To celebrate the premiere of the series' third season, we spoke exclusively with Sharon Long, costume designer tasked with imagining and tailoring Elle Fanning's and Nicholas Hoult's storied wardrobes at the 18th-century Russian court.

It usually happens that in period film productions (that is, series and films set in the past) that the wardrobe occupies a leading role. It's an opportunity to set the story in context, learn how people lived back then, and &mdash;why not, at a time when fashion is increasingly turning to fleeting trends and understated luxury&mdash; delight in the exquisite and intricate garments that our ancestors wore on a daily basis, as if they were preparing for a <a href="https://www.lofficielibiza.com/fashion/fashion-trends-fall-winter-2023-haute-couture-paris-fashion-week" target="_blank" rel="noopener">haute couture</a> show every day.
On an &ldquo;occasionally true&rdquo; series like The Great , however, the playing field for fashion is even higher . Based on the arrival of Catherine the Great to power as Empress of Russia in the 18th century, reality and fiction are mixed in a satirical tale created by the screenwriter of The Favorite (2019), where <a href="https://www.lofficielibiza.com/culture/the-official-and-the-cinema-a-love-story" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Elle Fanning</a> and <a href="https://www.lofficielibiza.com/culture/nicholas-hoult-interview-actor-the-great-who-is-cover" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nicholas Hoult</a> lead such an attractive cast as talented.
Throughout three seasons &ndash;the last one recently released on Hulu&ndash;, the wardrobe has been at the epicenter of the story, keeping up with the irreverence and rebellion that the script demands. <a href="https://www.instagram.com/sharonlong80/?hl=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sharon Long,</a> in charge of designing the wardrobe for each of the characters, maintains a fine balance between factual investigation, fantasy and attention to detail. Here, the expert talks exclusively about what it means to dress royalty, narrate with only looks and the difficulty of making clothes that look good on camera.

<h4>L&#39;OFFICIEL: You joined the team of The Great from the second season. Does the fact that there was a person before you in the position affect your process?</h4> SHARON LONG: The person before me established the Archie character, who I never changed because he looks amazing, couldn&#39;t have done a better job, and also established the palace uniforms. So, to be honest, when I came in I didn&#39;t have to worry about those things, so it was a little bit lighter. I imagine that it must have been very stressful to start the work from scratch: at least I already had the cast, we already knew who the characters were. I had something to hold on to and know what each one was doing. So yeah, it was slightly easier. I didn&#39;t have to make the boring uniforms for the guards! There are so many that it is not the most interesting part [laughs].

<h4 style="text-align: justify;">L'OFFICIEL: In both plot and costume design, the series plays between historical accuracy and fiction. How is that balance found in fashion? How are those decisions made?</h4>
It's not that we need to be modern, it's just that we don't really have a choice &ndash; you can't use the original fabrics, you can't make the clothes the way they were made and make them look beautiful, because there was so much work involved&hellip; It would be impossible. Maybe if it was a different period and there were lots of cottons, wools and linens it might work, but because it's silk and brocade, we're automatically in a different world. Same with 18th century jewellry, which is beautiful, but the originals are huge rough cut diamonds which, sure, are great, but there's no way we could incorporate them regularly. I think there is only one pair of Georgian earrings in the whole series. And we had to be very careful because they are really expensive!
Anyway, when you talk about royalty and centuries past, everyone thinks of Marie Antoinette. But if you look at the Brazilian or Spanish costumes of the same date, the colors are completely different, really dramatic, the hairstyles are different&hellip; We study fashion from all over the world, because there are very few paintings and portraits of the Russian court &ndash; the painting of then it was mainly ecclesiastical.

<h4>L&#39;OFFICIEL: Looking for inspiration in modern designers, then?</h4> We do not use any designer pieces; everything is tailor-made for the show . Obviously, we do deep research and look for parallels. In Season 2 it was blaring, because Catherine was pregnant. We needed big shapes, contemporary people like Simon Rocha, who create voluminous collections and we watch what they&#39;re doing. It&#39;s appealing to the modern eye but works just as well in an 18th century setting. Because in history everything repeats itself, everything comes back again and again. I think nothing is completely new. And if you saw what Catherine the Great was wearing at that time… I mean, you wouldn&#39;t be so excited to see it on the screen [laughs]. Apart from the wedding dress, which had a tiny waist, they are not very attractive dresses! It would be pretty weird to show up on camera looking like that. I&#39;m the first to admit that the fashion is deliberately not accurate, but all the research is there. I wouldn&#39;t be able to get away from the spine and often the references on the wall are all contemporary, 1950s, 1960s and 19th century. But if you look at them all together, the similarities become apparent.

<h4 style="text-align: justify;">L&#39;OFFICIEL: The make-up and hairstyles of the series also take center stage and attract the viewer&#39;s attention. How is the wardrobe related to both departments?</h4> As the start of a new season approaches, I make a different set of moodboards for each character, just so I can refresh my memory and see everything from a different point of view. You get the most out of them before they start recording. Wardrobe, makeup, hairstyle and set design must be deeply synchronized. We shoot two scripts at the same time and we all meet together to talk about character development, where people will go, if they need to change a bit… This season, for example, since Peter is no longer king, men are not they both wear their wigs to make them look a bit more relaxed. There&#39;s a lot of discussion and obviously if there&#39;s a costume to be made, if you&#39;re making a hat or a hair piece, it requires a conversation between all the teams to see if the wig or dress will allow it and so on.

<h4>L&#39;OFFICIEL: Finally, do you have a favorite character to dress up?</h4> Catherine is fun because as the central character she gets the most screen time, but designing is always more fun when it comes to kids. So Maxim and Paul are the funniest – when the costumes are complete we laugh; all other designs are serious work, they really need to work on screen, but with kids we can just have fun. So we always enjoy it a lot.

Huzzah! The great wardrobe of "The Great"

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