Scream Queens has some of the hottest looks of any new TV show this fall. And Halloween is just around the corner! So of course we had to go to the show's set and find out how to be a Chanel. Fur coats, high heels, and the best bitchface you can muster are just the beginning...
Think a "big bowl of ice cream," Scream Queens'costume designer Lou Eyrich tells us, who collaborated with Ryan Murphy on the quintessential Chanel look. "His big thing was a candy approach. I started doing research on candy and I came across this picture of macaroons. It was all of these pastel macaroons, lavender and pale green and pale yellow and pale blue. That was my inspiration for the color palette for Chanel."
The Chanels will often dress in different shades of the same color. "First I pick a color I can find matching tones of in that color," Eyrich tells us. "In this scene, I wanted them all in pink, but each of them within that pink palette I find their own character and their version of."
Emma Roberts: Christian SirianoAbigail Breslin: Christian SirianoBillie Lourd: Elizabeth & James
Chanel's floral cape ensemble was loaned to the show by Christian Siriano. This organza sheath dress appeared in the Project Runway winner's spring 2014 collection. But despite some very special items, Eyrich reveals, "A lot of [the show's clothes] we pieced together from Top Shop, Forever 21, and a lot of shops that we could put pieces together and was affordable, first of all, because we had a very tight budget, but also so that it didn't just look like it was right off the runway. I wanted it to look like young girls could make the look without having to afford a $2,000 high end, couture piece."
It's all about the accessories in the Kappa house, including fur hats, jewelry, knee-high socks, gold chains, etc etc. A pair of earrings and a jeweled belt can make a world of difference. Ever heard the rule about looking in the mirror before you leave and taking one thing off? That does not apply here. "If you want to be a Chanel, you look in the mirror and you add five things," SQ wardrobe stylist Lauren Bott explains. "Nothing is too much."
Chanels keep their makeup light, but we're definitely supposed to be able to tell that they're wearing makeup, according to makeup artist Melissa Buell. "Nothing too harsh. Just soft and pretty," is how Buell describes the look. She uses whatever matte pink lipstick goes with each girl's skin tone, and does a straight, slightly smudged line of eyeliner. Here you can see all the products used on Emma Roberts—and where they go.
The Chanels are coiffed but not too coiffed, according to hair stylist Jennifer Johnson. While Chanel no. 1 is often quite sleek, the other Chanels often just wear a simple ponytail. Put a little bend in the hair with a curling iron before hand, then poof up the hair above the ponytail, let out a couple of pieces in front and voila, you've got yourself a Chanel pony.
Eyrich has a lot of tricks to dressing up—or Chanel-ing up—plainer looks, and one is quite obvious: Feathers and fur. In fact, according to Bott, the bigger and brighter, the better. Fur and feathers are also very in right now, so they're easy to find. "Not everybody wants to wear fur, but everybody's doing fake fur now, so that's easy as well," Lou Eyrich says. "You can get the fake fur hats everywhere, or you add even one of the big black hats that everybody's doing and that would make it super chic and St. Laurent-looking."
Has it ever looked more appealing to look like a giant bird? "It's all feathers," Eyrich says of the gorgeous Phillip Lim number. "That was a find. We found that in New Orleans and I freaked out. It was in a little shop that I always go to and it was on a mannequin and I said, ‘I need that dress.' Don't tell me how much it costs. Just take it off and sell it to me. I had to have it. Emma freaked out and she looked amazing in it."
Whether you're a Pilates fiend like Lea Michele or not—just rock that midriff. Do you need more explanation than that? If it's got a cute saying on it, like "Sweet cheeks" or "kill me," that's even better.
No. 5's signature look (and one of Abigail Breslin's favorite outfits) involves pearl cat ears, a fur collar and a crop sweatshirt that says "mermaid." Your signature may involve bejeweled brass knuckles and a trucker hat that says "Hamburger," but it's all fine as long as it sparkles.
That blue vest is from Shrimps, which is known for its striped faux fur. Coats and vests from this British label sell for upwards of $600, and Chanel No. 1 isn't the only one who sports it on the show. No. 5 owns a bright orange jacket, and even Ryan Murphy considered getting one after seeing the girls wear it on screen, according to stylist Lauren Bott.
The higher the heel, the better. Even chunky heels are acceptable, as long as you can strut down the runway that is your life. Heels were first on the list when we asked Emma Roberts how to be a Chanel. "Definitely high heels, runway walk. Hands on hips, definitely, and don't ever look anyone in the eye. Never. God forbid you give them the time of day. That's how to be a Chanel."
Of course, not everyone can be a Chanel. Some people can be Grace, who rocks a more understated 70's look. A lot of her clothes come from Madewell and Zara. "We call her like our French/Parisian blogger," Lauren Bott says of Grace's style.
As we know, Gigi had a very traumatic 90's, so she's a little bit stuck in time, and therefore has an incredible wardrobe filled with 80's and 90's classics. Eyrich says she's "backdated" a bit to the 80's in order to get even more outrageous. "Everybody's doing the 90's now, and it's kind of really chic," Eyrich says. "I don't know if you've been paying attention, but like all the young girls are starting to dress like the 90s, so you know, the Whitney Houston turtleneck dress, that kind of thing. So when we started out, it just wasn't looking like anything, so we backdated it so it had a little bit more of like, whoa, what is that you're wearing? It was Firenze, duh. Well Firenze wasn't anything that these girls would be disgusted by, so I had to backdate it. So it's a little over the top but that's what Ryan wanted, to really drive it home that these girls all look at her and go, what the heck?"
Many of Zayday's clothes come from Top Shop, and her style is a lot brighter and more graphic than the Chanels. Also unlike the Chanels, she goes for a crisp cat eye or "glamour liner," as makeup artist Melissa Buell puts it, as opposed to the smudged straight line of the Chanels.
Ah, cupcake sweater. How we miss thee. Lea Michele and Lou Eyrich wanted to go totally the opposite of Glee's Rachel Berry, and this is what they ended up with. "Nothing matches, the hair is down and dirty, and we just decided that either she was like a stoner nerd and that's where we did the long kind of prairie skirt…and also, everything was shopped for her either at thrift stores in New Orleans or LA, and then all the like stupid cat shirts and ice cream shirts, those were $20 tshirts from either Urban Outfitters or at the mall, you know, any random little store." Add a neckbrace, some ugly suede slip-ons and a middle part and you are good to go!
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