‘Dune: Part Two’ costume designer Jacqueline West on creating 4,000 costumes for sci-fi spectacle

For costume designer Jacqueline West, “Dune: Part Two” “was much more complex” than the previous film “because we were world-building worlds that we just touched on in [‘Dune: Part One‘]. Like we really explored the whole world of Giedi Prime. We went into the emperor’s world. There were many more characters from these different worlds, so it was a much bigger undertaking.” But the process was “quite smooth, actually,” with the first film already under their belts, “and Denis [Villeneuve] and I, by that time, had a real dialogue, and I really understood exactly what his vision was and was able to give it to him to even a greater extent.” Watch our complete video interview with West above.

“Dune: Part Two” continues the epic journey of Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet), who joins forces with the Fremen of Arrakis to fight the Harkonnen family that now harvests spice from the planet. West estimates that they created 4,000 costumes over the course of a year for the sci-fi film: “ We had 80 people working in-house. And then we outsourced a lot of the armor and the specialty costumes to outside vendors where I’d have to visit them and check on everything. And it was quite complicated.”

West believes “ that the costume is the bridge between the actor and the character, and it has to be character-driven and you kind of know that when you put it on an actor and … you can see they stand differently, they behave differently. And I think that’s the biggest challenge that I have. And that’s the most rewarding is when I see that happen.”

She’s also committed to achieving the same kind of authenticity in this sci-fi world as she would in a period film. “ I’ve been reading Frank Herbert and his personal writings and talking about ‘Dune.’ He said you can’t explore the distant future unless you look at the distant past. And I relied on that.” So she incorporated “medieval references,” and drew from Middle Eastern cultures to inform the Fremen designs, among other inspirations. “ Nothing’s fantasy for me,” she explains. “I try to keep everything real and grounded, and nothing make-believe.”