Designing Costumes for 10,000 Years Of ‘Dune’ History
A group of Bene Gesserit Truthsayers prepare to leave their planet on a mission to save the future.
Courtesy of HBO Max
“Desmond Hart’s costume in Dune: Prophecy,” Bojana Nikitović said to me, “for the Travis Fimmel character, that is one of my favorites. The way it was shot when he first comes in this long coat, it’s almost like a duster from a western. It’s a simple shape, and it’s a simple fabric, a waxed cotton that I really like to use because it ages so well. We put so many insignia and details on his coat. It really worked well.”
When costuming is excellent it fills the spaces between an actor’s lines. It can seamlessly pass on information to the audience and under expert hands, the audience might not even notice. Not consciously anyway, but they’ll feel the difference between work done well and everything else. When work evokes an involuntary emotional response, that is this writer’s threshold for the definition of Art.
“We put many details and insignias and things on his coat,” Nikitović explained, “and we talked a lot about his jewelry, the rings that he’s wearing. It’s really important to have that conversation with an actor while you are doing the costume for a character. We made all the jewelry you see in the series. But he’s wearing the rings in a funny way, on the middle of the fingers. It’s a simple thing, but it helps establish that everything about him is strange and mysterious. We don’t know anything about him.”
The enigmatic Desmond Hart (Travis Fimmel) in a costume designed by Bojana Nikitović to be reminiscent of a western.
Courtesy of HBO Max
If you’ve never read a Dune book, or if you’re not part of multiple social media groups on various platforms dedicated to brilliant comedy in the form of DIY Dune meme-making, let me explain where this story fits into the mythology of Dune.
In late 1963, long before and wars over stars were ever a thing, Frank Herbert first published Dune World, a three part illustrated serial, followed by a second series, which, all smashed together, eventually became the 1965 novel Dune. The book was a huge success, both in sales and in critical feedback and it eventually became a six-book-series that gets profoundly bizarre and which I very much hope we get to see on film in coming years.
After Frank Herbert died in 1986, one of his children, Brian Herbert, together with noted science fiction author Kevin J. Anderson, worked from Frank’s notes to extend the Dune universe by telling the stories before and after a certain God Emperors uses sandtrout to become a worm. Seriously, zero hyperbole.
Dune is an enormous universe, and the story it tells (literally) spans tens of thousands of years. Denis Villeneuve’s films, costumed by Jacqueline West, take place at least a myrioi of millennia before we meet Paul Atredes. This is the story of the Bene Gesserit, priestesses to some and witches to others, they are objectively the most meddling and plotting (and fabulous) of any of the fictional eugenicists.
Desmond Hart (Travis Fimmel) as leader of House Carrino’s Imperial Guards.
Courtesy of HBO Max
When I met with Nikitović to discuss her work on the series, one of the first questions I asked her was about the relationship between the films and this series. Because they do exist in the same universe. And, creating costumes that feel connected to the cultures in the films, that could realistically seem like they could have evolved over so much time; I’m not sure this has ever been done before. It is an incredibly specific assignment and the idea, to this writer, immediately became a (minor) obsession.
“It was fantastic to get this job,” Nikitović told me, “but in a way, the responsibility was big because at that time, only the first film was out and it was such a success. Visually, it was really fantastic. And what they did with costume was new and fresh for sci-fi in general. I think that the success of the movie owes a lot also to this visual part. I don’t know that anybody can even imagine how huge this time period is.”
When a designer like Nikitović is given the time, budget, team and autonomy to do the job the way it needs to be done, well, they are able to weave precious details into the narrative to everyone’s benefit. These clothes were designed by someone who believes that her role is to help the actor embody the character. The goal is that a fraction of a moment in a fitting. Because maybe, if everything goes as planned and the stars are precisely aligned, there is a chance that magic will happen. If an actor, after stepping into their costume, can look at a mirror as “X” for the first time, and if there’s even a chance that the actor can see the character instead of their reflection, then the enchantment has worked and the ritual is part of it.
One through line between the films and the series are the headdresses, veils and hair jewelry. Though each piece made for the HBO Max series is distinct to the show, the prevalence of such accessories makes a marked difference between the world of Dune and our own, and keeps this sci-fi world in the same galaxy as the films which preceded it,
A digital illustration of a Bene Gesserit Truthsayer.
Courtesy of Bojana Nikitović
“The veils were so important,” Nikitović explained, “especially the Truthsayer’s veils, because they are hiding them, but we want to see the actresses and that has to be mysterious. The thing that Truthsayers are representing is mystical, and we were trying to find the right way to do it.
And we did many, many tests. And finally, I pulled out one of the fabrics that we have there and said, ‘let’s try the laser cut.’ We glued the laser cut on a very thin silk organza fabric. You can’t see that there is a fabric underneath that the laser cut, but it is. We really collaborated well with Anna Foerster, director of the first episode, and Pierre Gill, director of photography. We tested literally anything they wanted. Anna wanted to see the reflection of the pattern on the veil in the eye of the actress.”
This sounded like a big ask, but there is no doubt that by figuring out how to make such a shot possible Dune: Prophecy as a series is elevated.
The fabulous (if slightly terrifying) Bene Gesserit Mother Superior Valya Harkonnen (Emily Watson)
Courtesy of HBO Max
“We managed,” the designer said with a smile, “we did several tests for that, and we tried different angles, and it really worked. When you see it on the screen, it’s good when you’re happy with the result, but it’s better knowing how many phases you went through to get that result and we were trying different dimensions.”
