Bringing the Look of ‘Pain Hustlers’ to Life

Pain Hustlers takes place in Florida in a very specific place fashion wise. Meaning we didn’t really have a lot going on in a fashion sense in the 2010s. So the fashion choices happening in the movie are ones that show a time when fashion wasn’t at its best but show us exactly who these people are. That’s what makes Colleen Atwood’s work so fascinating.

Atwood, whose catalog of films include Chicago, Sweeney Todd, Sleepy Hollow, and more, talked with us at the junket for Pain Hustlers about bringing the world of Florida to life for Liza (Emily Blunt) and Pete (Chris Evans). What was fascinating was when I asked about trying to bring to life that specific time period, Atwood pointed out that she didn’t look at that specific period but more about what a person would already have in their wardrobe from years before.

“I didn’t look at it as a weird place. I just kind of looked at it as, I always go back earlier, when I do costumes because everybody doesn’t have the clothes from 2011 or whatever year it may be,” Atwood said. “So the thing that makes it work for me visually is compiling clothes from say, 2000 to 2011. You have layers of clothing on people, so you can’t really pin down the year per se, but you get the feeling of it. And of course Florida’s a very unique place, especially central Florida where the movies set. It isn’t exactly up to date in a fashion way except for a rare few people. So it’s people that are living, that are shopping and getting by.”

She went on to talk about how it then informed the rest of how she built out the costumes for the cast of characters we met in the film and their status. “It’s not a story about wealthy people in glamorous Florida. It’s the other side of Florida. So I kind of pedaled back because of that a lot. And I used color, in the beginning less color. And then as Emily’s world became more and more affluent, I punched color in which kind of used the sort of colors that look good in Florida that that sometimes you buy clothes when you’re in a sunny place and you get home to the Pacific Northwest or New York and you’re like ‘why am I wearing this? It looks so weird.’ So, that I kind of vibe that into it too.”

You can see our full conversation here:

Pain Hustlers is streaming on Netflix now.

(featured image: Netflix)