The Meticulous Details That Went Into The Stranger Things 4 Cast's Costumes
"Stranger Things" season 4 is finally out. But if you haven't finished yet — and fear not, this won't spoil you for anything — you can spend a few minutes perusing the clothes that made up the '80s looks for the new season. GQ posted a video with "Stranger Things" costume designer Amy Parris, who gives a really detailed breakdown of the way she and her department created the season's '80s clothing.
Parris said that some of the items were actually hard to get, not because they were vintage (which a whole lot of pieces are), but because during the pandemic, they had limited shopping options. Sometimes they'd get something, and try to buy like five of the same pieces, but that there was no way to get them with limited places to actually buy them from. She also said that they had color palettes for each location, like gritty and dirty and brown for the Russia scenes, and rusty and saturated for Hawkins, with bright ones for California. She leaned into '80s films like "One of the Guys" and "Tuff Turf" for inspiration.
Parris also looked at yearbooks from the same time in different regions of the country. She mentioned Ally Sheedy as an inspiration for Eden (Audrey Holcomb), Molly Ringwald for Vickie (AmyBeth McNulty), and Brooke Shields for Nancy (Natalia Dyer).
Is that Ocean Pacific?
Parris not only gives us some wonderful insight into the design, but she's so obviously proud of this season and it's lovely to see. I love the description of Eleven's (Millie Bobby Brown) milkshake dress. I can't take my eyes off of it when I rewatch that scene because it's so mismatched, over that plaid shirt. It looks like she doesn't get fashion, and that's what we're supposed to take from it — that she's likely trying to fit in, but trying different things. She wears hand-me-downs from Joyce (Winona Ryder), and Will (Noah Schnapp), and Jonathan (Charlie Heaton). Like that shirt she has under it may have come from Will.
They printed the dress fabric, then actually threw a milkshake on it. Then they hand-painted that same pattern on multiples, so the one we see on Eleven actually has dried milkshake on it. For the blood splatter on her hospital gown, they asked the Duffer brothers where the blood would be, and she (Parris) put it on, and was dragged by her ankles through blood on the floor so they could make it look realistic.
For Steve (Joe Keery), they wanted him out of the Scoops Ahoy stuff that he spent all of season 3 in. Parris and her team made Steve and Robin (Maya Hawke) video store vests so you could see their clothing and personalities through the uniforms.
For Hopper (David Harbour) and Joyce, they made sure to give them warm clothing because it was freezing in Lithuania where they filmed. They got costumes for prison from Poland, and even have the word "American" in Cyrillic as Hopper's nametag.
Hellfire Club
Parris and her team spent time looking at D&D clubs and what they wore in the '80s for the Hellfire Club shirts. For Eddie (Joseph Quinn), who is the best character, they found that leather jacket and chained one cuff together to imply that he fixed it himself. For the Dio vest, it was a gift from the estate of Ronnie James Dio (RIP). His widow sent it, which makes my metallic heart very happy. His pins are for bands like Wasp, Motorhead, Iron Maiden, Megadeath, Judas Priest ... truly, I love Eddie with my entire being.
For Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) — and this is the cutest — they got a scantron shirt, and figured that Dustin would fill them in with patterns (like I used to draw on my Keds) when he was bored in school. The designs include a dragon, a purple wizard that represents Will, some "Zelda" imagery, an elf, and a warrior shooting an arrow. Do they sell this? I want it very much.
For Nancy, Parris said her fight scenes have always been in stripes, so she did that again for this season. (I wonder if that will follow next season?) They didn't want to rip her cowl neck sweater because she points out that TV is largely focused on the face and shoulders, so they pre-ripped the bottom of her sweater which she uses as a bandage for Steve.
For Mike (Finn Wolfhard), they had to make sure his clothing got darker as they went, because he's getting older, and he's being influenced by Eddie. Parris joked that his mother didn't buy all his clothes anymore, and that the knockoff Ocean Pacific shirt was something he probably bought at the airport.
Like, totally tubular!
Max (Sadie Sink) is still in mourning, but that first turquoise sweatshirt is bright because they had limited options during the pandemic. Still, they did make it darker as she went. Her clothing is baggy, because she's hiding in it, protecting herself from the world. For Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin), he's straddling two worlds: jock and nerd. They tried to do as much as they could to blend this to show that he doesn't know where he belongs now, between his friends and the jocks.
Robin — and I love this so much — has a shirt with what Parris describes as equality symbols on them, which they custom made, to represent LGBTQ pride. Parris talked about the asylum outfit, and how much she loved Maya Hawke being uncomfortable in it, which served the character. The band uniforms were actually '80s and look uncomfortable as hell.
For Will, the actor himself has grown, and they had to give him longer sleeves to cover the arm muscles he's developed, and keep him looking young. Jonathan is a stoner, so they tried to get sort of trippy designs for his shirts. For Erica (Priah Ferguson), the actor has aged as well, so they wanted to make sure to keep her looking young with "sweet and girly" fabrics, allowing that to be a contrast to her attitude.
For Vecna, when he's still One, but post-Henry (Jamie Campbell Bower), having the pure white outfit that fit perfectly and was super clean was supposed to make him creepy.
The attention to detail is so cool! "Stranger Things" season 4, volume 2 (episodes 8 and 9) are streaming on Netflix now.