Meet the Magic Farm costume designer who raided Chloë Sevigny’s closet

Close to the start of your career, you probably don’t expect to get go wild in Chloë Sevigny’s wardrobe, but that’s exactly what happened to Emily Costantino. The costume designer is the brains behind most of the looks you see in bizarro new MUBI release Magic Farm, which stars Sevigny, Alex Wolff (Hereditary), and Simon Rex (Red Rocket) as a bunch of Vice-esque video reporters shooting a documentary about different subcultures across America. 

Due to a logistical fuck-up, the group ends up in middle-of-nowhere Argentina, where, without wanting to spoil too much, chaos ensues – the subculture they came to document is nowhere to be found, and, to save the production, they need to come up with a Plan B quick. Like ducks out of water, the groups traipses up and down dirt tracks in designer shoes, largely oblivious and unwilling to seize the opportunity to really learn about a new culture and put the idea of a cheap, exploitative scoop to bed.

Working closely with director and lead star Amalia Ulman, Costantino kitted out the cast in a mix of high-end loans from the likes of Miu Miu and Eckhaus Latta, and thrifted pieces that channelled the style of American Apparel founder Dov Charney, Vincent Gallo, and sleazy 70s nostalgia. But with indie project budgets tight, Sevigny’s willingness to pull pieces from her own wardrobe really helped the movie become the kaleidoscopic visual feast it is. 

“She was so generous,” says Costantino. “She gave me the keys to her place because she was travelling and I needed to go in and pick things up, like the white Margiela Tabis her character Edna wears, because they were her own pair. We were like ‘This character has to be wearing a Tabi’ and she just said ‘Well, I have you covered. We don’t need to buy those.’”

Now, as the film gets its release date on MUBI, Costantino discusses her early ventures into fashion, stanning her grandmother’s style, and dream collaborators she’d love to work with now Magic Farm is out in the world. Mark June 6 in your diaries and read on below.

Hey Emily! So first of all, can we go back to the start and discuss how you got into costume design in the first place?

Emily Costantino: It was definitely something like a circuitous experience for me. My dad worked in a technical school so that’s where I learnt to sew and really got into fashion. I was always like ‘I’m going to be a designer’. But then I saw how, with costume design, there was a merging of two worlds – literature and story building, and designing clothes and looks. So I got a job as a PA in a costume department and was able to work on friends’ projects while supporting myself with other design jobs.

Who did you think dressed amazingly growing up? Did you have your ‘style icons’?

Emily Costantino: Growing up I worked in my grandmother’s clothing store, and I guess the sentimental answer would be that she was my style icon. She had this amazing boutique that sold mature women’s lines, and this was pre-buying things through a catalogue so we’d travel all over, like to New York City, to see the collections together. She had amazing style, she wore lots of great suiting, and she hated loungewear. Hated yoga pants! The minute she woke up she was straight into something fabulous. I still use her as a character reference often.

Other than my grandmother, I loved he Olsen twins circa 2006 and 2007. Isabel Marant, and Jean Paul Gaultier. Then later I got into Japanese designers like Rei Kawakubo, Yohji Yamamoto, Issey Miyake, FRUiTS magazine and Hysteric Glamour. We actually used Hysteric on Edna in Magic Farm. 

“I loved the Olsen twins circa 2006 and 2007 growing up, as well as Isabel Marant, and Jean Paul Gaultier. Then later I got into Japanese designers like Rei Kawakubo, Yohji Yamamoto, and Issey Miyake, plus FRUiTS magazine and Hysteric Glamour. We actually used Hysteric on Edna in Magic Farm” – Emily Costantino

So Magic Farm is all about a team of journalists documenting global subcultures. What subcultures do you find most inspiring, and have you ever been part of one? 

Emily Costantino: It’s funny, my assistant on the movie that I’m working on right now was playing all this scene music from when I was in the sixth grade. Back then my brother was in a screamo band and I remember him always wearing these super, super skinny jeans with that, like, swoopy hair, and I was like ‘Oh my god this is amazing’. So for a while I dressed a lot like that. I would shop at Zumiez, Hot Topic, and Spencers and the mall. I got my first Underoath t-shirt from Hot Topic. I wore it almost every day.

How do you prepare to work on a film? What was the process like when it came to Magic Farm?

Emily Costantino: Every movie is so different! I do a lot of indie films, and I think with them you’re always working against some kind of limitation, whether that’s a limitation of time, or resources, or whatever. Sometimes you’ll only have a couple of hours to do a full fitting with an actor, or you’ll have to fit everything on the day that they shoot.

With Magic Farm I remember I got the call from Eugene [Kotlyarenko, producer] who’d seen a movie I costumed called www.RachelOrmont.com, and he told me ‘Amalia [Ulman] is making this film, and all the principal talent is here in the US but we’re shooting in Argentina. We only have a couple of weeks to prep all these looks – would you be interested?’ And I was like, ‘You know what? Hell yeah!’ As soon as I signed on, I turned into this crazy keyboard warrior, reaching out to so many brands and figuring out how to style the cast in a way that Amalia and I dreamt of, but with all the financial limitations we had.

And what was it that you and Amalia dreamt of? What was on the moodboard? It’s a super colourful, almost psychedelic movie.

