Anya Taylor Joy continues to create dangerous and mysterious characters in her new role of Sandie in Last Night in Soho. The film stars Thomasin McKenzie, Matt Smith and Shadow and Bone’s Jessie Mei Li. It is best described as a feminist revenge thriller. Taylor-Joy plays Sandie, a young femme fatale who is desperate to get her big break in 1965 Soho. McKenzie’s Eloise is Sandie’s foil. Eloise is a fashion student in pre-industrial London who begins to recall Sandie’s troubling memories. Eloise’s debut line is inspired by Sandie. However, Eloise uses personal style to communicate with and learn from her muse.
Odile Dicks Mireaux designed Sandie’s costumes. It reflects Sandie and Eloise’s mirroring experiences from the 1960s to 2010. Eloise’s newspaper dress and Sandie’s tent gown are the principal costumes of Last Night in Soho. This quickly becomes Eloise’s main design inspiration. “I was looking at old Vogues pictures and high fashion, and the choices were amazing.” Dicks-Mireaux says that these beautiful ball gowns from the late 1950s were extremely sculptural. That was the best way to go down for the newspaper gown. Dicks-Mireaux used a different approach to Sandie’s peach gown, which was called the “tent dresses” by the designer. She said, “I went to paper patterns, looking for the kind of things ordinary people could achieve and create, and I got caught in that. Then, I discovered that Monica Vitti had worn a similar dress to the tent dress with Terence Stamp in 1960s, so I thought, ‘Well, that’s a good link, since we’re going have Terence Stamp in this film.'”
Eloise first saw Sandie in her peach tent dress as an inspiration for her own collection. From there, the story continues with Sandie’s black and white lace dresses, her burlesque costumes, and then a red minidress and a white patent trench that Sandie wore throughout her life. Dicks-Mireaux said that the story was about Sandie being more covered up and more sophisticated in the beginning. Then, when she wears the red dress, she attracts a lot more punters and is further along her downhill journey.” Her team modeled Sandie’s 1965 outfit from mood boards, research and films by Edgar Wright (also famous for Hot Fuzz and Baby Driver). Dicks-Mireaux stated, “Darling (1965) was one of my favorite films.” “Julie Christie in Darling.” Sandie’s outfit was also inspired by 1960s paper patterns by Nina Ricci and Vitti in Modesty Blaise (which costars Stamp).
Dicks-Mireaux stated that the black lace dress was still her hope, and sophistication. “I found a Nina Ricci pattern and thought it was great. It was made from two fabrics, just like the peach-chiffon tent dress. The black lace gown worked especially well.” Sandie’s dresses were used by the designer to mirror Eloise’s wardrobe. She used two types of layered fabric to create many looks. The designer wanted Sandie’s and Eloise to have light and airy costumes. The peach dress’ chiffon layer adds lightness and elegance. Dicks-Mireaux said that Thomasin and Anya are both young, and it seemed more appropriate for them than a mature, older young lady.
While the principal costumes were made with authentic fabrics, the majority of costumes were carefully sourced from vintage sources. She explained that it would be impossible to make everything so she suggested that you begin by collecting vintage pieces and trying on actors to find the right shape. “All those vintage pieces can be found at the end of Anya’s story in the basement club. None of these were custom-made. She wore vintage underwear, which worked well. We went to various costume shops in Paris and London while we collected the costumes for the crowd.”
After the custom and vintage costumes were settled, Dicks-Mireaux’s team worked with Phoebe English, local fashion students and other art students to create Eloise’s debut collection. Ellie’s final collection featured gender-neutral pieces that were inspired by Sandie’s principal looks but reimagined with a futuristic perspective. She shared that you don’t have to design everything as a designer. You need to get help from others. My team was young and great. They bought all the latest clothes. A young girl from art school helped me. I was able to see what other fashion students were wearing, which is the best part of my job. You need to have a great team to help you. I am expected to know everything, from medieval times to the present.
An award-winning costume designer might recommend a good team, but Dicks Mireaux also said that growing up in the 1960s was a huge help. She suggests using paper patterns to create a modern 60s-style wardrobe and visiting one of the many PS3 fabric warehouses. “That’s exactly what I did. That’s also what my mom did. These shapes are very simple. If they are short you don’t need much fabric. You can also enjoy the Courreges experience. It’s easy to create your own fashion and you can use color. You can make anything in no time!”
