40+ Behind-the-Scenes Facts Straight From the Wardrobe Departments of Iconic 2000s Movies

It’s not unusual for actors to want to take home mementos from the film sets, but 77 Jimmy Choo shoes? For actress Reese Witherspoon, her Legally Blonde character’s wardrobe was just too good to give up.

Witherspoon revealed that she had it written into her contract that she would get to keep Elle Woods’ signature pink wardrobe from the second Legally Blonde film, and some pieces from the first film. Luckily for fans, the actress celebrated the film’s 15th anniversary by modeling the character’s most iconic outfits on her social media pages including that famous sequined bikini!

The musical drama, Dream Girls, featured 120 original dresses. The film, which charts the lives of three women trying to find success in the music industry, required accurate costumes spanning various decades.

At the time, the award-winning wardrobe designer Sharon Davis was also working on the somber film, The Pursuit of Happyness. In order to organize her designs, Davis ended up memorizing the entire script of Dream Girls. While it was a challenge, the designer said, “I got to do the balance of both worlds, this high-glam world to this very low-end world.”

When the queen of the silver screen, Dame Julie Andrews, requests diamonds she gets diamonds. In the teen dramedy, The Princess Diaries, Andrews plays the queen of a fictional European country called Genovia.

The actress, in true royal fashion, is decked out in jewels loaned from Harry Winston worth a cool half a million dollars. While Andrew’s jewels were the real deal, costar Anne Hathaway’s tiara was custom designed using cubic zirconia. Only the best for cinematic royalty.

While most people associate the fashion of the 1940s with glamorous screen sirens like Rita Hayworth and Katharine Hepburn, the clothing of the era was typically more utilitarian and less flamboyant. For wardrobe designer Karyn Wagner, creating a historically accurate wardrobe for actress Rachel McAdams required digging into preserved collections held at New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Wagner wanted to make sure that the costumes reflected the class distinctions between the star-crossed lovers, often dressing McAdams in tailored frocks and Ryan Gosling in clothes that looked like they were purchased in a “general store”.

Most fans of the film remember the famous striped dress that Jennifer Garner’s character wears in the film’s pivotal “Thriller” dance scene. While that dress may have been memorable, costume designers worked hard to use the characters’ outfits to convey a deeper meaning.

Costume designer Susie Desanto used colors to reflect the changes the film’s characters undergo throughout the movie. While Garner’s character often wears pink and soft colors, her “frenemy” Lucy’s wardrobe features dark colors like red and black  –  colors Desanto picked to symbolize the character’s darker intentions.

There are some who believe in the deeper symbolism of colors –  that what we wear subconsciously reflects our personalities. Colors like blue are thought to symbolize freedom, but also sadness. In the film, 500 Days of Summer, Zoey Deschanel plays a free-spirited woman dressed appropriately in blue.

According to director Marc Webb, his only request to the wardrobe department was that Summer only wears blue throughout the movie. The only exception is a scene in which Tom, her ill-fated love interest, wears blue as well symbolizing that “Tom’s whole world is a reflection of Summer.”

Although they may have become a household name thanks to films like Breakfast at Tiffany’s, the luxury jewelry house, Tiffany & Co. rarely lend out pieces to be used in movies. That said, they did make an exception for the casino heist film, Ocean’s 11.

The jewelry house was so excited to be involved with the film that they sent out various photographs of their collection to the wardrobe department, even altering the pieces in order for them to hang correctly. Unlike the money from the casino, we’re sure Tiffany & Co. got everything back in one piece.

In the film Miss Congeniality, Sandra Bullock’s character goes deep undercover in order to thwart a terrorist attack set to take place in a beauty pageant. The film sees her character trade her uniform for a ribbon sash, but her post-makeover look had moviegoers doing a double-take.

The show-stopping lavender dress Bullock wears while strutting out of the airplane hangar was actually pulled off the rack, and was designed by Herve Leger. Costume designer Susie DeSanto says she wanted a dress that would make “your jaw drop.” She definitely succeeded.

Comic book historian, Mike Conroy, once claimed that of all the villains in the Spider-Man comics, “the most flat-out unhinged and terrifying of them all is the Green Goblin.” While the villain that appeared onscreen was nightmare-inducing enough, the original look was so creepy it even scared the film’s crew.

In the film, Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin wears a metallic green mask, but his original mask was animatronic and skin-like –  resulting in a far more terrifying appearance. Although the original mask didn’t end up on screens, there’s plenty of creepy photographic evidence of it to keep you up at night.

Most fans of the movie Mean Girls can quote their favorite characters by heart. What most people may not know is that the film’s wardrobe designer went to great lengths to ensure that the “Plastics” were the trendiest high schoolers in America.

Because she wanted the girls in the film to look on-trend, despite the movie’s delayed release, Mary Jane Fort traveled to fashion-forward Europe for inspiration. She knew that by the time these trends reached stateside, they would make for a perfectly “fetch” wardrobe.

In order to accurately capture the difficulty of the lives of India’s orphans, wardrobe designers actually used sandpaper to damage the set’s clothing in order to make them look authentically used and worn-out.

At one point, some poor girls stumbled upon the film set. Costume designer Suttirat Anne Larlarb noted their worn-out ragged clothing and offered the girls her new dresses in exchange for their “remarkably, perfectly grimy” clothing. Seems like it was a lucky day for everyone involved.

Designing the wardrobe for Cameron Crowe’s semi-autobiographical film, Almost Famous, required looking at actual footage and photographs taken from music tours of the 1970s. Costume designer, Betsy Heimann, combed through Crowe’s actual photographs and those taken at concerts of rock legends like The Eagles, Neil Young, and the Allman Brothers.

While the outfits may look like they were sourced from vintage shops, Heimann actually designed and created them for the film. Her most memorable piece, Penny Lane’s shaggy fur coat, was actually made by Heimann using upholstery fabric scraps and a rug from Urban Outfitters.

Bringing the fantasy world of author J.R.R. Tolkien to the big screen was no easy task. For costume designers Ngila Dickson and Richard Taylor this meant years of meticulously crafting costumes for the three epic fantasy adventure films.

From designing ethereal elven robes to patch-work rags of the Hobbits, costume designers had to create 40 versions of every costume design. It is estimated that the costume designers, with the help of 40 seamstresses, created 19,000 costumes!

One of Twilight‘s most famous scenes shows Bella wearing a simple blue cargo jacket, a piece that costume designer Wendy Chuck purchased from an outlet store.

Following the film’s release, the jacket’s fashion label BB Dakota used trademark images from the film in their marketing campaign. Summit Entertainment, the studio behind the Twilight films, sued BB Dakota for copyright and trademark infringement. While the jacket can still be purchased, it can no longer be marketed as a way to score “the hottest vampire in high school.”

Never underestimate the power of a pair of shoes. In the case of actor Stellan Skarsgård, a pair of too-large shoes helped him develop his character in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.

When costume designer Penny Rose gave Skarsgård the oversized shoes, he turned the difficulty of walking in the large shoes into a unique gait for his character, Bootstrap Bill. This is just one of many examples of costume designers helping actors bring characters to life with their wardrobes.

Few outfits have the ability to make audiences catch their breath like the show-stopping emerald gown Keira Knightly wears in Atonement. The jewel-toned dress made such an impact that replicas of it have sold for tens of thousands of dollars.

The brilliant green dress is worn by Keira Knightly’s character in a particularly memorable love scene between her character and James McAvoy’s character. While costume designer Jacqueline Durran knew that she wanted to create a “memorable dress”, she didn’t anticipate replicas of the gown selling for more than $30,000.

When director Sofia Coppola was searching for a designer to make shoes fit for the Queen of France, she had only one name in mind – Manolo Blahnik.

Coppola asked the Spanish shoe designer to create shoes for her historical film Marie Antoinette, a highly stylized take on the life of the eighteenth-century royal. Using images of historically accurate footwear of the time, combined with his signature creativity, Blahnik’s candy-colored creations are artfully displayed throughout the film.

There are some things that should be shared before accepting a job. For actor Tobey Maguire, accepting the role of Spider-Man meant not disclosing one very important detail – he was claustrophobic.

Unfortunately for the actor, his secret became well known when Maguire blacked out and collapsed while covered completely in tight plaster bandages. The bandages were part of a detailed process used to create the body mold for his “Spidey suit”. Maguire, ever the professional, ended up taking one of the first prototypes of the costume home in order to train himself to become used to wearing the suit.

In the musical comedy, Mamma Mia, Meryl Streep’s character’s lackluster wardrobe was made to look as realistic as possible.

In the film, Streep plays a single mother who owns a small hotel in the Greek islands. According to costume designer, Ann Roth, her overalls were specially dyed a unique shade of blue which she felt symbolized the “European work uniform”, while the peasant shirt looks as if “a woman who works in the hotel kitchen gave it to her.” Luckily, Streep eventually ditches the overalls, and slips into something far more glamorous for her cover of ABBA’s “Super Trouper.”

During the 2000s, it seemed that Kate Hudson was the unofficial queen of the romantic comedy. While the actress has always embraced a more carefree and relaxed style off-screen, she went to great lengths to personify character Andie Anderson – the perfectly stylish writer for the women’s magazine Composure.

