• Industry

Lorna Marie Mugan – Making “Normal People” Special

“We decided on color and tone for the house and school. Everybody is the same and yet they are not. Slowly you see the reality. You see that Marianne is not like the other girls. Connell stands above the other boys in simple understated clothes. They are definitely two very unusual people there in this ordinary time.”

 

“The early stuff for Marianne was some of the hardest because we didn’t want her to look like she was thinking about it too much or that she was studied in any terms of fashion sense. We needed her to look innocent because we knew what direction we were going to go in later.

“We looked for something innocent that also evoked a sense of yearning for love. The vulnerability exposing her shoulders and neck. Keeping the colors cool and muted.”

“This is complete simplicity; they are on holiday. No one is thinking of what wearing. It’s hot, so keeping it really simple. We repeat that shirt, (we have seen it before in her home), to show they are very comfortable with each other. This is effortless.

The color I repeat quite a lot. People have a color that is comfortable for them. We see her in different forms of yellow – it seemed to be like Marianne.

He is very clean. The shorts are not designer. Maybe GAP. He’s not thinking about fashion; Connell does not think about fashion. He probably would have worn football shorts all the time, but he knew that he maybe has to smarten up to go into the gallery because that was that particular day.”

“We loved this. She wears it with a pair of culottes when she goes to a party and meets Connell again. It is the first time you meet her after she has gone to Trinity. That was our pafont-family:"Arial",sans-serif’>well.”

“The swimsuit keeps it classic. I didn’t want a color at that point. It felt right that she would be in black, that was an instinctive choice and the director agreed on that as well. Just a really classic simple shape and I think all the other girls are very vibrant fashion-y.”

“The tone of the scene was an accident. light, almost blinding, that if we put them in light clothes, they would wash out. We needed something dark, something black. So, we went looking at black dresses. It is a sundress. A very cheap, little dress. Not labeled, second hand, vintage. We had to do some work on it. It had some heavy lining that we had to cut out so that she could cycle on the bike. And then he had to be darker. She was wearing lighter colors earlier. We had to think they have just had a shower and they have gone cycling in these darker clothes.”

“This top is most probably not particularly while they are still wearing almost what they wore on a night out when they were 17 – like they are frozen in time.”

“We loved that shape on Daisy. What you probably don’t see is a very bright yellow, mustardy, skirt, very elegant. She wears it for a celebration party for Connell’s magazine. We used it again. It’s a very simple velvet shape – we made it. At the point she wears it with Jamie she is not in a good place. There is some suggestion of her being restrained at the neck. It creates a boxy shape. That’s where that started, but then it becomes this elegant piece.”

“This is a huge celebration where she has been awarded a scholarship which means she is going to have her tuition fees paid, so she is hosting a dinner party in her flat and everybody makes a real effort to dress-up. This is her dressing up, very classic. I put a black bow on it, thinking a little Chanel. It was an old dress that we found and had to do a lot of work on it. I think it had a to take it apart. It wasn’t the easiest thing to work with, but it was chosen because of the color. The kitchen had a beautiful yellow okra wall. The director wanted something because we were going to be looking at her against the wall, so whatever it was going to be, we went for that color.

He’s wearing runners and jeans and a very simple jacket. He’s just been beaten up.

He’s been out celebrating the same evening in a very different way and has been mugged. He comes into her lobby just the way he’s dressed in this t-shirt and leather jacket. There is a contrast to who else is at the table – these preppy rich kids, how they dress, and their confidence. In the book that’s where she notices the chain on him.”

“Connell’s chain: It’s so funny because we never thought about that at all. It was in the book and was something Paul wanted. We put it on, went, ‘That’s okay – we don’t have to think about it again.’ He never took it off. It didn’t occur to us that this would be anything that people would even talk about, so it’s been quite funny. In the book, it is not supposed to be expensive. That’s the whole point. I think one of the characters, Peggy, noticed it and made a very disparaging reference to it.

Connell is from the country and that feel is important to keep constant throughout the journey. He does not become that fashionable, so if he changes out of tracksuits into jeans it should not be the most fashionable type, whatever guys are wearing now. These are classic. We went with Levi’s. Very simple, grey, with very muted tones.”

“This is the first time we see him since he has left school and he’s at Trinity, so layering is very important on several levels. Everything that he had there he probably had at home except the hoodie.

He’s not very comfortable in his skin there. He doesn’t fit in, that is quite clear. We didn’t want to change him too much when we first see him. He is very hesitant to move forward and she doesn’t like the guys who look very different.”

“When they arrive in Italy, it’s about one day. It starts when he sees her at the clothesline. She’s wearing a shift dress. In the book, he describes her as an angel and that was the closest little shape we found. The director, Hettiethat. This is our angel at the clothesline. The intention was that we would continue with the palette through the square – but then we needed to go darker. The dress was Gingham. It had a bit of ‘60s, Catherine Deneuve, very simple and effortless.“