Tár is a movie about power (suits). Cate Blanchett plays the eponymous subject Lydia Tár, an EGOT-winning conductor and composer pathologically obsessed with her own legacy, whose polished, tailored outfits reflect the outsize power she has over partners, colleagues, and friends. The effortless power dressing, costume designer Bina Daigeler said at the film’s New York premiere, was partially spearheaded by Blanchett herself. “I was lucky because I know Cate personally, and we did a very intuitive costume design,†Daigeler told Vulture. Though the duo often made costume decisions “in the last moment,†they made their wardrobe decisions based on Lydia’s psychology and where her character was going. But that didn’t mean planning went out the window. “I did mood boards,†Daigeler began. “I found great vintage stuff, high fashion pieces, and I made suits for her.â€
In Tár, out October 7, Lydia is a character who’s under the illusion that the force of creative triumphs solely defines one’s impact on the world — we see her in expensive-looking button downs or two-piece fits, editing her own Wikipedia page and promoting a memoir. Throughout high-profile interviews, high-class luncheons, orchestra rehearsals, and music classes with wide-eyed, socially conscious undergraduates, Lydia doesn’t only construct her identity though the fame she’s earned — the conductor, a self-described “U-Haul lesbian,†maps her intellectual (self) seriousness and financial success onto the generally masculine clothes she wears. And yet the effortless power dressing eventually vanishes upon Lydia’s self-destruction. “They get more rough,†Daigeler described Blanchett’s costumes as her character’s life takes a nosedive. “They get less organized. Sometimes more aggressive, sometimes more loose. You can see it when she wears wool or leather.†Cate Blanchett didn’t only deliver the performance of the season — she and Daigeler gave us our fall-winter inspiration.