Hudson met with wardrobe designer Karen Patch in Paris to shop for Andie’s urban-chic clothing. She also straightened her naturally curly hair. More than a decade later, the film’s costumes are still lauded by fashion magazines as inspiration for creating a fashionable workwear wardrobe.

The film The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, tells the story of four friends going through significant changes in their lives. Despite these changes, the girls bond over a pair of jeans that seem to magically fit their unique body types.

While the book does not mention which brand these magical jeans are, author Ann Brashares revealed that the jeans are secondhand Levi’s jeans. Her revelation led to the company’s famous red tab label being featured in the film’s promotional poster and even a joint marketing campaign between the film and the denim brand.

Playing an intern in a fashion magazine comes with its perks, even if it means dealing with a devilish boss. For the actors on the set of The Devil Wears Prada, dressing in some of the most luxurious designer brands was just part of the role. So what happened to these iconic outfits?

When the filming ended, the stars decided that it would be better to auction off these designer goods. While most of the outfits were auctioned off, Hathaway had trouble parting with the film’s memorable green vintage coat and actually purchased the coat she called “one-of-a-kind”.

When a corseted Nicole Kidman sings “Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend” at the beginning of the musical Moulin Rouge, she wasn’t kidding. In the film, Kidman’s character Satine, wears an extravagant diamond necklace considered the most expensive piece of jewelry made for a film.

Designed by jeweler Stefano Canturi, the necklace dubbed the “Satine”, consisted of 1,308 diamonds and weighed about 134 carats. The necklace was so valuable that a “stunt double” necklace made of silver, crystal and featuring a magnetic clasp, was used in the scene where Satine’s necklace is ripped off.

Uma Thurman’s bold yellow and black tracksuit was not only a refreshing change for moviegoers used to seeing female leads wearing revealing clothing in action scenes, but the outfit actually carries significant meaning.

The iconic yellow and black suit and the matching Onitsuka Tiger Mexico 66 shoes were actually inspired by a similar outfit that martial arts screen legend Bruce Lee wore in his last film, Game of Death. Despite the touching story, director Quentin Tarantino revealed that Thurman “hated” the outfit and thought it made her look like a “banana popsicle”.

For the film Batman Begins, costume designer Lindy Hemming wanted to create a completely unique cape for Gotham’s superhero. Hemming and her team set up a highly secure secret workshop codenamed the “Cape Town” in London, which was protected with 24-hour security.

There, she and more than 40 people, constructed the film’s “Batsuits” using a fabric that they invented themselves similar to the nylon used in parachutes. The fabric was then layered with electrostatic fibers in the same process used to minimize night vision detection by the British Ministry of Defense.

Hollywood makeup artist, Molly Stern is usually known for beautifying some of the world’s most famous faces. For Legally Blonde, Stern put down the makeup brush and picked up a needle and thread to construct one of the film’s most iconic outfits – a hot pink halter dress that character Elle Woods wears in the disastrous proposal scene.

Stern crafted the form-fitting dress using “fine, stretchy jersey” and sewing the garment by hand. While Woods’ proposal by Warner wasn’t a success, the dress has continued to wow audiences.

In Freaky Friday, Lindsay Lohan plays a teen named Anna who magically switches places with her mother after receiving a mysterious fortune cookie. While most critics feel that Lohan nailed the role well, few people know that Anna’s character was originally supposed to be a goth.

Lohan, however, felt that Anna’s goth identity would be unrelatable and decided to come to the audition dressed completely differently – Lohan arrived dressed in preppy clothing hoping that the filmmakers would rewrite the character. Lohan’s plan worked, and while the character retained some “edge”, the audience loved her portrayal of Anna.

In the film Bend it Like Beckham, Jesminder “Jess” Kaur Bhamra, decides to pursue her dream of becoming a female soccer player despite it going against the wishes of her conservative Indian Sikh parents. While the film touches on some major themes, it also pays homage to soccer legends in a more subtle way.

In the movie, Jess is seen wearing a soccer jersey with the number seven – the same jersey number David Beckham wore while on the Manchester United team. Jules, Jess’ friend, is also seen wearing a significant jersey number – the number nine, which was worn by women’s professional soccer player Mia Hamm.

Men’s fashion historians have often cited the ‘Shaft’ films as helping to popularize leather jackets. While planning the costumes for the cop-turned vigilante, wardrobe designer Ruth Carter, ventured around New York City’s ethnic restaurants and shops to get an idea of what the detective should wear.

