Day of the Locust Straddles Authenticity and Stylization—That's Partly the Costumes
Costume designer Ann Roth made her name with the 1975 John Schlesinger movie.
“Not even an acknowledgment that I just quoted Diana Vreeland?” I asked costume designer/legend Ann Roth one afternoon. She looked at me across the table.
“It’s not like you quoted Chekhov.”
The moment, as I quickly learned, was pure Ann Roth: sharp, acerbic, and very funny. She’s better known to the general public now than she was on that day in 2019, thanks to her cameo in Barbie as the old woman on the bench, but you know her work even if you don’t know her name. That’s bordering on cliche at this point, but this time it’s very true. Dolly Parton’s blue coat in 9 to 5? Ann Roth. The to-die-for costumes in The Talented Mr. Ripley? Ann Roth. Not to mention the high camp of The Birdcage and Mamma Mia!.
Her work on The Day of the Locust was recently selected by the costume branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the Academy Museum’s weekly screening series, Branch Selects. (Roth herself has long maintained that it’s her best work.) Based on the Nathanael West novel, John Schlesinger’s sprawling movie (with a script by Waldo Salt) takes in the vast expanse of Hollywood circa 1937, from soundstages to bungalow courts to brothels.
The film is brutal (and this is coming from someone who will seize any opportunity to rewatch They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?) and gorgeous, thanks in large part to Conrad Hall’s Oscar-nominated cinematography and Roth’s BAFTA-winning costumes. But it’s the clothes that subtly assist Schlesinger in making everything feel simultaneously authentic and nightmarish.
“Everything that I had, every sock, even underwear at that time, because of how pants would drape, she had an idea about,” star William Atherton said in his introduction to the screening. “She was authentic about it. Every wardrobe comes from Western Costume. Everything except for one dress in a bordello scene, and it was completely crafted for her. But [Roth] insisted on authenticity, and she insisted on beauty at the same time, and it, every day, was amazing to me.”
That attention to authenticity keeps The Day of the Locust timeless. Because Roth turned to vintage wardrobe (and she was among the very first costume designers to do so), the movie never feels of the ‘70s. As The Designs of Ann Roth points out, that’s a very different viewing experience than Edith Head’s costumes for The Sting, a movie predicated on two massive stars being entertaining, wearing costumes that riff on the ