Edgar Wright's latest film Baby Driver has been one of the most talked about films of
the year, and while there's been no shortage of praise directed towards the car chases
or the soundtrack, there is one piece that I think deserves a little bit more attention,
and that's the costume design.
Costume design is one of the many underdiscussed aspects of film, like sound design or set
decoration, an integral part of the audiovisual experience that often stays in the background,
but can be an important tool for establishing characters and revealing information about
them in a more subdued way, and it's something that Edgar Wright has been using since the
very beginning.
"As far back as the TV show that I did before Shaun of the Dead, Spaced, I remember somebody
saying something about that show which really stuck with me.
They said that, 'Oh, the characters are all really easy to draw.'
And I think 'Oh that's an interesting way to put it' and from that point on in all of
my movies, and Baby Driver being no exception, I'm always looking to kind of color code the
characters.
"
Not only does this help the audience keep track of who's who when the action gets going,
but it also serves to tell us more about each character.
Let's start with Baby.
Baby is dressed mostly in black and white, which could be interpretated as a parallel
to the two very different lives that he leads, the darkness of the criminal underworld, against
the lightness of his home life with Joe and new romance with Deborah.
It also reflects his old-fashioned and romanticized view of the world, like an old feel good black
and white film, that stands in direct contradiction to life of crime that he's involved in.
He often turns a blind eye when faced with violence, and will even go as far as directly
preventing it when given the chance.
But there ends up being a lack of consequence for Baby, until he finds something he cares
about enough to fear losing.
"Oh, and your waitress girlfriend, she's cute.
Let's keep it that way".
The rest of the crew don't mind the violence, some of them even enjoy it, but there isn't
so much as a hint of remorse from the rest of Doc's gang, with exception to Baby, and
there's even plenty of doubt cast upon him because of this, with Doc always stepping
in to protect him.
The film shows us that Baby has little in common with his peers, it's made clear that
this is no more to him than paying back what he owes, one way the film suggests this is
showing him as the only one without coffee at the meetings, or as the topic of this video
might suggest, through the costuming.
By designing his ensemble to fit into a monochrome aesthetic for most of his scenes, while the
rest of the cast are dressed in bold, vibrant colors, it singles him out visually, you could
watch the entire film without the sound and just by paying attention to the costume design
you'd know that he didn't quite fit in with everyone else.
The black and white aesthetic also carries with it some trademark Edgar Wright foreshadowing,
simultaneously used to show Baby's idyllic vision of what his future with Debora could
look like, as well as the reality he's faced with when he has nowhere left to run.
It's important to realize that in a film, almost everything you'll see on screen is
there by design, certainly when in the hands of someone as detail oriented as Edgar Wright.
Costumes are just another opportunity for communicating ideas or themes, one that's
present in all of his work.
So when you're watching a scene, pay close attention to what each character is wearing
and ask yourself, what can this tell us about the character?
Edgar Wright worked closely with Courtney Hoffman, the film's costume designer, to establish
a different color set for each character, to give them each their own unique look, with
one notable exception.
"Oh Deb-o-ra, always looked like a Zeb-o-ra."
"A zeb-o-ra?"
"Like a zebra I guess."
"Ha, well I am wearing black and white so you can call me debra"
Clothing her in the same aesthetic serves a few different purposes, one, it establishes
the connection they share as some of the only characters in the film who have and/or want
no part of the life of crime.
Two, it better sets up the payoff that I mentioned earlier, but there's another layer to it that
I find really interesting.
We find out in the first act that Baby's mom used to work at Bo's diner, likely wearing
the same outfit that Debora now wears.
It all feeds into this theme we see of Baby romanticizing the pastand never really letting
go of his demons.
He just continues on this path, caught in a loop, another phonecall, another coffee
pickup, another meeting, another job, with no real image of a future outside of that
loop.
And then he meets Debora.
“It's like she's the first real person that he meets in the movie, like, he has a particular
persona that he puts on as a front with the rest of the gang.
He has his home life with Joe, his foster father, where they communicate in sign language,
and then when he goes to... he goes to kind of the diner, which is somewhere he's been
many times and she's the new person working there, she doesn't know anything about him
and she sort of immediately forces him into making a connection, she asks him questions
that he has to answer.
So suddenly our hero who hasn't really said much for the first twenty minutes of the film
is talking for the first time.
And so I think it's that thing of just, just the idea that in a world of crime, and this
idea where people are like, sort of, kind of creating personas about themselves, and
um, you get the sense that all of the people in the gang, Baby included, are putting up
this sort of front, in terms of this mythical persona around themselves.
But then when he meets Lily James, he realizes both that he can be normal with her and that
actually he wants, he starts lusting after a normal life.”
It's clear that Baby has a troubled past, and anyone who's found themselves on that
kind of darkened path can have a hard time imagining a brighter future, but she gives
him that hope.
She's the first person that really starts to open him up, we hear him mention at the
laundromat that he had spoken more to her that day than anyone else in the previous
year.
"You know why they call him Baby right?
Still waiting on his first words."
And again, there's an opportunity there to communicate that to an audience, to really
illustrate their connection as they start to fall in love, and the film does so by literally
bringing color into his world.
While Debora's work uniform dons her in black and white, her wardrobe outside of work is
full of color, specifically denims and yellows, she is metaphorically and literally, brightening
up his world.
It mirrors the same effect used in The Wizard of Oz, or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Using bright and vibrant colors to illustrate a shift towards something magical, which is
exactly what falling in love feels like.
And that is absolutely necessary for the plot, for the audience to get behind their love
story as it ends up motivating almost everything that happens in the second half of the film.
Using the same technique previously used to establish a magical fairy tale world to instead,
establish a romantic connection is just brilliant.
And ends up saving the film from having to resort to the techniques that a lot of other
films use to justify a romance between two characters.
The shift from black and white to color could also be interpreted as a symbol for Baby's
growth, he starts out seeing the world in a very black and white way, but as he gets
deeper into the uglier parts of his job that he's tried to avoid, he realizes that things
aren't so straightforward as he may have thought, and things delve heavily into a moral grey
area.
Courtney Hoffman created separate stages for Baby's undershirt, so that it becomes darker
as the film progresses to reflect this idea, it's subtle, but when you compare this shot
from earlier in the film to this shot taken from the end, you can really see the difference.
And we even see Baby's outfits change towards the end of the film, seeing him even in denim
throughout a good portion of the final chase sequence.
Really sending home the idea that he has changed, and that Debora played a significant role
in him making that change.
Every step of the way, the costumes and the colors are used to inform us of important
information, regarding the characters and how they transform throughout the film.
Like how Red is associated with Bats, the most violent and psychotic character in the
film.
And how after Darling is killed in a shootout with the police, red is used to show Buddy's
descent to madness, now bent on getting revenge, he is washed in red light while inside the
police cruiser throughout the final car duel.
Or how green, notoriously used to represent greed is used in the costuming and set design
revolving around Doc.
But he's not just the stereotypical crime boss who only cares about money, he ends up
sacrificing himself to protect Baby and Debora, literally taking a bullet for him.
He clearly cares a great deal for Baby, and this is alluded to by the heavy use of grey
in his wardrobe.
Sure, he threatens him, he applies pressure when needed to keep Baby in the game, but
if there was no connection beyond a professional one I can't imagine that he would give his
life to save him.
This is also hinted at by the similarities in Doc's nephew and when we see a younger
Baby in flashbacks, both with the blonde hair combed down, wearing a blue plaid shirt and
earbuds.
There are details upon details packed into every frame of this film, and frankly, all
of Edgar Wright's films for that matter.
Costume design is just one of the many layers that come together to complete the final product.
There seems to be a lack of discussion on the importance of costume design, and typically
if you hear people raving about the costumes of a particular movie, chances are it's set
in the past or in some fantasy setting.
In fact, every single winner of the Academy Award for Best Costume Design for the last
twenty years has either been a period piece, a fantasy film, or both.
While I can understand why that is, the immense production of such elaborate designs certainly
deserves recognition, but so does something designed to fit into a contemporary aesthetic.
Nothing that the characters wear in Baby Driver stand out too much from what you'll see in
the real world, they're bold and unique, but could easily blend into any real world setting,
and still manage tell a story about each character, which is the ultimate goal every costume designer
is tasked with.
Whenever doing costuming for a film that takes place in the present day, the director or
costume designer could easily just walk through a shopping mall and pick out things that would
photograph well, but undercutting every choice with a real sense of purpose gives not only
a unique visual flair to an already incredibly stylish film, but really expands the story
and personality of each character.
That's what I love so much about Edgar Wright, he has such a respect for every craft that
goes into filmmaking, and none of them are left by the wayside.
It's why video essayists are particularly fond of him, because there's always more to
discuss about his films.
The way he writes, the way he edits, how he uses symbolism and foreshadowing, and basically
just makes every other comedy director out there look lazy by comparison.
And I know Baby Driver wasn't necessarily everyone's favorite film of his, personally
I have to admit I prefer the Cornetto trilogy, but horror and comedy are some of my favorite
genres, when combined together so perfectly like he did with those films, that's hard
to top in my book.
But Baby Driver was a step in a different direction for Wright, and one that he pulled
off flawlessly.
It's one of the most intensely satisfying action films I've seen in years, and shows
off his range as a filmmaker.
It still has the Edgar Wright flair that we know and love, but it really takes on its
own voice and personality that stands out from his other films.
Love it or hate it, you can't deny the prowess of Edgar Wright in terms of achieving his
vision, and putting a passion into what he does that is quite rare.
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