A version of this story about Jenny Beavan and “Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris” first appeared in the Below-the-Line edition of TheWrap awards magazine.
Mrs. Harris (Lesley Manville) is a cleaning woman in London in 1957. One day, while tidying up her employer’s room, she sees Christian Dior’s smallest soft pink flowered “Ravissante” dress on a chair. . In that momentous moment, Ms. Harris vows to one day have her own Dior dress for her. And the first step in that search is right in the film’s title: “Mrs. Harris goes to Paris.
For three-time Oscar-winning costume designer Jenny Beavan (“Mad Max: Fury Road,” “Cruella”), the film was also a journey. Beavan visited the Dior archives in hopes of borrowing several couture gowns for the film.
“The people at Dior were extremely lovely,” Beavan said. “But they were limited in what they had from the 1950s. They lent us four sets from a 1990s heritage collection, which was their tribute to the ’50s. But in the actual ’50s, they did the collection and kept going forward, without taking anything”.
So Beavan and his team (including makers Jane Law and John Bright) drew on photographs from Dior’s 1957 Paris fashion show, recreated in the film, to create Dior classics from scratch.
“There were about 128 outfits in that collection and we recreated 20,” Beavan said. “There are some black and white dresses, of course, because it’s Dior. But I did want strong colors for the three dresses that tell our story—pink, bright green, and deep red—because that’s what Ms. Harris would have loved. So those are our creations, but designed in the spirit of Dior.”
Aside from couture, Beavan also gave careful thought to what Ms. Harris would wear in her everyday life. Much of her wardrobe was vintage from the 1950s. “I always love to wear stock clothes, because she already has life,” she said. “Especially from that period in the ’50s, where there’s a real thickness to the fabric, to keep you warm. And one of the tricks I’ve found is that nice thick stockings and big comfortable shoes really make one look more realistic. If Lesley puts on a French suit, she becomes Lesley Manville in a French suit. But with stockings and shoes, she is Mrs. Harris in a French suit”.
Beavan had worked with Manville 15 years ago on the television series “Cranford,” for which the costume designer won an Emmy. “Lesley is an absolute joy to wear,” he said. “She’s got such a brilliant form, to begin with. And I was able to dress her from the range of housekeeper clothes to Christian Dior. In every outfit, she was wonderful and very excited about it.”
Costume actor Jason Isaacs, who appears in the film as Ms. Harris’s bookie friend, came up with his own unique challenge. “Because almost any outfit you put Jason on, he immediately looks so smart. And that wasn’t exactly the point of this character. So, the cap that he wears, that kind of brings him down to earth a little bit. My father had a cap like that in the 1950s, along with a single dark suit, which lasted for years and years. I think we got away with it.
“With Jason, the cap helped. I think we got away with it. You see it. My father in the 50s had a suit. A dark suit, that’s all. For years and years. I always love wearing serial clothes because he already has life. You can never do something with that much life in it. Especially from that period, where a real thickness is given to the fabric. Because in those days, you had to have warm clothes.”
As for the 72-year-old Beavan, she’s the rare craftsman casual moviegoers might recognize. After the Oscars in 2016, she gained something of a badass status when she donned a (faux) leather jacket to accept her Oscar for “Mad Max: Fury Road.” It was a tribute to the film’s punk vibe, and some online detractors were quickly drowned out by Beavan’s new fans.
“In fact, people recognized me on the street for about three weeks,” he said. “People would come up and say, ‘Are you Jenny Beavan, the costume designer?’ And for three weeks, I thought, oh my gosh, this is what movie actors go through every day. And then the public interest died down, which was absolutely fine by me.”
Beaven doesn’t know if or when he’ll slow down. When we spoke on Zoom in December, she had recently wrapped production on “Furiosa,” the Mad Max prequel, and was preparing to enjoy the holidays with her family in England. “Oh, you’ve come to say hello,” she said to her cat, meowing at her feet. “You’ve had your tea, now lie down.”
Placing her hand on her heart, she cited costume designers Ann Roth and Albert Wolsky, both still active in their 90s, as sources of inspiration for her.
“Sometimes I wonder how long I want to keep doing it,” he said. “But I still really enjoy the challenge, and I love a movie that means something in this crazy world. As long as I can keep moving, I think I’ll keep moving until I get carried away, feet first, off the set.”
Read more of the issue below the line here.
