Nina’s Colours

When I saw Black Swan about a fortnight ago, one of the things I really liked about it was the costume design, particularly the minimalist colour palette.

White, grey, black and pink were used to define the characters: Nina starts off in girlish sugar-pink and white, and by the end of the film she is wearing black and grey. Costume designer Amy Wescott explains this, “As Nina’s character unravels, her colours become darker.”

Vincent Cassel and Natalie Portman in ‘Black Swan’. Image from Life.Wintry and delicate, these colours suit the popular notion of a ballerina, and perfectly expresses the frightening transformation of the sweet white swan into the seductive and terrible black swan.

It would be a pretty palette to try out this winter, although I don’t think I could wear it exclusively (I’d get bored). Grey and white are always favourites with me; black I wear on rare occasions, but soft pink almost never. My one concession is this pink wool scarf that reminds me of cotton candy – and of the fluffy white scarf Nina wears in the film.

Read an interview with the costume designer Amy Westcott at The Ballet Bag, and check out some of her sketches at Clothes on Film.

From light to dark: ballerina, dove, smoke, noir