Tessa Thompson Wears Chanel Runway Samples and Plenty of Vintage in Sylvie's Love

"Blue felt like Sylvie's natural state, where she is comfortable and feels connected to herself," Mellow said of Sylvie's color palette. Some of her most memorable looks, like her Chanel gown, come in blue throughout the film.

"For the moments that I used burnt red and orange — these felt like proud moments, where she has confidence," Mellow said. "These are bolder colors, so I went with a simple, balanced design [for these looks]."

"When Sylvie puts on black, these may be more serious moments or times of introspection," Mellow said. "Usually, it's when big changes in her life may be happening, like her first time interacting with Robert. Here, she's pretty standoffish and serious. And then on New Year's Eve, she gets a promotion and loses her father. For black on camera, I usually focus on the silhouette and texture to give it a richness."

"The first swimsuit that Sylvie wears is a vintage plaid one-piece with a halter necktie, and it has a pleated skirt attached," Mellow said. "I found it shopping in LA vintage stores, where we were prepping the film. I love the subtle plaid on that suit — how it looks almost painted and has tonal blues — because it very much fits with Sylvie's color palette. Plaids and ginghams were very trendy summer prints in the '50s. Her second suit was also a purchase from a vintage vendor. The brand is Brigance for Sinclair. It's a blue and white one-piece halter, half plaid and half solid blue. I paired it with a navy fabric-covered buckle belt that I rented separately, but it felt like a matching set."

"During prep, I made the connection with Chanel to dress Tessa for some of the most iconic moments of the film," the costume designer said. "Chanel allowed me to create a wish list of garments to try on. These are all from the Lagerfeld collections and are runway samples. I paired these looks with head-to-toe vintage accessories to make sure they really felt period-correct. I think the details of the dresses (blue above, and Sylvie's black sequined gown) really read like they were designed in this era.

"[For the black Chanel dress], I was looking for something with texture that had a wow factor. I am wary of using black on screen because it can be a black hole and all the details disappear. When I saw the sequin gown with the stand collar on the Chanel runway, I knew that was going to be it. Luckily, it came in time for the shoot and fit Tessa like a glove. We accessorized it with black velvet opera-length gloves, a velvet belt, and black satin pumps."

Sylvie wears a vintage white and mesh dot dress with a vintage belt, white gloves, a vintage cashmere cardigan, white lace pumps, and a square white bag for dancing in the street with Robert, who is dressed in a Brooks Brothers dress shirt. Mellow said as soon as she saw Tessa in the look, "we knew it was the moment for dancing on the street."

"The black and white saddle shoes were straight out of [director Eugene Ashe's] family photos," Mellow said. "Her black loafers were shoes that felt more practical and collegiate. I think [Tessa's] favorite were a vintage pair of heels in black suede with low, pointy heels. They were surprisingly comfortable and could be paired with a lot of the business looks."

"I absolutely love vintage denim," Mellow said. "These [pedal pushers] are from Western Costumes. I really love the orange top stitching and the high waist with the wide cuff. I think they were either vintage Big Ben or Lee jeans."

"I love using scarves to mix up a classic look. Tessa really pulled these off effortlessly and it felt natural for her character to put it together with her looks. Each scarf has its own character and they range in boldness. A lot were from my own collection of vintage scarves. In the '50s, we used smaller floral prints for a more youthful, summer-love look. In the '60s, we had her wear bolder, more geometric printed scarves that were almost colorblocked. I think a few of them were vintage Echo and Vera Neumann scarves," Mellow said, confirming that she gifted Tessa one of the vintage scarves from set (along with some lingerie) after filming wrapped.

"We rented [Robert's bowling shirts] from costume houses and altered them to fit," Mellow said. "The '50s look for men was high-waist pants, so the sport shirts also tended to be shorter to the waist if untucked. Nnamdi is pretty tall, so getting those proportions correct really mattered in the fittings. I liked keeping his look really simple and classic — nothing overly showy or complicated. Most shirts were vintage, but I do believe the black and burgundy striped one he wears to Mr. Jay's record store is modern. It looks right out of the men's casual shirt section in a 1956 Sears catalog though!"

"I really love Mona's high-waist two-piece swimsuit with the cherry print and red cotton complete with a red bangle and these cat-eye sunglasses," Mellow said. "Later, Mona is in a leopard-print one-piece bathing suit that is laced in the front. I wanted to show the differences between Sylvie and Mona in their choices of swimwear. Mona is very playful with flirty patterns and sexier cuts and Sylvie's suits are more modest, simplistic, and chic."

"I really enjoyed working with Jemima Kirke to create some really fierce looks [for The Countess]," Mellow said. "This character was inspired by Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe. She is dramatic, powerful, sexy, and she gets whatever she wants. I love the red hooded dress she's wearing when we are first introduced to her. We paired it with red satin gloves."

"These really set the tone for the shopping we did and the color story," she said. "They also became more developed once Tessa was in the room and became Sylvie."