Remember the classic G-rated Disney tale about the outrageous villain who steals cute Dalmatians? The new Cruella movie is not interested in that trifle, darling. Instead, behold a brash and wickedly fun origin story with a pulsating style that pops off the screen. “There’s a clash of tradition and energy in what you see,” production designer Fiona Crombie (The Favourite) tells Architectural Digest of the film, opening in theaters and Disney+ Premier Access on May 28. “But the intention early on was for the movie to look grounded with a real sense of place.”
That would be punk rock 1970s London (cue The Clash–enhanced soundtrack), where an orphaned petty thief turned budding designer named Estella (Emma Stone) apprentices for the haughty Baroness von Hellman (Emma Thompson) before transitioning into the titular character. “What I love about London is its history,” Crombie says. “You have these beautiful derelict buildings and this new stuff coming up through it, which is absolutely what our story is as well.” With filming done partly on location in London, she and her team started their work by combing through archival photographs—“I was surprised by the grayness”—to understand the city’s character.
The interior sets were based on Cruella’s other characters: “We were driven by not just who these people are, but why they live a certain way,” she says. Start with Estella’s lair, a makeshift industrial loft that she’s shared with two partners in crime since childhood. The space was established as a nonthreatening environment befitting playful kids. It evolves as Estella starts sketching and crafting her increasingly vibrant costumes via a sewing machine (that set decorator Alice Felton borrowed from a vintage collector). “We wanted her space to be creative and free of boundaries to reflect her artistry,” Felton adds.
No wonder that when Estella walks into the Baroness’s extravagant fashion house, “it’s a complete gift because there are boxes of fabric and cotton and everything she’s been scratching for in life is right there,” Crombie says. The elegant workspace—inspired by a Georgian house building converted into a courtyard—also illustrates the M.O. of the menacing lady of the manor. “Everything is orderly because it shows that she exercises absolute control over the people who work for her,” she says. Adds Felton, “The atelier was my favorite set because I love that the Baroness can look over her workers and through the space coming down.”
Her private upstairs office—i.e., the place where she taunts her underlings—is more representative of her privilege and luxury. (That’s not just because she often takes breaks to lounge on her upholstered 20-foot-long sofa with fresh cucumbers on her eyes.) The furniture, primarily sourced from shopping trips in London’s Golborne Road, Chelsea, Kings Road, and the Sunbury Antique Market in Kempton Park, is a vintage-and-modern mix with pops of color. And note the crystal obelisks and lamps: “We went over-scale for the accessories just to push her a little further,” Crombie explains.
But, oh, the Baroness ultimately meets her match. The glorious Cruella makes her entrance in style, appearing at one of the Baroness’s themed balls at Hellman Hall. A mansion in the Englefield village in England was used as the exterior; the posh interiors were constructed on soundstages. “We went in thinking that ‘Ok, if you’re a party planner in the 1970s and money is no object, what are you going to do?” Crombie says. The team referenced French paintings for the Marie Antoinette ball (seen in a flashback), and used heavy armor and burgundy “like big cuts of meat” for the Viking-themed soiree. “The overall theme was excess,” Crombie says.
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Yes, Crombie knows her brash aesthetic (not to mention the film’s narrative) is more The Devil Wears Prada than Mickey Mouse. But “these were the images and styles we were drawn to,” she says. And when she finally watched the film, she was amazed: “There’s a cohesive language between the hair, makeup, cinematography, costumes, and production design. We really created a whole world.”
