The Costumes in Pedro Almodóvar’s First English-Language Feature Film Up the Luxury Quotient in Bottega Veneta and Other Labels

LONDON — In Pedro Almodóvar films it’s typical for sad women, or those on the verge of death, to be dressed to the nines in luxury labels.

The Spanish director’s first English-language feature film, “The Room Next Door,” is no exception. And this time the luxury quotient is even higher with racks of Bottega Veneta items, vintage Celine and pieces from The Row.

Almodóvar enlisted his longtime collaborator Bina Daigeler to dress Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore in the movie about a war journalist, Martha Hunt, and a novelist, Ingrid Parker, reconnecting in midlife.

The two women dust off their old rapport as Hunt, played by Swinton, battles cancer. Parker is there, by her side, in the hospital, on park walks, and during a staycation an hour away from New York City, where the film is set. No scene is short of color or glamour.

In preparation for the film, Daigeler made an extensive mood board featuring female writers and war reporters, as well as other characters that “reflect the intellectual, bohemian world of New York,” she says in an interview.

The costume designer also included paintings from a Louise Bourgeois exhibition she visited in Vienna, focused on the French-American artist’s time in New York. It featured all the colors that Almodóvar loves: red, green, blue and yellow.

Daigeler dyed the hospital gowns and nurse uniforms in an electric blue that’s more in tune with Almodóvar’s cinematic universe. Even in moments of despair where Hunt is attached to a drip feed, she’s wearing a bubblegum pink cardigan with her hospital gown. 

“Tilda’s character wouldn’t have bought special, sad clothes because she had this idea of wanting to leave this world in good spirits, which is why we went for bright colors,” says Daigeler, pointing out that Swinton wears a beautiful blue coat from French label Casey Casey.

Hunt’s costumes are so colorful they could have been plucked from Iris Apfel’s wardrobe. She lounges in soft cashmeres, mint blue zip-up knits, and a chunky JW Anderson sweater that features shades of red, yellow, baby blue and navy. Swinton wore her personal JW Anderson sweater to rehearsals and Almodóvar quickly took a liking to it, requesting it get featured in a scene.

Daigeler said she enjoyed when the director stepped in and got involved with the costumes. Almodóvar even bought a brown Gucci Jackie bag for Swinton to carry in the film.

“He’s always very involved. He loves fashion and he’s interested in it. He has such a good taste, so it comes all together,” she says.

The film’s two female characters bounce off each other naturally and bring lightness to dark moments. The clothing captures that spirit. When Hunt prepares for her self-administered euthanasia, she chooses a yellow Valentino suit.

“Pedro had once seen Tilda in a yellow suit and this image never left his mind. It took Tilda and I awhile to get friendly with the idea of a yellow suit for such a moment in the film, but Pedro would keep going back to this yellow suit,” says Daigeler, who realized she had a yellow suit buried in her research folder. She surprised Almodóvar with it on set, by bringing Swinton out in full hair and makeup wearing the acid yellow shade.

In contrast to Hunt’s vivid taste, Parker wears more grounded hues such as a blue-checked Lebor Gabala coat, a burgundy trenchcoat from The Row and a series of Bottega Veneta items.

“It is very important that the audience still can relate to the characters. Somehow you have to be truthful and really straightforward to what your initial idea was, because otherwise it would get ridiculous,” says Daigeler.

“It made sense to collaborate with Bottega Veneta because in New York you see a lot of Bottega leather-wear and bags,” she adds, pointing out that she even tossed her own orange Bottega travel bag into the costume mix.

She flew out to Milan to meet the Bottega Veneta team, who had put together a presentation that matched Daigeler’s moodboard for the film. Bottega Veneta wasn’t the only label she favored. She also worked with vintage Celine and The Row.

The German costume designer’s next project is not far in spirit from the fashionable world of Almodóvar.

Daigeler has made all the costumes from scratch for David Lowery’s “Mother Mary,” which follows the relationship of a musician and a fashion designer, starring Michaela Coel, Anne Hathaway, Hunter Schafer and Kaia Gerber.

“I had to make a collection for the fashion designer (played by Coel), as well as dressing her and her crew. Then I also had to come up with all the performance outfits for Anne’s character, but also what she’s wearing off stage,” says Daigeler.

There’s a recurring character trait in Daigeler’s recent work: all of the female protagonists are cultural figures in the spotlight.

In “Tár,” Cate Blanchett plays the first female chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic and an EGOT recipient (a winner of an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony). Meanwhile “The Room Next Door” and “Mother Mary” follow the lives of writers, musicians and fashion designers.

“It’s been a lot of fun to work on these glamorous characters because it’s all a fantasy world,” says Daigeler.

Another project she’s working on is “Rosebush Pruning,” about a family struggling with genetic illnesses. The premise may not sound all that glitzy, but if director Karim Aïnouz’s work, which includes “Motel Destino” and “Firebrand,” is anything to go by, then there will as much color and life as any Almodóvar picture.