Wardrobe Secrets From Behind The Scenes Of The ‘Harry Potter’ Franchise
The Harry Potter movies are lauded for their loyalty to the original books, their impressive visual effects, and their instantly recognizable music, but one major factor of production often goes unnoticed: the costumes. The Hogwarts uniform has been spoofed, replicated, and cosplayed into oblivion since the first film debuted in 2001, and it's one of the crucial elements that immerses viewers in J.K. Rowling's cinematic universe.
While costumer Jany Temime was unaware of the Harry Potter canon before she began working on the Prisoner of Azkaban film, she enjoyed collaborating alongside the actors who knew the material inside and out. While her name may not be as instantly recognizable as that of Daniel Radcliffe or Emma Watson, the pieces produced by Temime and the rest of the costuming team were of inimitable importance to the beloved series.
Daniel Radcliffe Was Meant To Wear Green Contacts, But They Were Extremely Painful
Book purists have long lamented Daniel Radcliffe’s blue eyes. Harry Potter is canonically known for having his mother’s green eyes, and this coloring serves as an important plot element. This difference was hardly the result of laziness, however - the first film's costumers provided Radcliffe with green contact lenses, but they were "excruciatingly painful” for him to wear.
He was only 11 years old during filming for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, so making him wear painful contacts would have been unduly cruel. His eyes remained blue in the subsequent films, as changing them to green would have proved a continuity issue.
Evanna Lynch Loved Her Character So Much, She Wanted To Sleep In Her Extensions
The story of Luna Lovegood's casting is a Potterhead's dream come true. Following a hospitalization for an eating disorder when she was 11 years old, Evanna Lynch began exchanging letters with J.K. Rowling. Three years later, the actress and Harry Potter superfan auditioned for the role of Luna Lovegood in the fifth film, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
As a devoted fan of the books, Lynch took her role seriously and was very involved in her character’s costumes. In addition to sleeping in her hair extensions, she also helped costume designer Jany Temime make and select her own jewelry and costumes - she even helped make her infamous Gryffindor lion head.
Bellatrix Lestrange Wears A Corset Because Helena Bonham Carter Was ‘Born In A Corset’
Prior to joining the Harry Potter cast, Helena Bonham Carter appeared in many period pieces and historical dramas. Thanks to this background, she was experienced in wearing corsets and tresses, and she was enthusiastic about making her character’s appearance as dramatic and extreme as possible.
Her costume was made to look elegant and medieval, as Bellatrix Lestrange's family is one of the oldest and most esteemed of all wizarding families. Temime went so far as to say, “I gave her a corset because the minute that you strangle her, she feels good.”
The Costume Designer Would Have Designed Dumbledore’s Wardrobe Differently If She Had Known He Was Gay
Temime never knew a character's trajectory when she designed their costumes, as the books were still being written when most of the movies premiered. The final book was released ahead of the fifth film, at which point Rowling revealed to Temime that Dumbledore was gay.
Temime had already designed Dumbledore's wardrobe for the previous two films, and she claimed if she had known his orientation sooner, she likely would have made different choices, though she didn't specify what they would have been.
Ron Weasley Purposefully Always Looked Like A Disaster
Though Temime remarked that Rupert Grint was actually the most fashion-forward of Harry Potter's male cast, Grint knew his character was meant to look unkempt. He wore his clothing in a deliberately disheveled way throughout the film franchise, and he took joy in the process.
At the premiere of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Grint even arrived dressed in slacks and a Harry Potter T-shirt.
The Weasley Twins Were Styled To Complement One Another
According to Temime, Fred and George Weasley were especially fun to dress, as both their actors enjoyed being part of the costuming process. Temime deliberately dressed them differently from one another, though their attire was usually complementary.
If one twin was wearing stripes, the other would wear squares in the same color. They would often wear inversions of the same patterns in the same color schemes. This provided an element of visual comedy that suited the brothers’ goofy demeanor.
