Fittings and tailoring become especially important during pre-production, as most wardrobes are custom made from scratch. After all, Monroe is known for her sexy hourglass figure, so most looks start with the basics. “We did little tricks on the structure to make Ana feel more curvaceous,” said Johnson, who avoided prosthetics. (Not used at all in the movie.) Johnson also wanted De Armas to be comfortable on set, in keeping with direct feedback from the actor himself: “She wanted to be comfortable so she could really think about her character and just became Marilyn,” she said. Instead, little tricks are used, such as lightly filling underwear and bras. “We made a soft cue instead of a real spiky cue because it became very comical and distracting,” Johnson said of the bust. “We also have an inch of elastic around her waist – that’s her bodice.”
Special details in the movie that you might not even notice are also Important to Johnson and the apparel team. For example, one of her favorite dresses in the movie was the Some Like It Hot dress by Orry-Kelly, which Monroe wore when she sang live in the band. “In my research, we found that Kelly had designed a transparent heart on her left butt cheek, lined with rhinestones,” Johnson said. “You don’t see it in the movie, but I really wanted to give Anna a little gift to help her fit into the character.” Even the shoes were well thought out. Johnson works with cobblers at Western Costume to deconstruct and customize heels to make them feel better 1950 shoes. “The Manolo Blahniks were a good fit, but were way out of our budget, so I chose The RealReal,” says Johnson. “He would rip the whole thing to shreds until he had only the skeleton of the shoe, then custom-dyed the leather and rewrap the heel.”
Photo: Courtesy of Netflix
