Fashion fans couldn’t get enough of Connell and Marianne’s style in Normal People.
Now it’s Frances and Nick whose clothes are in the spotlight in Sally Rooney’s latest TV adaptation Conversations With Friends.
Lorna Mugan – costume designer on both dramas – said while they are both coming-of-age stories, the characters were entirely different to dress.
While Frances – played by Alison Oliver – chooses hand-made outfits, Marianne - Daisy Edgar-Jones - had a more expensive wardrobe.
Her married lover Nick – played by Joe Alwyn – wears outfits designed to make him invisible, while Paul Mescal’s Connell was confident and sporty.
Award-winning Lorna, from Donegal, told the Irish Mirror: “They may seem like a branch of the same people, but they are styled very differently. Marianne wouldn’t wear any of Francis’s clothes.
“The clothes on Conversations are intended to be more realistic.
“They are both coming-of-age stories, which is the common thread, but they are over a much shorter period of time.
“We don’t see the same style journey with Frances in less than a year, as we did with Marianne, whose story ran over four years.”
Normal People became a fashion and ratings phenomenon with searches for “Marianne black dress” spiking on Google during the episodes.
Connell’s GAA shorts and simple silver chain were a big hit, with the chain having its own Instagram account.
Should we expect a similar fashion moment from Conversations? Lorna said Bobbi’s style is currently most of interest.
She added: “Bobbi’s waistcoat and Frances’s jackets, of all things. You never really know what’s going to appeal to people.”
Here we take a look at the main characters and how they measure up in the style stakes.
Frances and Nick, Conversations with Friends
Says Lorna: “There’s not really a style as such to Frances, which was intentional. She is not self-conscious in style. We didn’t want her to look like she knew too much about fashion. She’s very internal, and not very confident, she’s quite serious, so we wanted to reflect all that. She wears quite a lot of layers of clothes.
"She has no money, and throughout the story she is struggling to live in Dublin. So her clothes are sourced a little from charity shops and some of them are hand-made, such as her summer dresses. Her jumpers are knitted.
"Frances isn’t completely comfortable around a lot of things. She has to look awkward. Also, part of the storyline is how she is unwell, so we played with the palette there as well. We often put her in greys and yellows and draining colours to show she is not feeling well. She goes into a lot of casual wear when she goes home, to feel comfortable. We are being realistic about why she is wearing things, rather than going for fashion moments.
"There is a classic look to Frances - she could belong to any decade. She wears polo necks that could be from the 1960s. She wears a green dress to the party in one episode, which would be a big deal for her, to wear something feminine and confident. She has an internal struggle going on and we see that in her clothes. At the end she has grown up a bit and you see that in her wardrobe.
"Nick - and the actor who plays him, Joe Alwyn - is very handsome. So it was important not to make him self-consciously aware of how he is so good-looking. We kept him very classical looking too, and he wears clothes that could be on a stylish man from the 80s and onwards to today.
"He wears good quality clothes in simple shapes. He doesn’t want to be noticed. He wants to disappear into the background. He is not vain and he doesn’t want people to look at him.
"He is overwhelmed by Frances’s interest and he’s not doing anything or wearing anything to make her interested. It’s a timeless look.
"Colour is important and he wears a lot of greys and blues. There’s an energy in him in the Croatia episode tonight when he is on his own with Frances.”
Melissa and Bobbi, Conversations With Friends
“American Bobbi is so exotic looking. To capture her look, we looked back on the beat poets in America, and what students in US universities wear. She’s a little bit unisex - I don’t think she ever wears a dress. Some beat poets are bold and brave and others are very casual so she strikes a happy medium. People are already enquiring about her waistcoat.
"Melissa had to be a bit rock n’ roll and a bit counterculture - so there’s a lot of vintage there. There wasn’t any one ‘now’ fashion piece - it’s edgy, not on trend."
Marianne and Connell, Normal People
Says Lorna: “Marianne had an arc of a story that spanned over four years, so we saw her wardrobe change from her school uniform to honing a different look in college.
"Marianne would not wear any of Francis’s clothes. Marianne is from a wealthy family while Francis is struggling financially.
"There’s a big journey there - big shifts for both Connell and Marianne.
"She couldn’t wait to transform and reinvent herself into something else entirely. Connell was more comfortable in his own skin. He was confident at school and didn’t need to change who he was.
"He didn’t fit in in college and he didn’t make an effort to, while Marianne was the opposite.
"The wardrobe Marianne had on holidays in Italy was the one I got most requests about, such as the spaghetti strap black dress.
"The silver chain on Connell was in the book. Paul wanted that in the styling. Nobody thought anyone would care about that chain. So it was a bit funny that it became such a big thing. The GAA shorts that sparked such excitement were also Paul’s idea. He’s a big GAA fan and he wanted to wear them in Italy. We let Connell wear them when he arrived at the villa and it appealed to a lot of people.
"If I’m to pick a character that is a bit inspired by myself, I would hope that Marianne is more me. I was an art student and maybe I would have been brave like Marianne and wore some of her choices.”
Conversations With Friends continues on RTE One on Wednesdays at 9.35pm.
Get breaking news to your inbox by signing up to our newsletter
