5 phenomenal Emma Stone movie costumes that live in my mind rent-free

Emily Jean Stone — or simply Emma Stone — is currently one of the most charismatic faces on the big screen. Her incredible talent, which has earned her two Oscars among numerous other film awards, is reflected in her sensational transformations and her remarkable ability to embody characters that are completely different from one another. In recent years, Stone has added a string of phenomenal performances to her portfolio, including Kinds of Kindness and Poor Things by Yorgos Lanthimos, Ari Aster’s Eddington, and most recently, another Lanthimos hit — the dark sci-fi comedy Begonia, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival.

If you start typing “did Emma Stone really…” into a search engine, it will likely suggest the continuation “shave her head for Begonia?” The answer is indeed yes. In her portrayal of Michelle, the head-shaving scene was filmed in a single take, and the actress described the experience — tied to memories of her mother’s battle with breast cancer — as both emotional and liberating. It seems to me that Emma Stone gets such roles precisely because she is willing to approach them with a particular sensitivity that can be felt in the subtlest nuances. The characters she plays — charismatic and charming even when they’re villains — almost always come with impressive costumes, many of which are truly unforgettable. In honor of Emma’s 37th birthday, I’ve selected five film costumes that left a special impression on me.

Poor Things (2023.)

Emma Stone and Yorgos Lanthimos are truly a match made in heaven. In the role of the controversial Bella Baxter — a young woman whose brain has been replaced with that of an infant as the result of an experiment conducted by Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe) — Emma delivers one of her most demanding yet most impressive performances to date. Set in Victorian London in 1882, the film’s aesthetic is captured through the striking costume design by Holly Waddington. However, due to its sci-fi nature, the costumes don’t strictly adhere to historical accuracy; instead, they create a distinctive, almost surreal visual world. Bella learns to walk and speak while dressed in sugary, frilled dresses with puffed sleeves, but as she reaches the stage in her development where she begins to explore her sexuality, her clothing changes — her eccentric outfits mirror her journey of self-discovery. The most fascinating costumes are those that reflect Bella’s growing independence — that’s when her wardrobe becomes the most imaginative, as if she has borrowed pieces from various periods in history.

Poor Things, Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures

Cruella (2021.)

Jenny Beavan is an absolute rock’n’roll star among costume designers — a statement confirmed not only by her masterful work on the dystopian film Mad Max: Fury Road. Her phenomenal talent truly shone in Cruella (2021), in which the brilliant Emma Stone portrays the legendarily evil yet irresistibly charming Cruella de Vil. Set during the punk revolution in 1970s London, the film follows young designer Estella (Stone), who catches the attention of fashion icon and powerful baroness von Hellman (Emma Thompson). Their encounter sets off a chain of events that transforms Estella into the relentless Cruella, and this metamorphosis unfolds in full force through spectacular costumes — from fiery red gowns and skirts adorned with thousands of hand-sewn petals, to a sensational black top with brooches and epaulettes, and my personal favorite, a dress made entirely of textile waste. Beavan revealed to Vogue that her inspirations included punk queen Vivienne Westwood, German singer Nina Hagen, the brand Bodymap, and Alexander McQueen — and that she created an astounding 47 different looks for Cruella.

La La Land (2016.)

The musical La La Land, which captivated audiences in 2016, may not belong to the same costume-centered category as Poor Things or Cruella, yet some of the outfits worn by Mia (Emma Stone) are truly unforgettable. Many will immediately think of the yellow dress in which Mia dances with pianist Sebastian (Ryan Gosling), but costume designer Mary Zophres did a brilliant job blending the retro spirit of the 1950s with a contemporary fashion sensibility. The vivid colors Mia wears reflect her big dreams of an acting career, just as Sebastian’s refined, classic suits mirror his devotion to jazz music. The costume design subtly traces their personal growth as well as the shifts that occur in the dynamics of their relationship.

The Favourite (2018.)

Every costume in The Favourite was made from start to finish in just six weeks. As if that weren’t fascinating enough, costume designer Sandy Powell was simultaneously working on another film — Mary Poppins Returns. In yet another Lanthimos collaboration, Emma Stone portrays Abigail, and the story is set in early 18th-century London during the reign of Queen Anne. Since authentic costumes from that period that could be used as references didn’t exist, Powell had to find a creative way to design affordable costumes for the entire cast. After meticulously studying the aesthetics of the era, all the costumes were made from modern materials, primarily in black and white. “We bought every pair of jeans from second-hand shops near Shepperton, cut them up, and reworked them into women’s corsets and men’s waistcoats,” she recalled in an interview with Vogue UK.

Kinds of Kindness (2024.)

Aside from the fact that Yorgos Lanthimos’s films clearly can’t exist without Emma Stone in the cast, they also can’t exist without brilliant costume design. Kinds of Kindness is one of those examples, even if that might not be immediately obvious. You won’t see the lavish Victorian dresses of Poor Things or the impressive gowns from The Favourite here. Still, the costume that particularly caught my eye—even just from the trailer—is the brown retro suit in which Emma Stone performs an unforgettable dance. Costume designer Jennifer Johnson said that the biggest challenge was distinguishing the characters and highlighting their individuality, since the actors play three different roles. To make each one distinctive, she assigned a specific set of details to every character, giving each a clear visual identity.