“Dune: Part Two” Costume Designer Jacqueline West on Creating a Goth Rock God in Feyd-Rautha
In Part One of our conversation with veteran costume designer Jacqueline West, we talked about the monumental effort that went into weaving the sartorial visuals of the Fremen’s Sietch Tabr community and the southern Reverend Mothers on the desert planet Arrakis. Today, we conclude with the wardrobe fashioned for some of the most intense action sequences in Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi opus.
Paul Atreides goes from a young man who had never seen battle to losing his father after surviving the Harkonnens’ attack in Dune: Part One, fleeing deep into the Arrakis desert with the Fremens, and finally becoming their messiah, the ‘Lisan al Ghaib.’ How do his costumes reflect this expansive arc?
He wears a stillsuit the whole time. The only things I changed were his wrappings and his hoods. When he takes on the role as their leader, he becomes the T.E. Lawrence of the Fremens, leading them in revolt against their usurpers. I gave him hoods that were almost medieval. But Timothée grew as a man and an actor in those three years between the films, and it shows his maturity. I’d love to say I did that with his wardrobe, that it was costume magic, but I think on this one, I have to hand the praise to Timothée—it was all his acting. He takes on that cloak of power in how he acts and manages his relationship with the Fremens and with Chani.
Now, we have to talk about that first impressive wormriding sequence!
I gave Timothée new armor for the wormriding sequences. That’s not CGI. We shot a lot of close-ups in Budapest on an enormous animatronic life-size worm on a gimbal with the most enormous wind machines blasting sand at them. So, the armor had to be able to travel through the desert. That was Gerge’s brilliant work. [head propmaker Gergely Dömölki]
What was the process to make these wormriding suits?
It’s about an inch-and-a-half thick to protect them from the blast of the sand. Since it goes over the stillsuits, we had to design and construct it on a mannequin over a stillsuit. After Denis approved the 3D concept art, I went out to the island and worked with Daniel [Cruden, assistant costume designer] and Gerge to construct them. It’s pretty much from the waist because they’re crouched down on the worm with the worm hooks. It all moves like medieval armor but much thicker. It had to move with the actors’ movements on the worm. It was really like a roller coaster ride. We did several tests with Timothée to see his mobility and make sure it was nimble but protective.
One of the new characters is the cruel and blood-thirsty Fyed-Rautha (Austin Butler), heir apparent to House Harkonnen. What went into his collection?
I wanted to keep him as a rock star, but dark and Gothic, mostly dressed in black leather of different textures—black Leather, black vinyl, and heavy, thick black wools—and I pieced them all together in a Goth patchwork. I wanted to keep him dark, sinister, and kind of creepy, but they had to be flexible because of all the battle scenes. I had a wonderful cutter/fitter from England who concentrated just on his costumes.
Fyed-Rautha’s gladiator battle scene was especially interesting because it was in black and white—since it took place outside, under the black sun on Giedi Prime. Did this impact your process?
I had a rather interesting incident because that scene was all shot in infrared. I didn’t realize some fabrics, when shot in infrared, would turn white. And his outfit had so many different fabrics and leathers. When we camera-tested, some of his pieces came out white, so I had to start over. That’s a heads-up for other designers: when you’re shooting in infrared, test everything. [Cinematographer] Greig Fraser set up a camera outside our atelier where we constructed everything and let me test every piece of fabric for anyone on Giedi Prime.
Chains, metals, and leather make up a lot of the Hakkonnens’ outfits.
It’s the Goth look. They’re like vampires sucking the blood from the Fremens. I used a lot of stretch leathers, stretch vinyls, and chains. The servants are dressed in these constrictive leather-coated bones that work as corsets, where we took small animal bones and coated them in vinyl, and then laced them all together. Feyd Rautha’s entourage of female slaves are young, ghoulish vampire-esque women in black stretch leather to keep them sinister. Their jewelry was made in our shop, using bones and leather.
Princess Irulan (Florence Pugh) is not only the Emperor’s daughter but also a Bene Gesserit. How does her style exemplify her crucial role in the prophecy?
She’s the voice of reason in the Emperor’s world. But she’s also a Bene Gesserit and sees the workings of the plans within plans. Not only is she the intellectual voice, but she’s also a moral barometer and a warrior princess. So, I had to combine all those elements into her designs. When we first see her, she’s in white beaded headpiece, it’s very medieval but also harkens back to Reverend Mother Mohiam, with the beaded veil she wore when she first interrogated Paul [in the first film]. I kept Princess Irulan rather Bene Gesserit-like, but I didn’t want to burden her with many veils. Instead, I made these beaded headdresses for her.
What about Princess Irulan’s chainmail dress in the ending scene?
I went to Catholic school as a child and always remember the nuns’ faces being pinched in their habit, which looked very constricted. With the very tight beaded headdresses, I wanted to show the Bene Gesserit’s control over her. So, I kept that when I got to her armor outfit when she agrees to marry Paul and rule over the empire with him. It came from medieval chainmail and shows her power to take on all of that.
Dune, Part Two is in theaters now.
For more on Dune: Part Two, check out these interviews:
Unveiling the Bene Gesserit’s Secrets With “Dune: Part Two 2” Costume Designer Jacqueline West
Architect of Arrakis: “Dune: Part Two” Editor Joe Walker on Forging a Ferocious Masterpiece
Featured image: Caption: AUSTIN BUTLER as Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen in Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures’ action adventure “DUNE: PART TWO,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures
