“Kiss of the Spider Woman” Costume Designers Margaret Atwood & Christine L. Cantella Conjure Old Hollywood Magic

Kiss of the Spider Woman is threaded with beauty and pain, glamour and magic. Based on the stage musical and the original novel by Manuel Puig, Bill Condon’s film is a movie about the power of escapism and how love can inspire, even in the darkest of circumstances. Condon’s adaptation is a love story, a war story, and a musical — all tied together with old school cinematic bravura. 

The work of costume designers Colleen Atwood and Christine L. Cantella alone embodies the film’s intense dichotomy, which follows the dismal fortunes of political prisoner Valentín (Diego Luna) during Argentina’s Dirty War, as he loses himself in a tale told by his cellmate, Luis Molina (Tonatiuh). Luis tells Valentín the story of one of his favorite musicals, following Aurora (Jennifer Lopez) returning to her old village and fighting for freedom and love. The prisoners’ relationship deepens from the story.

Which is more than believable given the chutzpah and lavishness of the musical numbers, presented in wide frames that let the dances flourish and the costumes fly. Recently, Atwood and Cantella spoke with The Credits about their old-school Hollywood work in Condon’s spirited musical.

Christine, for the prison sequences and exterior scenes in Argentina, any photos or documentaries you referenced? 

Christine: I mostly looked at documentary photography and printed work of the period. There was a photographer, Valerio Bispuri, who took photos in prisons all through South America. It was helpful to see the reality of that. A lot of that stuff often isn’t filmed, or there aren’t many stories about that intense prison life.

What did you see in those photos that pointed you toward authentic details you wanted in the film?

Christine: Just realizing that when these people were pulled off the streets, they were pulled off in what they were wearing. You try to get that kind of age because they’ve been there for a certain period of time on one item of clothing that they’ve had to take care of this entire time. The only other pieces that come in are from their loved ones, maybe a little coat, a jacket, or a scarf.

The scarf Luis has — that bit of color and light in jail — brings such meaning to the film. How’d color in general drive some of the choices you both made, especially for the musical numbers?

Colleen: I don’t think it was particularly thought out in that way. It was just related to what the environment of the number was, the vision of it. The opening number with the black, the glamorous tuxedos, and more black and white with Jennifer in the foreground in gold was a kind of formula to depict wealth and sophistication. And then using hotter colors in the other numbers, drifting into more of a Latin palette — that was a sort of overall vision. I mean, the red scarf being…

Christine: The tie-in between all of that. We were both talking with Bill about that final moment where the women in the red dresses are going up the stairs. That tied that red scarf in there as well.

You’ve both said, “We kept going bigger and bigger with our choices.” For example, the white dress and hat.

Colleen: Well, actually, in that case, we kept going smaller. [Laughs]

[Laughs] Going literally smaller, but symbolically bigger.

Colleen: [Laughs] It got less, but stuff changes with music and dance, and that particular one was the one that changed. The rest of it stayed as we initially conceived, but the number changed, the choreography changed, and that’s what happened. We lost the pants, we lost the sleeves for a while. The sleeves came back. We always knew it was going to be that kind of creamy white, so I think [cinematographer] Tobias [Schliessler] just lit for what was in front of him in an amazing way. He did a beautiful job with no time.

Red and green come together in a way that’s rare when Aurora rocks the green dress with the red set. How’d those colors come together in that light just right?

Colleen: That fabric — the green fabric we found — was sort of a changeable fabric, which helped make it pop more because it wasn’t just one color. It was a couple. It was more complex. There’s always that fear when you put green and red together, so it was a big relief when we saw how that acidity of that green glowed thanks to his lighting.

Colleen, you want to embrace the softness and movement of the time period but maintain a romantic strength. What choices do you make to accomplish that goal?

Colleen: Well, in this case, there were a lot of rayons and satin-faced fabrics around. Using those kinds of fabrics that reflect light in different ways in one scene can be a really interesting way to achieve nostalgia, but also romance at the same time.

Christine: Colleen, you liked using sheers and stuff as well, and light fabrics, keeping it thin.

Colleen: Layers rather than sculptural fabrics for this. Because of how people move in it, it catches air in a way that’s nice, even on a shirt.

It’s certainly an achievement making death — the Spider Woman — look beautiful. How’d you want the Spider Woman to reveal herself over the course of the movie?

Colleen: We had a couple stages of Spider Woman. When he was sick, delirious, and it’s kind of more dreamlike, that was influenced by a ‘30s dress that I’d seen in a fashion book of mine. I wanted that to feel romantic. And then by the time we got to the end, it was a spider. It was harder, it was shinier, and it was more dangerous. I wanted it to be dangerous. I wanted fabric that you could kind of see a texture in, as opposed to something really fine.

Colleen, you’ve said that films like Chicago and Nine, as glamorous as the work looks, don’t have big budgets. You would never know from watching them. How do you make a dollar look like a hundred dollars?

Colleen: The one advantage to those movies is that we’re working with directors who are familiar with what that process is. The decisions to figure it out and problem-solve happen in prep. When you have prep time, even though it’s limited and your money’s limited, what you do at that time can help you budgetarily because you know what’s going to work and what’s not going to work. You know what you’re going to see, you know what you’re not going to see. I think that’s a huge part of what we do, especially in anything to do with body and singing and dance.

Being a costume designer requires great creativity, but also great business acumen. How do you both develop that skill throughout your careers? 

Colleen: You learn pretty fast.

Christine: What I’ve learned throughout my career — and mostly from Colleen, actually — is not being precious. You have to concentrate on what you can see and focus on that. 

Colleen: You can be creative and have great ideas, but in movies, in life, sometimes things change at the last minute. It’s important to have a great second choice. If something isn’t working, you’re not freaking out, because your second choice still looks good. It’s not just some anger-ridden choice that you made because you’re pissed off. Movies are collaborations. You’re collaborating with talented people, so you have to be able to bend a little. Even though you’re being creative, you’re not the only creative person in the room.

Colleen, to wrap up, I gotta ask: Did you enjoy seeing all the One Battle After Another costumes this past Halloween?

Colleen: [Laughs] I love it. It’s really inspirational to me that it’s connected with people. I knew there’d be a lot of Bobs (Leonardo DiCaprio) because it’s an easy one for the dads. There were some great ones out there.

I saw a few Bobs on Halloween in LA, but then I wondered, wait, is that just how they dress?

Colleen: I’m sure. I’m sure it appeals to the LA mentality.

Featured image: Tonatiuh and Jennifer Lopez. Courtesy of Roadside Attractions