Stranger Things' Costume Designer Reveals An Easter Egg You Definitely Missed
How do you dress for the Upside Down?
In the world of costume design, there are a few different categories: sci-fi/fantasy, period, and contemporary. But Stranger Things is more than just one of these — it blends sci-fi action with a nostalgic, 1980s aesthetic, balancing the familiar and unfamiliar all at once. This poses a unique challenge for Amy Parris, who has served as costume designer for Seasons 3-5, but it’s one she’s met over and over.
Now, as we wait for the final four episodes of the series ever, costumes are playing an even more important role. One of the biggest criticisms of Stranger Things Season 5 is that it’s been too long since we’ve last seen these characters, but costuming can help identify the characters we know and love and signal how they have evolved.
“To be honest, it's also with hair and makeup, collectively, I think we've done a great job of not making them too youthful, but also making it feel realistic to them as a character and not looking like the actor. So I didn't put them in clothing that feels like them as themselves,” Parris tells Inverse.
Instead, Parris says, each character’s styling reflects where the story finds them this season: Will, still grappling with his trauma, is in stripes and juvenile prints, Lucas is now training with Max in mind, so he’s wearing more athletic clothes. Dustin is still mourning Eddie, so he’s not trying to be funny anymore; his hair is longer, and he’s wearing rings.
Amy Parris is the mind behind the looks of Stranger Things’ final chapter.
Season 5 also had the added benefit of having whole storylines take place in Henry Creel/Vecna’s mind and memories, so clothing was not limited to what could be found in Indiana in the ‘80s. In this space, we see two of the most iconic costumes of the season: Holly’s 1950s dress, cape, and kerchief, and Max’s rough-and-tumble survival outfit she’s cobbled together since she fell into a coma. But Max’s outfit signaled more than just how long she’s been stranded — there was also a clever tie to Season 4.
“The fans are so good at noticing things,” Parris says. “I don't want them to overlook Max's costume. I'm not saying that there's a ton of hidden details, but there is a little bit of an Easter egg in the patches that are on her jeans. This season, we realized Max is kind of stuck in Henry's mind. She's going through his memories, looking for a way out, looking for a safe place. So the patches that are on her jeans are actually one of young Henry's shirt fabrics. So when we see Henry at the Creel house, it's that brown checked shirt.”
Parris, who is currently partnering with Tide, spoke to Inverse about how these characters’ looks have grown and changed, her part in Vecna’s new look, and the reference to Stranger Things: The First Shadow that only a handful of fans will catch.
This interview has been edited for brevity and/or clarity.
The costumes of Max and Holly both included references to the Henry Creel flashbacks in Season 4.
One of the highlights of Season 5 Volume 1 was Holly’s blue 1950s-style dress she wears when brought to Henry’s house. What was the process for developing that costume?
That was cool. I knew that the Duffers in the script mentioned a blue dress and that it needed to feel ‘50s. Obviously, we know she's stuck in the Creel House, and it's Alice's bedroom. And within that, another little subtle Easter egg that fans are starting to notice is that the yellow dress that Alice wore in Season 4 is in the closet that she's looking through.
So I wanted it to feel like it was one of Alice's play dresses. In order to have enough multiples, which don't exist in children's clothes from the 1950s anymore, I had to print the fabric. So it's a printed fabric, and then we built all the dresses in-house.
Nell Fisher is a lovely actress, but she's growing, right? She's at the age where she is getting inches taller by the day. So not only are we trying to crank out the dresses, we're now trying to match the dirty levels that are happening out in the desert with Max. She's growing. There's dirt, there's multiples, there's a photo double, they get clean, they get dirty.
Luckily, working on this campaign with Tide was so apropos to this situation because I used the Tide Liquid formula to help clean these stains, and if they didn't come out, it would be a lot more difficult to do our job. I'm glad I had Tide on my side for that for sure. But that Golden Ochre cape that's on her also felt very ‘50s, and it's such an iconic look.
Somebody asked me what I thought would be the next Stranger Things Halloween costume, and I hope it would be that: Holly the Heroic.
Was the Boy Scout kerchief in the script?
It was in the script, and I'll say that you do not have to watch the play, but if you are interested in watching The First Shadow, that will be a good connector and kind of tell you why that happened.
Eleven’s training outfit is very of its time.
How have the costumes evolved with years passing in-universe? What was popular in Season 1 may not be in fashion in Season 5.
Fashion was slower because we didn't have the internet. We weren't as connected as we are now. So, especially in Indiana, it would've been delayed. They would still be in clothes from the ‘70s. I do think we pushed it a little bit further into the ‘80s just for the viewer to be excited by these clothes.
An example would be Eleven's training outfit. The shorts over the sweats were such a quick blip of a fashion moment, but I'm so glad the Duffers and Millie let me do it because it's so apropos to this training vibe that she's doing. I put [Erica] in these little knicker pants that would've been worn with knee highs and little dress shoes, and it's such a weird combo, but it worked in the late ‘70s, and then it was worn into the early ‘80s.
I tried to mix some new trends and some older trends, knowing that Hawkins is not at the peak of the trends. It doesn't have their mall anymore, and now we're back into a fall autumnal area. So I tried to make the colors darker and a little richer, a little more saturated, because in Season 3 it was more about patterns, bright, splashy colors. For spring break, Season 4, we're also in California, so that's more faded, sun-soaked pastels. But this season, I took away a lot of white. I took away all the California clothes and really tried to lean back into the dusty, rusty plaids of Seasons 1 and 2.
The characters were purposefully dressed in more saturated colors in Season 5 to reflect the autumnal setting.
Who is the most difficult character to style?
I think it has to be Eleven, just because she is somewhat confusing. She's still figuring out who she is. She's lost her friend Max, who was helping her with fashion, and is in hiding. She has the influence of Joyce and Hopper, but we know Joyce isn't really a fashion maven either.
Layers are helpful, and I try a lot of different options. I use a fit model sometimes so that I don't have to waste Millie's time trying on clothes, or sometimes I'll put them on myself because we're similar in size. Then, when I feel like I've landed on an idea or a concept, I'll show the concept art to the Duffers and Millie, and then we make it, and then we do a fitting. The process can take a while because I want it to feel right.
Vecna has a more powerful form in the last episode of Season 5, Volume 1.
Did you have any say in the Vecna design? How has it changed?
We have a talented special effects makeup artist called Barrie Gower who has done Vecna since season four. This season, the difference is that Vecna is bigger and stronger. He has more bulk, even. So instead of doing the entire prosthetics on his body, they have a face, and then they've printed a body suit and shoes for him.
But we helped Jamie Campbell Bower. We added lifts to his shoes, so he would be taller. We added some muscle pads under his arms so that when he walked, it would be a little bit scarier. And then we did help by putting tracking dots on the bodysuit with Velcro. The Velcro was so we could take the dots off and launder the suit. And the nice thing about the Tide liquid detergent is that it has such a fresh scent. So even though he's this scary monster, he smelled fantastic because of his clean clothes.
Were you consulted at all for the upcoming animated spinoff Tales from ‘85?
I wasn't, I think mainly because we were in production for so much of while they were making it, I think. And I do think between the Season 1 and 2 designers and then my work in the other seasons, I think they had plenty to work off of. So I'm sure they did a great job.
Is there a costume in the future volumes you want to tease for fans?
They're all so good. I would say it's worth it. It's worth watching. So I don't want to give anything away, but I'll tease that. It's all great. They get dirtier.
