schley who did most of Season 1 and she told me how lovely all the actors were so I was really excited. This is the second time I’ve “inherited” a show. I also inherited Stranger Things in that I didn’t do Seasons 1 or 2. You want to keep the integrity of the show but you also want to develop it, in a way.
So how is Season 2’s costuming different from Season 1?
Well, these girls crashed in the wilderness with only the suitcases they had on the plane. Knowing they had a limited amount of clothes, I had to get creative with what they had. In Season 2, we’re now dealing with winter, but I knew I couldn’t introduce a whole new closet. But the Yellowjackets’ initial trip was supposed to be in the warmer months, so they’re not wearing warm clothes. I worked with what we had, with a lot of mixing and matching. We use a lot of layering this season because they would put on a bunch of clothes all at once. It was this creative challenge of layering of up to five tops at once, but layering them properly so you can see each one as the viewer, and it doesn’t look like just a big pad of clothing on the screen.
Was it difficult for the actors to wear so many layers?
A fun fact is that they’re dressed for the winter season, but we actually built a set on a stage, so the actors are wearing a ton of warm layers but they’re actually quite hot because they’re shooting indoors on a stage. This was filmed in Vancouver, and we started to prep in August and only just finished shooting in February, so we had some really warm months in there and it’s not like we were blasting air conditioning on these actors. You don’t want their face to be flushed or have makeup come in to fix beads of sweat. The best thing we can do is aid them in their performance and not impede it. So we did a little movie magic by taking away layers underneath by making dickies or taking the sleeves off of things so these actors weren’t boiling.
How did you use costuming to develop the characters for Season 2?
In Season 1 we started to notice the various strengths within the Yellowjackets. For instance, Natalie is a good hunter. So in Season 2, we find out that Natalie has killed a bear, so we made a pelt, and she’s tied it on using seatbelts from the planet. And I am proud to say it is not a real hide. Frankly some actors won’t wear real animal hide. The audience doesn’t necessarily need fur on screen to be the real thing. Much like how John Snow in Game of Thrones wore an IKEA rug, we had a fake deerskin rug that we took, and applied this latex rubbery effect to give it a freshly-skinned texture, so it had some sinews, some muscle tone, this darker brown-red gooey effect.
Sounds gross.
There were times when it got too gross. So we definitely pulled back and made it a little less realistic so the audience wouldn’t get distracted, but it should look messy. It should look yucky. These girls are not professional animal skinners.
Something unique about this show is how we get to see the same characters at two different periods in their life. How did you create interplay between the 1996 and 2021 storylines?
You’ll see little Easter eggs. For example, with Misty, we have this flashback to a sweater she wore as a teenager in Season 1. We aged that sweater and made it look like she’s had it forever and still wears it as an adult. Shauna has her plaids and shearling collars. Some of the characters we gave these physical pieces that we imagine they’ve held on to for a long time. And for some of the characters, it’s more about the silhouettes. For example, teen Van has an injury in Season 1 and they cover her face with a mask. I imagined what happens to an adult that grows up self-conscious of a scar, so I put Van in a high-collared shirt that felt more protective. We see a few things carry through from the 90’s to today, like Misty’s cat sweater.
I ask every costume designer this. Was there something that one of your actors tried to pilfer from set?
Speaking of sweaters. There was a Yellowjackets sweatshirt that was very popular. Misty Samantha Hanratty, who plays Misty, loved it, and so did Sophie Thatcher, who plays teen Natalie, and Simone Kessell who plays adult Lottie loved it, too.
I’m impressed that sweater didn’t disappear, then! So I take it the 1996 cast wasn’t crazy about taking home their dirty wilderness rags?
Honestly, not really. Those actors wore those clothes over and over and over again. In addition to all the texture and the holes you see, you see the costumes progressively get dirtier and grimier. These girls aren’t putting their hands in icy water to clean those clothes, so they get more broken down and dirty. We actually used a breakdown artist who did these beautiful stains and blood spatters.
Breakdown artist! That’s a real job!
In the states we call them agers or dyers, but in Vancouver they call it breakdown artist. It’s so underrated but is super valuable to a costume designer.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
You Might Also Like
