As I watched Jack Thorne’s Netflix adaptation of Lord of the Flies, I couldn’t help but think about how the elements affected the boys’ clothing. They are at an age where their mothers or their nannies might select and and care for the items that they wear on a daily basis, and one might assume that this is the first time that anyone, especially the Littluns, thinks about the clothes on their backs. Costume designer Maja Meschede knew that the costuming needed to carry weight and authenticity in order for us to feel the island’s conditions.
An easy way to determine how long the boys have been on the island is to check to see how they are collectively wearing their clothes. Yes, we can consider that they don’t like to wear their school uniforms at all, but you can imagine how one kid might copy how another is wearing their clothes. Those patterns don’t wane or change just because they are on an island.
“We didn’t shoot chronologically, so we couldn’t just pick up from the previous day’s work,” Meschede says. “We had to be very mindful of how we layered the costumes, whether some boys would be wearing just a vest and shorts or a shirt with their shorts. I worked closely with Marc [Munden] to see what would make sense for the timeline to go from very clean clothing to something messier. There was a lot of structure with a costume, but it had to be emotionally resonant for what the boys were enduring.”
One thing that audiences might not consider is what the children have on their feet. Perhaps we overlook this because they are almost always out of frame, but Munden includes a lot of shots of the boys’ shoes as they make their way through the island. They are impractical and do not compromise to the conditions of sand, water and heat–some of them might even be slippery on a harder surface. If the elements of an unknown island weren’t enough, just imagine how frustrating it might be if you lose one of your precious shoes…
“It’s such an impractical environment–it’s far too hot,” she says. “What is so beautiful about Marc’s work is that he thinks about these things, and he kept asking me on set if maybe I could take some of the shoes away or swap them out. You have to think about how maybe one of the boys might lose a shoe or find a spare one later. While they were highly impractical, they did protect them from the hot temperatures or the water. You have to think about what they are stepping on–the sand, the rocks, and even the volcano stone out there. You don’t want to walk on that without anything on your feet, because they can get cut in this unwelcoming place for humans. If you look at the choir, the shoes offer a uniformity, but it all becomes frayed the more time they spend there. Maybe one boy will roll up their coat to use as a pillow or they could use it as a cover when it’s cold at night. The shoes really hint at the horrible situation.”
The choir uniforms introduced in the first episode give us our first visual cue of what a tribe might look like before things even get violent or defensive. A group of them gliding over the sand might look like a hallucination from the blaring sun, and the choir is decked out in heavy caps and clasped capes.
“We never wanted to feel overly designed or symbolic, and it was important to me that there was a consistent emotional truth,” Meschede says. “These boys arrived dressed for autumn or late winter, because they’re dressed in layers of wool. The choir boys wear a shirt, wool blazer, wool shorts, a long black wool cape, and a black Canterbury wool cap. This moment when you see the choice walking along the beach and singing is such a beautiful, surrealistic moment almost like a painting–Marc is truly like a painter when he films.”
Lord of the Flies is one of the only times you will see a suitcase’s contents used in the narrative drive and character development of a series. The items found belong to an adult woman, so, at first glance, these boys won’t be used any of the items as they were originally intended. Rather than destroy the clothes, elements of them are used later as situations worsen and two rival tribes are formed. When the boys create battle masks and face shields for themselves, you can see pearls, lace, and fur. The costuming is a turning point.
“There were about 47 children, and they were all lovely, amazing kids,” she says. “With the suitcase find, these items belong to a woman who died in the crash, and I wanted to think about how something belonging to one person wouldn’t be the same thing to another, especially thinking about an adult woman passing this along to a little boy. A crinoline is not longer a crinoline. A jeweled scarf that Jack wears as part of his tribal outfit is not a jeweled scarf when he wears it. Its existence is quite severed from its original purpose. The children were asked to choose elements of the suitcase that they would like to wear, like a pearl necklace or the fur, and I thought it was important that they felt like they were involved in that choice. I didn’t want to impose that on them at all. It was very expressionistic.”
There are so many pattered vests and textured ties that I want for my closet. The Boy with the Birthmark’s overcoat and Piggy’s red sweater are things I want for my closet. Meschede answered immediately when I asked what she would take for herself.
“Piggy’s glasses,” she says, with no hesitation. “They mean so much. They make the fire and they show his emotional journey and his suffering as well. He gets bullied but he is always so wise.”
Lord of the Flies is streaming now on Netflix.
