Designs of Historic Proportions

The Movie: “Titanic” (Opens Friday.)

The Setup: Retelling of the 1912 launch and loss of the RMS Titanic, star of the White Star Line.

The Costume Designer: Deborah L. Scott, whose credits include “Heat,” “Legends of the Fall,” “Hoffa” and her most famous film, “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial.”

Spanning the Ages: Asked about the differences between working on a period movie and a contemporary one, Scott explained that in the former, “You don’t hear actors say, ‘I don’t look good in that.’ You can tell them, ‘Your skirt has to be down to your ankle.’ Period. End of discussion.”

The Method: Re-creating High Edwardian style clearly required endless historical research, not only through museums and books, but also with interviews of Titanic Historical Society members and collectors of White Star memorabilia. Thousands of costumes were made--the final scenes included some 900 actors and extras. And the clothes were manufactured around the world--men’s hats and women’s shoes in Italy, gloves and women’s hats in London. All hand-beading was done in Los Angeles by a European-trained specialist. Vintage clothes and forgotten swatches of lace, silk and paisley were culled from dealers across the United States. And, for background characters, costumes were rented from collectors and costume houses across Europe, the United States and “every costume house in Los Angeles,” Scott said.

Scene Stealer: From the opening scene, when Rose (Kate Winslet) appears in a tailored purple-and-white pinstripe hobble-skirted suit and a platter-wide hat to her impressive formal wardrobe of Empire-waisted beaded and lace evening gowns later, the theme is one of delicate beauty. One early standout is a dress of avocado-colored satin covered by a tiered lace skirt. Though it hardly looks it, the overskirt was actually pieced together from various bits of antique lace, some no longer than six inches.

You Should Know: The floaty, pale pink, lavender and gray ombre silk chiffon dinner dress that Rose wears during the sinking of the ship is a fascination in itself. Not only is it ethereal and lovely, but it was selected to fulfill certain job requirements. “It was part character development,” said Scott, designed to show Rose’s transformation from formal and restrained society girl to liberated woman. The dress also had to accommodate the physically and psychologically liberating fact that, for the first time, Rose goes corset-less. Another requisite was purely visual--the dress had to look good wet. Writer / director / producer James Cameron wanted a dress that would not only allow her to dash about, but would also float. To make sure the dress wouldn’t go down with the ship, a mock-up was made and tested in a swimming pool before a panel of decision-makers. In the end, a full two dozen facsimiles of the gown, which includes a small train, were made to keep it afloat through hours and hours of water scenes. As for what went underneath it, a less devoted actress typically might have worn a wetsuit and perhaps running shoes. But not Winslet. For every scene, even the most physically demanding ones, she insisted on wearing heavy period hose and clunky pumps.

Trivia: Men’s costumes may not dazzle like the women’s, but the attention to minutiae is no less. There are layers and layers of detail differentiating the various levels of White Star cruise employees. For example, a steward for a first-class stateroom doesn’t dress like a steward for a third-class stateroom. In first class, a steward wears a single-breasted navy wool coat and a bow tie; in third class, a steward wears a simple white cotton jacket. Then there are the deck stewards, the dining room stewards, and all the ship’s officers whose simple navy uniforms are modeled after the Royal British Navy. (The navy uniforms are worn on all but sailing day and Sundays, during which officers wore more formal frock coats.) The one thing they all shared were White Star-insignia gold buttons, made especially for the movie.

Get Out Your Magnifying Glass: Don’t feel bad if you don’t notice that no two versions of men’s white tie and tails are alike, including those worn by Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Cal (Billy Zane). No one white cotton pique pattern is the same as any other. “One bow tie is pointed, one bow tie is square. One bow tie is silk, one is pique; one vest has lapels, another doesn’t. And everyone has different studs,” said Scott, who added, “This movie was accessory hell.”