“Alien: Romulus” Costume Designer Carlos Rosario’s Retro Vision & Vintage Style Blends – Part One
The only film so far to take this summer’s box office juggernaut Deadpool & Wolverine off the #1 spot for a spell was Fede Álvarez’s sci-fi horror Alien: Romulus, which brought back one of the most frightful monsters in cinematic history—the lobster-like face-strangling Xenomorphs! Taking place between Ridley Scott’s 1979 revered original and James Cameron’s 1986 fan-favorite sequel, Aliens, the cortisol-triggering interquel from 20th Century Studios centers on a new generation of colonists in their 20s, led by Rain (Cailee Spaeny). To escape the oppressive conditions on the mining colony Jackson’s Star, Rain and her crew – including her android brother Andy (David Jonsson) – hitch a ride to the sprawling space station Renaissance, where the parasitic creature unleashes two hours of nerve-shredding mayhem.
Recently scoring his first Emmy win for designing this year’s epic period saga Shōgun, costume designer Carlos Rosario (Jolt, The Girl in the Spider’s Web) is thrilled to be on his fourth collaboration with Álvarez. The mutual trust that began when the duo worked on the psychological horror Don’t Breathe almost ten years ago has evolved into a supportive and efficient partnership that he partly credits for his recent successes. “I’ve told Fede this, that one of the reasons I think I was able to design Shōgun with such confidence is because of the trust he put in me through the earlier projects. It empowered me to find my voice as a costume designer,” Rosario says.
First of all, congratulations on the Emmy win for Shōgun!
Thank you so much; it’s all very exciting. And thank you for doing this again – I loved your articles on Shōgun from our interview last time. They were amazing.
Thank you – I’m glad you liked how they turned out! This is your fourth film with Fede. Can you talk about the shorthand that you’ve established after working together for many years?
The trust we’ve built over the years allows us to be more confident when sharing ideas. I know what works for him and what doesn’t. Since we’ve figured out the foundation, it’s easier to take it to the next level. The fact that we both speak Spanish helps a lot because we can connect more organically. My approval process improves when I talk to him in Spanish. [Laughs] Don’t Breathe was one of the first movies I designed, I think it was a $7 million movie. Then, Don’t Breathe 2 was bigger, and now, Romulus is the biggest one we’ve done. We’ve both grown creatively together throughout these projects.
What was Fede’s vision for Romulus when you first discussed the project?
Since Romulus takes place between the first and second Alien movies, Fede wanted it to have an 80s feel. It wasn’t about just doing research on 80s style; he wanted me to design as if we were shooting this in the ’80s, which is really interesting. When you think about sci-fi from the perspective of the ’80s, it’s very different from our current notion of sci-fi.
What was your starting point in the design concept?
The starting point is understanding who all the people living in this colony are. Jackson’s Star is now abandoned, but it used to be successful. Everything is falling apart, so our lead characters want to escape to find a better life elsewhere. The colony has two different groups—farmers and miners. Before designing what they wore, I had to understand who these people were and their function and apply elements from these groups to our leads. For the farmers, it was researching farmers in America from the 1940s to 1960s. I found a lot of really interesting vintage Carhartt pieces that reflect farmers from that period, like coveralls and very thick Canvas pieces. For the miners, it layered different elements from rain gear, Eastern European uniforms, deconstructed jackets and pieces, and ski suits from the ’80s. I also added many vintage pieces that I found in Budapest.
Which character’s wardrobe was inspired by the farmers vs miners?
Andy’s is mostly based on the farmers since he’s wearing coveralls with industrial zippers on the side. His function is always to be by Rain’s side to protect her. But for Rain, it’s different because Fede told me that when the movie begins, she is done with her work day and changes before she joins the rest of the team. That’s why she’s the only one with a more casual look.
Romulus occurs between the first two Alien films. How much did those movies influence your design?
It’s kind of the same thing as Shogun—I usually don’t rely that much on the source material as a reference because I mostly focus on the director’s vision and the script. I’m a big fan of Alien and Aliens, so they had some influence, but they weren’t my main reference. I focused on creating costumes that aligned with these new characters’ personalities and supporting Fede’s vision.
Was there anything incorporated into Romulus as a callback to the earlier films?
There are a couple …. Brett (Harry Dean Stanton) wore that Hawaiian shirt in Alien, so we created our own Hawaiian shirt for Navarro (Aileen Wu) as an homage to him. That was one of my favorites. Kay’s (Isabella Merced) costume was somewhat inspired by Newt (Carrie Henn) in Aliens. The third thing that came up during my first meeting with Fede was working with Reebok to design the sneakers for Rain. Reebok has a long history of partnership with Ridley Scott and Alien because they designed all the sneakers for Sigourney Weaver (who portrayed the lead protagonist, Ellen Ripley, in Alien) in the first few movies. So Fede really wanted to collaborate with them.
Check back tomorrow for the conclusion of our conversation, where Rosario discusses what it took to create 20-25 multiples for each costume for the main cast and designing Rain’s sneaker with Reebok to continue a 40-plus year legacy.
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Featured image: (L-R): Xenomorph and Cailee Spaeny as Rain Carradine in 20th Century Studios’ ALIEN: ROMULUS. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios. © 2024 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.