When telling stories on film, there are a variety of options for how the actors, stunt people, stand-ins and extras get their wardrobes. Pieces of clothing can be made for a production, purchased, rented from a costume house, lended or otherwise sourced. But for a science fiction production that takes place thousands of years in the future, but ten thousand years before the source material, your options are severely reduced. I had to ask how many costumes had been made, if a tally had been kept, because there are so many people, whole armies at times, of people in costume on screen.
“I’m so glad that you asked this,” Nikitović said with a grin, “because this is the most difficult. In a project like this, you’re starting from zero. I think we finished with more than 3000 costumes made. We started by gathering fabrics. Some of the things we made in our workshop, we were doing prototypes in our workshop. And for the extras, we were making 10 of these, 15 of these, 20 of these, so, it’s a lot.”
Bene Gesserit Truthsayers.
Courtesy of HBO Max
“We made so many accessories with so many details,” the designer told me. “We were working on each pair of shoes, adding details, even if we buy it, we have to change something about them so that they are unrecognizable. So it’s the projects like this one, when you are starting the first season, it’s really challenging.”
When I spoke to the designer, she was on set, filming the second season, and she told me about the impact of being greeted by all the work her department had completed last season.
“I was so proud,” the designer told me, “when we came to this big studio and now it’s full of costumes that we made in the first season. Some of them I even forgot. It was coming in nonstop. I was thinking, look how many things we did. I love it so much.”
The idea of managing all of this, keeping it all organized, the troubleshooting and continuity issues; this was a massive amount of work. The process part of all of this is particularly interesting, you could give 10 designers the same perimeters and they’d come up with 10 working solutions. Costume design proves, without a doubt, that there is no such thing as a single right way.
Lord Pruwet Richese (Charlie Hodson-Prior) and Princess Ynez (Sarah-Sofie Boussnina) during their Engagement Ceremony during Episode One, Season One of ‘Dune: Prophecy’.
Courtesy of HBO Max
“It’s a process,” Nikitović explained, “and prep is so important. I really spend a lot of time pulling different references that could help, that could be inspiring for something. I think that all of us in this business, when we are in the project, we are in the project seven days a week, 24 hours a day, nonstop. Even when I’m doing something totally unrelated, maybe I will see a detail and think, ‘this could be interesting.’ And then I put it in a certain folder just to have it in case I need it.”
There are many ways to design clothing, Nikitović prefers to start with an illustration. For her, this is an important part of the process.
“I like to make the first drawing by myself because I like to draw. Then I send it to my illustrator, then she sent it back. Then I do corrections and then it goes back and forth many times before we have the final version.”
Princess Ynez’s red engagement ceremony dress and veil designed by Bojana Nikitović on a mannequin.
Courtesy of Bojana Nikitović
Some details come from the script, some from a director or showrunner, some come from actors and some are left up to the designer. I asked Nikitović where the palettes for the families came into all of that.
“Color palettes are so important,” she said, “and when I was preparing presentations for the studios, showrunner, et cetera, I started from that. Like Valach 9 is all about cold, it’s misty, it’s windy. It’s the cold palette, and the costumes were different shades of gray. Then black for Reverend Mothers and Mother Superior. Then we came to Salusa Secundus, which is completely Mediterranean. And then we have Corrinos, which are the most powerful family in the universe.”
“We wanted to show the power, but also the tradition, the dignity, the regality, and the reality. So we went to Burgundy or Pomegranate Red and different kinds of Royal Blue, Teal, a lot of gold, but the gold that is not shiny and cheap, but it looks matte from the generations before. I’m really obsessed with the details- I love them so much. Even when they’re not visible, I know that they’re there.”
Empress Natalya (Jhodi May) in the dark red and matte gold of the royal family, House Carrino.
Courtesy of HBO Max
I could not leave the conversation before asking the designer about the incredible red corset, panniers and gown worn by Princess Ynez (Sarah-Sofie Boussnina) in the first episode. It is an exquisitely designed, impeccably crafted confection that gives off the feeling of an iron core.
“I’m really sorry that we never saw all the details on the corset in the series,” Nikitović said, “because we literally created the whole system of closing it. The scene where Natalia, her mother, is helping was so important, helping Ynez to put the corset and the panniers on was an introduction to the red dress that we are going to see later. It was also an important moment between a mother and daughter, and we all know how complicated those relationships can be. We liked the corset so much, and it was almost a golden cage that we are putting Ynez into. The whole dress was created to show that, in a way, she’s confined in the whole story of this forced engagement and future marriage that she has to say yes to, because of the most important things in her family and in the whole universe.”
A digital illustration of Princess Ynez’s red engagement dress and veil.
Courtesy of HBO Max
“The corset was created to be part of the upper part of the dress. The skirts created a net, almost like a spider web, or a cage, something that she’s, in a way, trapped in. It was made using laser cut, layering one fabric on top of the other. It was really fun to do it. I have a great team, I must say. I’m always emphasizing that, because without a great team, no one can do such a big project like this. I have amazing, amazing textile artists and breakdown artists and girls who are doing dyeing. They’re capable of making a copy that looks like the original.”
“In this kind of project,” the designer continued, “when it’s all about so many details, with all this embossing and textures, and somebody has to do the laser cutting, et cetera, et cetera. But I’m telling you, with a great team, it’s all possible. I have a brilliant milliner, Snežana Pešić, we’ve been working together almost, like more than 25 years. We really understand each other, can almost communicate without speaking.”
Like the Bene Gesserit I asked?
“Yes,” Nikitović laughed, “almost like them.”
Stillsuits are coming!!!
Courtesy of HBO Max
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