Warning: mild spoilers for Baby girl below.
In Baby girlan intense, fiery relationship between powerful CEO Romy (Nicole Kidman) and her enigmatic intern, Samuel (Harris Dickinson), is fueled by an ongoing, ambiguous game of power games. In the production notes, director Halina Reijn — who also brought us the quintessential Gen Z horror comedy Bodies, Bodies, Bodies — explained, “This whole relationship between the two of them is just evolving: Who’s the cat? Who is the mouse? Who is using who?’
During a brief interaction in the elegant office cupboard, an excited Romi instructs Samuel to make her a coffee. The subordinate, sensing her intrigue, counters by brazenly shaming her afternoon caffeine habits.
“How many coffees do you drink a day?” he asks, with a twinkle in his eye. “It’s none of your business,” Romi replies, wearing a pale pink top and skirt, wrapped in a dove gray Max Mara wool-cashmere coat. He then renders: “Seven.”
“We really wanted to show the control she had in how she presented herself,” says costume designer Bart, half Kurt and Bart. “Part of that was [her color] palette. Even though she is this super calculating and controlled executive, she [has] this ultra-feminine, yet truly neutral presentation. It is tone on tone and very soft colors. There’s a level of abstraction.”
The same goes for the luxurious, tactile fabrics and textures—cashmere, silk and sheer organza—in her luxurious wardrobe: “It feels very inviting and feminine. We wanted to show what happens when he loses control and goes down the rabbit hole,” Bart adds.
This is also reflected in her mannerisms and specifically in how she handles her clothes. For example, Romy virginally ties the belts of her coats, further exerting (or presenting the facade of) control. “It’s a little tighter, a little more closed,” Kurt says.
At the company’s celebratory party, Romy paints an ideal image of a woman who has it all, wearing a blush Giorgio Armani bodycon dress with subtle cuts, subtle pleats and a draped neckline. But, even surrounded by her perfect family – theater director husband Jacob (Antonio Banderas), plus teenage daughters Isabel (Esther McGregor) and Nora (Vaughn Riley) – all dressed in white, she’s distracted by Samuel .
In the production notes, Kidman described Romy as “unable to be completely authentic with her husband or herself because she is so afraid to reveal her innermost thoughts and desires, her feelings and secrets and what she considers shame ». Through her exciting, often surprising and dangerous tryst with Samuel, she is able to explore and express her sexual desire, which is usually considered a social taboo. Her wardrobe responds in kind.
“Harris’ character obviously lets her open up and explore another side of herself, and then [her clothes] become more relaxed and more open,” says Kurt. (As for Dickinson’s suits, he googled “subway interns” to inform the ill-conceived but actually custom-made Men’s Warehouse suits and ties. “I find that contrast really, really interesting,” Kurt notes. )
Arriving at Samuel’s low-rent hotel room with the intention of stopping the mutual flirtation, Romy sends a mixed message by wearing an austere, almost domineering all-black outfit: a sculpted Khaite coat over a clean, high-top. Etro floral neck blouse and ultra tight pencil skirt specially designed.
“She felt overexposed, so she shuts down again—and ends up overdressing for this meeting,” says Bart. “The idea is that she’s trying to take back control and not let him seduce her, but she’s not sure about that, so the blouse is blue and black sheer lace. She’s also wearing the highest heels she wears in the movie, all for this scene.”
Walking slowly with snacks from the bodega, Samuel expresses confusion about Romy’s intentions referring to her funny messages. “You show up dressed like thisshe says, gesturing to her ensemble, right down to her towering Valentino stilettos.
“That’s what I love about the whole movie — it’s not simple,” Bart says. “[Romy and Samuel are] both are awkward in these roles they take on and sometimes dress completely wrong or awkwardly for the occasion.’
Adds Kurt: “The fact that Samuel kind of does nothing and shows up in his dirty [Nike] hood, he has nothing pre-planned for their meeting.’
As Romy submits to her own sexual urges and desires through the exciting, clandestine affair, her color palette also changes. “It’s starting to bloom,” Kurt says. “These colors get warmer and more saturated as she gets hotter.”
Reijn’s vision of Romy’s cutting edge includes an idyllic tableau: As the camera pans from above, she writhes on her dressing room floor, struggling to change from pink pants into a sapphire Zuhair Murad velvet dress with vertical, cut-out and asymmetric detailing .
“Romi is shedding her skin. It goes in real time,” explains Bart. “We rehearsed [the changing scene] together, like how she would take it all off while also pulling on the dress, which is so tight.” Romi wears the stunning dress to supposedly support Jacob on the opening night of his play — but then lies and fakes a work emergency after receiving a text from Samuel.
Deep into the case, Romy lies to her family again, and rushes from the office to an outdoor rave, only to encounter a tank-clad Samuel. She’s still wearing her work uniform: a bouncy blouse with a velor bow by Jason Wu, a tailored cream pencil skirt, and her camel coat (which miraculously didn’t get lost in the sweat-soaked crowd). As the two engage in a sultry dance amid the loud music and flickering lights, Samuel slowly unwraps Romy’s long ribbon around her neck and peels off her blouse in a Journelle oven.
“Seeing her blouse ripped off in a scream [by Samuel] it’s actually quite exciting – there’s an abandon to it,” says Kurt. “Also, because all her clothes are really beautiful and expensive, to see something like that rip on her in a sweaty club was really, really exciting and really symbolic of him letting her go, honestly.”
Romy opens and closes the film in a different blouse with an intricate bow pussy bloom. At first, she’s flustered, thanks to a late arrival at work and a group of new interns in her corner office—including a brash, outspoken Samuel—and continues to fuss in her haphazardly tied neck in a dove-gray Saint Laurent top. In the final scene, however, Romy reappears in the clean shirt, sitting tall at her desk with an impeccably tied bow.
“When we first meet her, when she’s more in control, she’s already starting to unravel a little bit,” Bart says. “It’s not like he ends up as a completely different character. She wears the same clothes, but the real big difference is that she is herself. It’s really Romy who made the change.”
Baby girl will hit theaters on December 25.
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