She decided that Detective Shaft should wear leather jackets throughout the film, with each one representing a mood (classic, rebel, no-nonsense, and approachable). In keeping with the leather-centric theme, Carter went through hundreds of leather jackets, many of which were destroyed during the film’s many violent scenes.

In the fantasy romantic comedy, Enchanted, Amy Adams plays a princess transported from her fairytale animated world to the rough streets of New York City. For actress Amy Adams, filming the scenes of her in a princess gown was less than enchanting.

The poofy princess dress she wears at the beginning of the movie weighed at least 25 pounds and took about 15 minutes to put on according to the actress. Made from over 200 yards of sparkly fabric and with steel hoops to give the dress structure the dress made walking extremely difficult. Luckily for Adams, as the movie progresses, her dresses become more modern.

In the drama Erin Brokovich, Julia Roberts plays a legal clerk who comes across some damning evidence pointing to a local water supply source being contaminated by a large corporation. The film, based on a true story and woman, captured attention not just for the story, but for Roberts’ wardrobe.

While some criticized the costumes, director Steven Soderbergh defended Roberts’ fashion choices by claiming that when the real Erin Brokovich saw the movie, she claimed, “The only thing that was inaccurate is that the skirts weren’t short enough.” In fact, Brokovich wore a very short miniskirt and leather vest to her first meeting with the film’s producer.

The film, A Cinderella Story, uses the classic story’s themes but with a unique twist – instead of leaving her slipper after a romantic night out with the prince, she leaves her cellphone.

Costume designer Denise Wingate originally wanted Hilary Duff’s character to wear a Disney-inspired sparkly blue gown to the ball where she meets her love interest. After testing it on camera, Wingate decided to give the ballgown a more modern update – choosing a sleek Monique Lhuillier white dress instead.

The devil wears designer clothes. In the 2000 remake of the original 1967 film, Elizabeth Hurley plays a very fashion-forward fallen angel. Sporting dresses made by Versace, Fendi coats, and a Sonja Rykiel red jacket, Hurley’s on-screen version of the devil is the most fashionable one in cinematic history.

While costume designer Deena Appel made sure to incorporate symbolic colors such as red and black, she also paid tribute to the original film. At the beginning of the movie, when Brendan Fraser’s character meets the devil, Hurley’s character wears dark glasses similar to Peter Cook’s devil character in the original film.

In the romantic comedy Sweet Home Alabama, Reese Witherspoon plays an up-and-coming fashion designer in New York. Eager to leave her Southern roots behind and become a hip Manhattanite, Melanie Carmichael’s clothing “needed to be simple, but interesting,” according to the film’s costume designer, Sophie Carbonell.

In order to create a believably fashionable collection, Carbonell used clothing designed by Marc Jacobs for his Spring and Summer 2002 collection as Melanie’s designs. The costume designer, who also worked with Witherspoon for Legally Blonde, had only one wardrobe rule on set – “Absolutely no pink!”.

For costume designer Mary Jane Fort, designing a wardrobe for the film Bring It On would bring her to unfamiliar territory – the world of competitive cheerleading. In order to understand the uniforms, she and her team visited a cheerleading camp and attended competitions.

Unimpressed with the real-life styles she saw the cheer teams were sporting, Fort altered traditional cheerleading uniforms to look better on screen. In addition to dressing hundreds of cheerleaders for the film, she also designed the typefaces used in the team’s various logos.

Most women dread being given a bridesmaid dress, not 27 Dresses’ costume designer Catherine Thomas. The film, which centers on a woman who always seems to be the bridesmaid, features a montage of seriously questionable fashion choices.

Thomas and her team looked through catalogs and listened to bridesmaid “horror stories” to find the best of the worst dresses. The film’s director even told Thomas, “I want them big, ugly and bright – every color palette, every style,”. Luckily, there is no shortage of ridiculous bridesmaid dresses, and Thomas was forced to choose 27 out of 50 over-the-top garments.

Based on an actual bar in New York City, the wardrobe of Coyote Ugly’s bartenders/performers consisted of various leather outfits, a material not known to be comfortable to move in.

The film’s costume designer, Marlen Stewart, used stretch leather and gussets to prevent wardrobe malfunctions during the dance scenes. Stewart, who once worked on one of Madonna’s tours, knew the importance of having practical clothing when it comes to dancing. She and her team constructed about 70% of the film’s outfits saying, “it’s actually easier to make something than to look for it.”

While many historical films utilize dark and somber colors, director Sofia Coppola chose to take inspiration from a popular Parisian treat – the French macaron.

Her film, Marie Antoinette, uses the soft pastel colors of the pastry throughout her film. She worked with the film’s costume designer to create the confectionary-colored gowns worn by the characters. The gowns, while structurally historically accurate, were much more colorful than the actual dresses worn by the royal.

