Although there aren't many mimic-worthy outfits in "Rileys," plenty of work goes into designing the wardrobe for the film. Costume designer Kim Bowen recently spoke about her experiences creating the film's looks in a new podcast called "The Back Lot," and she had some great insights into the process of creating the perfect image for Kristen's character, Mallory.
"We went through three different paths to get her wardrobe right," Kim said. "The first time it was a stylist's dream — she looked amazing. I was thrilled. She was kind of a modern version of Jodie Foster in 'Taxi Driver.' I could see a thousand fashion editorials launched on this brilliant look I created for her."
Just one problem: The look was actually too good. "We wanted to have her look more fragile," Kim said. The same thing happened with the second.
In the end, "We had to really strip it down. She ended up for a lot of the movie wearing very very large, oversized clothes — giant sweatshirts, giant baggy jeans — hiding herself. You really only get to see her when she's in her working clothes, when she's in her stripper outfits, which are very crude, young girl's interpretations of what sexy looks like."
Kim said she was impressed with Kristen's investment in making her character look realistic. "She had the make-up artist cover her with bruises and cold sores. She looked a wreck half the time. She just didn't have any desire to be physically perfect."
After working on "Twilight," a much more popcorn-friendly film, Kim said Kristin wanted Mallory to be very true-to-life. "I think it was very important to her to play this character with a real dose of reality. I don't think she wanted anything frivolous out of it — I don't think she wanted to be glamorous. That wasn't important to her. She wanted it to be real."
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