MTV Hollywood Crush In depth with New Moon costume designer, Tish Monaghan
THE GREEN MILE
“Putting Bella in hunter green was a request from Chris [Weitz],” Tish said of Kristen’s button up shirt, which was a design from Boy by Band of Outsiders paired with J Brand jeans and Keds. “We knew that Bella was going to be running through a crowd who were all going to be in red, so we had to choose a color that would make her stand out and still transition easily to that forest scene at the beginning of the film.” FYI, Edward's grey peacoat on the right was homemade by Tish and her crew! (Edward's Twilight peacoat is way hotter!)
DASHING EDWARD
“This is the most important costume [for Edward] because it’s the last thing Bella remembers him in,” the costumer said of Rob’s suit. “We had to be very careful about choosing something that was absolutely right because he has to spend almost the whole film in it.” So, instead of buying one, Tish created her own suit out of a grey tweed with blue and orange flecks in it. “I wanted old world fabric to match with his heritage. I also wanted something that had texture and that would be able to age.” That’s right, there were six copies of this ensemble made in order for Robert to wear it continuously and in many different elements (i.e. in the ocean during Bella’s cliff dive!). Kristen is wearing a custom made jacket that was replicated from the one she wore in “Twilight.”
ROBED AND DANGEROUS
If you're wondering where the black shirt went that Robert was slowly unbuttoning to reveal his six-pack vampire self to the crowd in Italy (in the movie, we see him put on a red robe after his attempts are thwarted by Bella, but, uh, did he just dump his acutal shirt on the ground?), it's in the black hole of movie making. "When the script was originally set, Edward was supposed to be captured outside by Demetri and Felix — that’s why he is thrown a red robe," Tish explains. "[But], by the time they decided he was instead going to be captured inside, we had already filmed the inside scenes.
THE ENCHANTED FOREST
“These were the first costumes that I designed,” Tish recalls of the sequence in which we see future Bella as a vampire running with Edward in the woods. “The fantasy was this sort of post-wedding feeling where they were hunting in these light-colored outfits through the dark forest. I didn’t want them in anything practical.” So, she put Robert in some pretty high-end threads: a vest from Loden Dager, a Club Monaco linen shirt, Orme in Portofino khakis and Magnanni shoes (the same ones he wears with the grey suit throughout the movie). For Bella, Tish aimed for sweet and girly, while Chris Weitz envisioned a look from Greek mythology: Diana the Huntress. The result? “We made that silk chiffon over silk organza dress. It was nice to see her in something feminine.” More here