Emily Costantino: Yeah, and all the colours are punched up even further in post. I remember what Amalia first showed me wasn’t even pictures of clothes, they were photos of some interiors she’d taken while she was in Argentina, that showed the way colour worked in that landscape. The colour was super blocked out, and there was this green mug in the corner of one. We knew we wanted to block the movie out, and one of the first things we decided on was that we were going to avoid doing too many patterns.

Do you have any favourite looks? Either to create or because of how they turned out.

Emily Costantino: I love all of Chloë’s looks. Obviously she’s playing a character but we did want to keep a lot of her personal style – some of the silhouettes for example. We started with a lot of brand outreach to build out her style and a closet for her character. Miu Miu was a big one – they were super excited to collaborate with us. And I also trawled Big Ash, which is this amazing thrift store on the Lower East Side, and James Veloria too, pulling vintage pieces from brands like Batsheva and Eckhaus Latta. But Chloë was super involved too, and actually our first fitting took place at her apartment and she was so generous as an actor and a collaborator. We pulled a bunch of stuff from her personal archive and styled them in with the pieces I’d sourced. The process with her was actually a bit different to all the other characters, because she was so involved – we started out with so many looks and really had to narrow that down from there.

“I was super excited to work with Simon Rex. Amalia and I narrowed his look down to channelling someone like [controversial American Apparel founder] Dov Charney, like this very Vice-era reporter vibe. A bit indie sleaze, a bit 70s nostalgic, a bit Vincent Gallo” – Emily Costantino

Have you worked with her before? What was it like going into her archive? Most people would have a meltdown if they had access to that!

Emily Costantino: Oh it was my dream. She was so generous – she gave me the keys to her place because she was travelling and I needed to go in and pick up things like the white Margiela Tabis she wears, because they were her own pair. We were like ‘This character has to be wearing a Tabi’ and she just said ‘Well, I have you covered, we don’t need to buy those.’

Given the satirical nature of the movie,  the choice to use luxury brands while she tours this small Argentinian town in the global South does so much to develop her character right away. The white Margelia Tabis on the dirt roads are a great example, and there’s a scene when Edna packs her white Miu Miu bag into her suitcase and it got a laugh at the Sundance premiere. That’s the fun of costume design, for me.

Were there any other characters you particularly enjoyed working on? 

Emily Costantino: I was super excited to work with Simon Rex. Amalia and I narrowed his look down to channelling someone like [controversial American Apparel founder] Dov Charney, like this very Vice-era reporter vibe. A bit indie sleaze, a bit 70s nostalgic, a bit Vincent Gallo. I was working in LA while I was figuring out his look, because I had to hop about and take other jobs, and it aligned perfectly because we ended up doing his fitting out there, because that’s where he was too. So I went to Avalon Vintage, and I was telling the guy who worked there what I was looking for and how this character was a little Vincent Gallo-inspired. And he’s like ‘Oh yeah, well Vincent actually buys a lot of stuff here’, so in the end I think it gives it a real sense of authenticity. There’s a tank top with red and white stripes that he wears that’s from there, and a few other bits.

And what about those amazing little green dresses and the bows?

Emily Costantino: This design process was different to some of the other movies I’ve designed since it was truly a collaboration between me, Amalia, and a local Argentinian costume crew led by Florencia Gabelli, who not only executed the looks we set in NY and LA, but designed costumes for the Argentinian locals like the receptionist and Popa. They were such a pleasure to work with – lots of Google translate back and forth. 

Magic Farm is obviously absurd and satirical, and the whole story centres around a bit of a disaster for a media team. But when you know how the industry operates, actually it feels pretty true to life. So I want to ask, what’s been the weirdest moment of your career so far? Like a moment that made you think ‘What the fuck is my job?’

Emily Costantino: Definitely rolling up to film Steve Pink’s Terrestrial and realising the shooting location was Phil Spector’s mansion in Alhambra, which was the house where everything went down. Even crazier was that I had committed to live there for two months during the filming. There were many nights I was the only one staying there and the radio would turn on in the middle of the night and things would go missing. I remember barricading my bed with clothing racks as if that would somehow protect me. Thankfully, I survived and the movie is premiering at Fantasia this year.

“Todd Solondz is my number one dream director to work with. Happiness is one of my favourite films and his film language has inspired the way I develop character through costume design” – Emily Costantino

Is there a dream director or dream actor you’d love to work with? 

Emily Costantino: Ugh, I’m not sure I want to jinx myself! Or maybe it’s manifesting? (laughs). Todd Solondz is my number one dream director to work with. Happiness is one of my favourite films and his film language has inspired the way I develop character through costume design. He’s trying to get funding for his next film right now and I really hope he does.

Yeah, I can see that being a great match. And what about if your fave movie was being remade and they were looking for a costume designer? 

Emily Costantino: Trash Humpers [by Harmony Korine]. I’m obsessed with that movie. It’s from an era of filmmaking I’m super nostalgic for.  

Last question. Are you sentimental, and did you steal any of the clothes from the Magic Farm costume department? 

Emily Costantino: Oh, always! I have a bunch of Chloë’s looks, like the little Acne Studios shorts she wears, and a few Eckhaus Latta bits. I do a ton of brand pulling so there are pieces I definitely have to send back, but I love to keep a few things if I can. When I’m shopping for characters, sometimes I even go a bit method, buying pieces that they’d wear long after the movie wraps. And then, a year later or something, I’m like ‘Wait, why did I buy that?’ But yes, I definitely need to have a few little mementos, for sure.

Watch Magic Farm from June 6 on MUBI.