How Characters Costumes Reflect Character in Les Miserables

Costumes in Les Miserables (1998) Directed by Bille August

1998's Les Miserables' costumes were designed by Academy Award-winning costume designer Gabriella Pescucci. Pescucci had previously won for The Age of Innocence and been nominated for The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1993). While her work for Billie August's Les Mis would go unnominated for any major awards, the costumes are nonetheless on par with her previous work and reflect the authentic style and taste of early to mid-19th century France.

As Caterina Massuras reports for Vogue Italia, Pescucci's costumes are marked by "a cultured taste for invention, colors that are always perfect, and a pathological attention to every detail -- joined to an absolute ability to pick the right accessory." This high praise can be discerned in every choice of costume for the five main characters of August's Les Mis.

The five main characters or Javert, the relentless lawman out to jail Jean Valjean, the heroic Christ-figure, whose redemption in the beginning of the film brings about his conversion and turns him from a hardened criminal into a kind, warm, loving character who spreads goodness and mercy everywhere he goes. Then there is Fantine, the poor woman driven to madness through a life on the streets and her daughter Cosette, who grows up without a mother (after Fantine dies) and falls in love with the young, idealistic revolutionary Marius. The film spans years, and the costumes reflect this.

For instance, at the beginning of the film, Valjean is in rags, reflecting his impoverished state -- both physically and spiritually. His clothing is tattered, worn, brown as dirt. His overcoat has no lapels, signifying the informal nature of his position -- he has not yet been formed into a whole figure, therefore his clothing does not mark him as one of any significant position. Indeed, his costume is fit for a groveling beggar, which is what he is -- only he is actually a thief, until of course the point when a kind bishop show's him mercy at the point of his being arrested. This act of kindness transforms Valjean into a new, sensitive, considerate man who will begin to show this in his more refined clothing.

Valjean goes from the tattered, brown-clad beggar into the top hat wearing, cloaked figure whose gray and blue toned costumes match his foil's rigorous French uniform (Javert's military garb). Valjean has gone from a life of dependence to life of independence and this reflected in his longer hair, his perfectly tied neck tie celebrates the Georgian period pieces (though in France this might have been more attenuated to the French military version). His double-breasted high-waisted waistcoat exudes prominence of place and order. Now he has his wide lapels, showing that he is a man of much more formality than when he was previously displayed on the screen. Unlike the thinner, less rigorous Marius, who wears his neck tie less scrupulously, more loosely around the neck, reflecting his looser, revolutionary stance towards life, Valjean is a man of principle with impeccable style, whether he is riding along in his overcoat or going into town with vest on display beneath a double-breasted, blue-gray frockcoat and slightly conical hat.

Fantine's costume, because she appears earlier in the century, is based on the "Empire style" or Empire silhouette, and though she is on the streets, her costume still reflects this syle -- the close-fitting dress that pins under the bust and drapes down (Thomas). This costume is usually covered by Fantine's shaw as she struggles to keep warm and her headgear is nowhere near as prominent or elegant as that of her daughter Cosette, who has had the fortune to grow up with more ease under the protecting wing of Valjean. Fantine's costume is essentially devoid of any ornament or trace of class. Still her skirts reflect the Gothic influence of the time, and the Marmeluke sleeves reflect the military fashion, in the midst of the Napoleonic Wars being waged around the world, and the admiration that the French world held for Napoleon and the restoration of French leadership at this time. Thus, there are many influences here to be seen even in the sickly Fantine, though the main point of focus on her costume is the sparseness (always with the shawl and ragged-out cap, which is little more than strands of fabric wrapped around her skull like bandages holding her head together) indicating her poverty.

Her daughter Cosette on the other hand is more embellished with her fashionable black bonnet and Earl Spencer-like jacket. In the wake of Anglomania, with the fall of Napoleon, the French were moved more towards English tastes and by the time that Cosette is a young woman in the film, this transition is displayed in her choice of gowns. The waistline is considerably dropped and the tight fit just under the bust is lowered to give a more loose fitting design with wider skirts and wider shoulder lines. As the English style of dress had become more fashionable in Paris and this is now where the action is located in the film, this costume of Cosette, when in doors, is appropriate and reflective of the costuming themes of the times. Her public wear, consists of more elegance and refinement in terms of more closely fitting gowns and coats that show off the figure and are more streamlined. Like the colors of the film, her clothing is consistent with the neutral tones of the others, but sparkling with blacks and off-whites, blues and grays.

This costume contrasts sharply with the costume of Marius, who leads the revolutionaries and displays a fashion style much more in line with a street character like Fantine. The collars are loose and while he does retain his lapels and double-breasted overcoat in the Romantic style ("French Fashion History").