Costume designer Colin Wilkes had only four weeks to shop for around 92 looks in Netflix’s hit movie People We Meet on Vacation, and she did not disappoint. The job quickly turned into a team sport, with an international search commencing across Los Angeles, London, Germany, New York, and Barcelona to find the perfect combination of free-spirited elegance that the main character, Poppy Wright, embodies throughout the film.
Gathering inspiration from New Orleans, Tuscany, Barcelona, and more, Wilkes created high-end looks that turned heads, felt effortless, and maintained attainability, all while using bold colors (trend alert) and statement pieces to provide visual story cues to fashion and rom-com lovers alike.
In the first scene, Poppy describes how carefree you can be on vacation and how you can turn into a different person. How did you choose to express that through the film’s costumes, and how can our readers tap into that energy for their next vacation?
I approached each vacation as if [Poppy] were developing her own persona. I loved this idea that Poppy, she read, she watched movies, she’s into music, and so she was gathering this inspiration from all of these different places. So, for example, a film set in Italy would be an inspiration; the beautiful women and the elegance of Italian fashion would be an inspiration for the way that she would dress. A painting she would see would be inspiration for the colors. And then I thought, “Who is this persona that she wants to inhabit?” She is this carefree, free-spirited person who uses clothing as a form of self-expression. We were really able to use costume design as a way for her to paint that picture of herself.
I think what is so fun about going on vacation and becoming a new version of yourself is that you can pack it in; it’s premeditated. It can be this fun exploration of getting to experiment in new ways. Whether that’s accessorizing and making that be the statement piece, or the statement piece [is] one very simple dress. I think that by the end of the movie, [Poppy] had crystallized her way of experimenting with how she dresses and expresses herself through clothing.
It’s funny you mentioned that a statement piece can be jewelry or it can just be a beautiful gown. I felt that with the chartreuse dress that she wore for the rehearsal dinner, and I realized it was just the dress. There weren’t really any accessories. I thought that was such an elegant look. Is there any story behind sourcing that specific dress?
This was a big moment cinematically, and so I was like, will it detract if we add more? How does the dress speak for itself? And sometimes less is more. I think in terms of sourcing that dress, it was scripted as a green dress. I knew I didn’t want to do Atonement green, I didn’t want to do neon green, so that chartreuse was this color that I feel like didn’t have a place yet in the cinematic history of iconic dresses. And I was like, this is a great place to slot this in. I loved how it was a wrap dress that was so perfect in the way that she walked, in the way that it just was beautiful on Emily [Bader], too.
Speaking of the accessories, that was a huge part of Poppy’s effortless style: having a more dressed-down outfit but then adding some great accessories. Some that I was obsessed with were the seashell necklace in the opening scene, the charm necklace on the camping trip. It was all just so perfect for each moment. Even the belt at the airport, the earrings at the wedding—she had the best accessories. Where did you pull that inspiration from? And where can I find such amazing pieces?
My assistant costume designer Rachel [Hranka] was on the ground [in Los Angeles] when we were in Spain. There’s an incredible vintage world here in Los Angeles, and honestly, when you dig, you can find beautiful pieces. I think those statement pieces are forever. They will always have a place to come back and make their moment. We rented a lot of it, and then we had people on our crew who have private collections that rented us some of the rings.
A lot of it we sourced. It was vintage that we found in L.A. and Madrid. We kind of assumed the Poppy narrative of “What is the thrill of the find?” So we would go into these places that our incredible shoppers in Barcelona knew about and would talk [to shop owners] about what we wanted, and we would find these beautiful pieces—that extends to the purses, too. It’s really special when you can find something that already has a special quality that you feel like no one else has. That was the way that we like to think about Poppy sourcing her jewelry and accessorizing, like “Okay, these are combinations and stacks that you won’t see anywhere else.” You can buy [one of] them as premade, but most of them were just things I put together. We had so much jewelry, it was nuts by the end! I would just spend hours putting little combos together and seeing what worked.
That makes me think: How can our readers tap into that personal style intuition as opposed to following the big trends?
That’s what’s so special about fashion being such a personal expression because everyone will gravitate toward something else. I like to think about building an outfit, much like Poppy, as something that can be very simple when you’re traveling with a carry-on. Everything can be your capsule collection, and accessories are the bold statements. I like finding things, for me, that are a little bit more architectural, but I know for somebody else they might really gravitate toward gold-encrusted, gem-inlaid pieces.
I think it’s really just about what you’re channeling for the vacation or the event. “Theme matters” was such a big phrase that was tossed around when we were designing. At the end, when [Poppy’s] on the plane and she’s flying away, she has that beautiful statement piece on. It was this moment where I was like, “Okay, she’s this royal Egyptian queen, and she’s just encrusted in these jewels.” Encouraging people to think about theme and the whole outfit, including the accessories as a piece, will help them find their own voice.
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