Few people can forget the scene in which Andrew Lincoln professes his love to his best friend’s wife, played by Keira Knightly, over a series of hand-written placards. But before that revelation, Knightly is seen in a feather-lined wedding gown.

While this look was unique, to say the least, the original dress that director Richard Curtis had envisioned was far more risque. According to the movie’s costume designer Joanna Johnston, Curtis wanted Knightley to wear a crop top “with a bare tummy”. Johnston told the director, “You don’t want a bare tummy going into church!” and designed the form-fitting feather look instead.

One of the most memorable scenes in the film Charlie’s Angels is when Cameron Diaz’s character, Alex, gets pulled up to dance on Soul Train’s stage. Alex begins dancing to Sir Mix-a-Lot’s “Baby Got Back”, much to the dismay of the audience. While her dance moves may not have been a hit, her outfit was.

It turns out that Diaz co-designed the outfit with the film’s costume designer, Joseph Aulisi. According to the film’s director, McG, “Cameron went absolutely nuts and had a really good time,” while collaborating with the designer.

While most of the film versions of the Joker attempt to stay loyal to the character’s comic book roots, The Dark Knight’s costume designer Lindy Hemming, decided to take inspiration from modern rock stars instead. Hemming wanted the Joker to wear lived-in clothes instead of a traditional costume.

Hemming also shared that creating a unique look for Heath Ledger’s maniacal clown required making sure another professional clown didn’t already use that specific facial makeup design. It turns out that there are actual clown makeup registries with pictures of clown faces painted on eggs, in order to prevent any clown copycats.

Sophia Coppola’s cult classic film, Lost in Translation, is known for its subtle yet powerful story. While the film centers on two Americans feeling out of place in Japan, Coppola felt perfectly comfortable working alongside designer Marc Jacobs in order to design the film’s wardrobe.

Jacobs, who is a close friend of Coppola, provided much of Scarlett Johansson’s wardrobe in line with the director’s taste. Coppola’s fashion choices also influenced the film’s infamous sheer underwear scene. Johansson initially did not want to wear the underwear but was convinced after the director modeled them on herself.

The film, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, explores what would happen if we could simply forget some of life’s less pleasant moments. While the film touched on those themes, audience members couldn’t take their minds off Kate Winslet’s bright orange hoodie.

It turns out that the sweater was carefully planned when deciding on the film’s wardrobe. According to the film’s costume designer, Melissa Toth, including the neon orange hoodie was the only wardrobe request the director had. He wanted something eye-catching and a hoodie that would match her equally fluorescent hair.

For Johnny Depp, starring in Pirates of the Caribbean meant spending more time on the high seas, and less time on dry land. As Captain Jack Sparrow, Depp spends most of the film in or around water – something that the film’s wardrobe department had to keep in mind while designing costumes.

Costume designer, Penny Rose, shared that she decided to make Captain Jack Sparrow’s iconic hat out of rubber due to Depp’s habit of throwing the hat overboard. Rose says, “we’d gone through about ten, I was exasperated and had it copied in rubber. But it looks identical in every way.”

Few people could have predicted the success of Napoleon Dynamite. The now cult classic film about high schoolers in a small Idaho town captivated audiences in the early 2000s. One of the film’s most memorable scenes is Napoleon (played by Jon Heder) dancing to Jamiroquai’s “Canned Heat” in bulky Moon Boots.

Sourcing the boots, however, became a mission for filmmakers as they shot the movie during the summer. Luckily, the uncle of the filmmakers still had a pair which they used throughout the movie and in that infamous dance scene.

The film, The Princess Diaries, tells the story of an American girl that finds out she is really a member of a European royal family. While Genovia may not be a real European country, the filmmakers looked at real European royalty for inspiration when it came to designing the film’s costumes.

In one scene, Princess Mia, played by Ann Hathaway, wears a powder blue dress that looks practically identical to a dress worn by the real Princess Victoria of Sweden to a Nobel Prize gala in 1997.

The romantic dramedy, 500 Days of Summer, was inspired by an actual romantic relationship. It’s no surprise that the film’s director and writer requested that film costumer, Hope Hanafin, make the characters’ wardrobes as realistic as possible.

As she read the script, Hanafin realized that Summer would wear affordable clothes and that her shoes would reflect the fact that she had to take public transportation. Hanafin wanted viewers to connect to the film’s oh-so-relatable moments without being distracted by “fashion fantasy”. Hanafin’s style choices helped ensure that the film is as relevant as it was when it was released in 2009.