New Interview With The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes Costume Designer Trish Summerville From Vogue + Costume Concept Illustrations

In a new interview with Vogue Magazine, The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes costume designer Trish Summerville breaks down the inspiration behind some of the most inspired looks from the film. The article included some gorgeous concept drawings by costume illustrator Gloria Kim.

From Vogue:

The looks in The Hunger Games prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, had to live up to the most memorable fashion image from the original series: Katniss Everdeen's wedding dress in Catching Fire, which burned off to reveal a black, birdlike gown beneath. But costume designer Trish Summerville was up to the task because she was also the woman behind the original outfit. 

The prequel—which takes place 64 years before the start of The Hunger Games trilogy, though still in the far-off future—exists in a Panem entirely unrecognizable for fans of the original series. The film, out November 17, follows a young Coriolanus Snow (the villain of the original series) before his dictatorial days, as he mentors the District 12 tribute, the vaudevillian Lucy Gray Baird, in the 10th annual Hunger Games. But that stark difference allowed Summerville to create a different, retro-futuristic world with the characters' clothing. 

Hunter Schafer as Tigris Snow

Tigris Snow's Pink Suit at The Hunger Games Exhibition in Vegas

When it came to the Capitol, she and director Francis Lawrence decided to pull from the postwar 1940s and '50s for inspiration. "They still have the nicest clothing, the nicest jewelry, everyone's hair is styled, and they all have makeup, but it's a much more classic Americana look," she says. Still, Summerville uses the clothing to broadcast the characters' various challenges. Hunter Schafer, who plays Snow's cousin Tigris, became a representative of the Capitol.

"She makes her clothes, but she's keeping them alive because they're running out of money," she says. In a pink, Balenciaga-inspired skirt suit with a structural pointed shoulder, "we sewed all the seams outside, and I frayed all the edges, so it looks like they're coming apart." 

Josh Andres Rivera as Sejanus Plinth

The Academy Uniform on display at The Hunger Games Exhibition in Vegas

But for the more insular Academy (a school for the wealthy Capitol residents), Summerville got to lean more into genderless fashion, designing a pleated maroon skirt over trousers with a matching blazer. To create a school uniform, she wanted to avoid cliches.

"I didn't want girls in skirts and boys and pants," she says. "I wanted everybody to be uniformed in the same way. With the Capitol, when they have you in a group setting—boot camp or the Peacekeepers—you work for them. They look at you as one of a million. It's a bit communistic and regimented."

 Rachel Zegler as Lucy Gray Baird

One of Summerville's most daunting tasks was bringing the female lead, Lucy Gray Baird—a scrappy, street-smart performer—to life. The District 12 tribute, played by Rachel Zegler, is written with a hyper-specific costume.

"It has to be this rainbow ruffle dress, which is repeated over and over in the book and the script," she says.

The dress not only had to match this description but also had to be functional for the movie's many action sequences. "On a page, a rainbow ruffle dress with pockets sounds very whimsical, but for me, integrally, I have to design something that I am proud of," she says. The dress, which went through many iterations before Summerville was content with the final product, was made of tulle, netting, and fabric with plenty of stretch that enabled Zegler and her stunt doubles to move freely. 

Lucy Gray Baird's Rainbow Dress on display at The Hunger Games Exhibition in Vegas

Lucy's granny boots were also a vital part of the look. "What can I put her in that will allow her to crawl through these tunnels, scurry up walls, and get around?" she wondered. "I wanted to give her something really attractive and had a little bit of sex appeal and glamour to it. She's a bit of a cancan girl, but let's give her ankle support."

Just as crucial to the structural integrity—if not more so—was creating a look that holds deep significance to the series' dedicated fanbase. "I have a read in my head, but that's a totally different read than what's in your head," she says. Summerville felt this pressure when she joined the original trilogy.

"I dealt with the same thing on Catching Fire. There was already this world built before me, and that's not how I saw my new world, but I have to recognize some things that the authors, the scriptwriter, and the director have [already established]."

 

When it came to Lucy's rainbow dress, fans had some strong opinions, even going as far as to reach out to Summerville well before the costume was revealed. "I do get a lot of direct messages and information from the fans," she says. Summerville wanted to keep the dress accurate to Suzanne Collins's book while creating an engaging re-creation. She ultimately drew from Vaudeville, ending in a peasant top with a corset and a skirt with four layers of tulle. And, for eagle-eyed fans, Summerville also included an Easter egg on the corset:

"We had a beautiful patina department that hand painted these corsets, and the flowers on the corset are inspirations from Katniss flowers and Primrose flowers."

While Lucy could not fill Katniss's shoes—nor should she—the homage created a sense of camaraderie between the women who canonically never meet and cohesion between A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and The Hunger Games.

"I wanted to have something for Rachel and also for the fan base that gives them this kind of kinship," Summerville says.