Costumes of "Call Me By Your Name"
To preface all of this, and as a testament to the eminence of the film itself, I think the reader should know that a mere 24 hours before the writing of this article, the author, herself, purchased a 50 dollar raffle ticket to be possibly selected for an all-expenses paid trip to the Academy Awards in Los Angeles, California to meet and fall deeply in love with Armie Hammer, Timothée Chalamet, and the rest of the cast of “Call Me By Your Name”.
However, given the improbability of winning such a dream-come-true excursion, I suppose I’ll begin by explaining one aspect of my fascination with this Oscar-nominated film for “Best Picture of the Year.”
You guessed it. It’s the clothes.
As well as having unparalleled cinematography, courtesy of Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, “Call Me By Your Name”’s costume design fantastically encompasses all of the vital and incredibly different aspects of the film— in time period, culture, age of the characters, and color scheme—which, for most designers, is quite a difficult feat to perform, much less win awards for. And for this accomplishment, we have Giulia Piersanti to thank.
If you haven’t seen the film, first of all, see it right now. Adapted from the book by Andrè Aciman, “Call Me By Your Name” takes place in the early 80s “somewhere in Northern Italy,” as the audience learns from its beginning credits. Elio Perlman, 17-year-old son of a wealthy professor specializing in Greco-Roman culture, spends his summers in his family’s beautiful Italian villa, speaking multiple languages interchangeably while haphazardly transcribing or playing classical music by Johann Sebastian Bach or Franz Liszt. With the arrival of his father’s latest American summer intern, Elio undergoes a transformative experience in love, passion, and friendship with the handsome 24-year-old, Oliver, which establishes “Call Me By Your Name” as one of the most fantastic depictions of relationships and romance in antiquity.
The costume design so gorgeously crafted by Parsons graduate Giulia Piersanti has already received praise by many to-date, whether through nominations for “best costume design” by the International Online Cinema Awards (INOCA) or simply a nod in an article titled “Call Me by Your Name Makes a Great Case for Men in Booty Shorts”— which it most definitely does. Piersanti, a friend of “Call Me By Your Name”’s director Luca Guadagnino, first tried her hand at costume design in Guadagnino’s earlier film “A Bigger Splash” in 2015 and will work again on his upcoming film titled “Suspiria” in 2018. After growing up in Rome and Los Angeles, Giulia Piersanti made her debut in the fashion world working at a myriad of fashion companies, such as Balenciaga, Dior Homme, and Missoni, and is currently employed at Céline as the head of knitwear.
One of Piersanti’s biggest feats with “Call Me By Your Name,” in my opinion, was seamlessly depicting Elio and Oliver’s evolving relationship and the personality of their individual characters in a way which uses the style of the 80s and Italian-American trends without making the time period of the movie the dominant focus. Instead, as Piersanti has described in interviews with Vogue and GQ, her goal was to use pieces of 80s couture which would not be entirely out-out-of place today— representative enough of 80s fashion that my parents could surely attest to the styles of Mr. and Mrs. Perlman, but still current enough that I could imagine peers wearing similarly-patterned swim trunks and the Ray-Bans Elio frequents.
Piersanti has mentioned seeking inspiration from many of the Crema residents’ old photo albums as well as using her parents and her upbringing in Rome for reference in her individual design of the pieces of Mr. and Mrs. Perlman’s wardrobes. For Oliver’s outfits, Piersanti drew from images of all-American, well-groomed men from old Bruce Weber photographs in Charles Hix books.
For Oliver, who in the film is specifically intended to stand out among the Italians— in both his large, muscular build and quintessential unapologetic confidence— Piersanti’s choice of wardrobe had to reflect such a statement. For this reason, dressing Armie Hammer in large, flowing collared shirts and short athletic shorts stresses his distinct physical build while his high top sneakers and aviators emphasize a certain “Americanness” Piersanti wished to convey.
Elio’s attachment to the blue shirt Oliver wears upon arrival as well as to Oliver’s red worn shorts which Elio puts over his head reinforces the impact of Piersanti’s costume design on how the Italian natives, especially Elio, interpret Oliver’s unique presence. Part of what makes this film incredibly dependent on good costume design is the fact that Elio uses pieces of Oliver’s clothes to hold on to his memory even when he leaves on the train. Oliver’s costumes become a part of how he is remembered by Elio. Specifically referencing the cavalier way in which Oliver replies “later” before leaving his family’s company, Elio notices immediately the blatant personality differences between them two. Even in the first shot of them together, the contrast in their clothing— Elio’s polo and patterned shorts against Oliver’s button-down and khakis—immediately implies their gap in maturity and age.
Oliver’s early popularity among Elio’s family and friends is reflected in their acknowledgement, and appreciation, of his difference from them as well. Frequently throughout the film, in scenes meant to emphasize the progress of Elio and Oliver’s budding relationship, the colors of their individual outfits actually match— both each other and the background of the shot— allowing the cinematography and costume design to overlap magnanimously.
As Elio and Oliver become more and more enamored, the gap in their individual clothing minimizes. In the final scene of the film, however, Elio wears something completely unlike his summertime stripes and colorful patterns. Indicating a change in his maturity, the season, as well as a change in the course of his relationship with Oliver, Elio is finally shot in his Italian villa in wintertime, wearing a black and white shirt covered in abstract faces— each with different expressions.
While there are many things which make “Call Me By Your Name” an utter masterpiece in my eyes, the efforts and success of Giulia Piersanti in only her second debut as a costume designer is a true testament to the power of fashion and artistry to make lasting impressions in cinema— be that impression the audience’s general take-away from the film or an impression in a more tangible sense. I don’t know about you, but I’d say there are Oscars in her future.
For fellow “Call Me By Your Name” fanatics, here is a Buzzfeed quiz “Are You Elio or Oliver?”
You’re Welcome.