Inside Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights Costumes

V&A South Kensington processed, transported and exhibited screen-used costumes for the February 6 members’ talk, with museum registrars coordinating conservation-grade packing and on-site installation to protect delicate fabrics and latex finishes during a multi-venue transit. The boxes arrived in climate-controlled vans, were logged into the collections system, and placed under soft lighting for the display and discussion that followed.

Reality TV and the anatomy of desire

Emerald Fennell cited modern visual culture—yes, even reality TV—as a direct influence on her adaptation’s emotional logic. The blunt transparency of shows like First Dates informed how characters try and fail to hide desire and ambition. That failure is a logistical device in the screenplay: choices about camera placement, blocking, and costume reveal are all choreographed so that “you can’t hide what you feel” becomes tangible on screen.

Think of it like loading a tender onto a yacht: if you don’t secure everything in sightlines and straps, it’s going to show up in the wrong moment. Fennell uses the same principle—no clever concealment survives close inspection.

The house as a living thing: walls, skin, and uncanny detail

At the talk, Fennell described Thrushcross Grange as a body rather than just a set. The design team covered padded wall panels with photographic prints of Margot Robbie’s skin—freckles, veins—and sealed them in latex so they could glisten, bulge, and even host leeches. Tiny hairs printed on moles, bulging surfaces, and integrated props created a sense of the Gothic as literal flesh.

This approach required close collaboration between costume, set, and conservation teams: fabric choice, dye migration tests, and installation methods had to be coordinated like a ship’s manifest to avoid moisture or staining—again, a small nod to the logistics that go into both film and marine charters.

Costume inspirations and emotional accuracy

Fennell prioritized emotional accuracy over period-correct minutiae. The wardrobe references 1800s silhouettes but borrows from 1950s melodrama, fairytales, and paperback romance covers to achieve a heightened emotional palette.

Heathcliff and the transformative power of clothes

Trying on the Georgian-derived pieces confirmed Jacob Elordi for the role: according to Jacqueline Durran, the costume literally made the character. Heathcliff’s clothing tracks a restrained metamorphosis, rooted in historical reference (Yorkshire illustrations of the 1820s) yet guided by instinctual choices rather than strict reenactment.

By contrast, Edgar Linton is dressed in excess—polished fabrics, matching wallpaper-to-gown motifs, and slippers that never scuff—signalling sterility and class without a single explanatory line of dialogue.

Period, but not period-perfect

Durran’s ethos: “We’re not making a realistic costume; we’re referencing it.” The result is often theatrical—like a cloak inspired by Red Riding Hood that reads as a costume first and a historical garment second. Fennell leans into anachronism the way a sailor leans into a wind shift—adapting course to achieve the right feel.

Sonics and the dark feminine: Charli XCX’s contribution

Pop artist Charli XCX provided more than one song—she collaborated on a whole album after reading the script. Fennell and Charli shared an interest in amplifying the film’s “dark feminine” through modern pop textures, while Anthony Willis supplied the classical score’s grounding chord. That mix of classical and contemporary mirrors the costume strategy: old shapes, new surfaces.

Audience reactions and museum logistics

Members at the event praised the behind-the-scenes access and the quality of display and moderation. The V&A’s ability to receive, condition, and showcase screen items—costumes, accessories, and multimedia—illustrates how museum logistics enable public engagement with film production.

Key takeaways and wrap-up

To sum up: the production treated sets and costumes as living systems; transport and conservation were planned with the same care as any fine-arts loan; modern influences like reality TV and Charli XCX’s music interact with Brontë’s gothic core; and costume choices perform character psychology as much as historical reference. If you’re into yacht-like precision in planning, or you’ve ever chartered a boat and watched every knot and hatch matter, you’ll spot the same attention to detail here—logistics, staging, and emotional “stowage” make the voyage work.

In short, Emerald Fennell and Jacqueline Durran’s Wuthering Heights blends period cues and pop sensibilities so costumes and sets read like characters themselves. Whether you’re thinking about a yacht charter or a simple beach day, the film’s focus on material, movement, and atmosphere has clear echoes for anyone in the world of yachting, charters, or boating. Yacht owners and captains would nod at the same meticulous preparation—whether outfitting a superyacht, planning marinas logistics, or deciding what to rent for a day on clearwater seas. Destinations, activities, sale or rent decisions, from a small boat on a lake to a sunseeker in the gulf, all hinge on the kind of careful staging and creative collaboration that brought this Wuthering Heights to life.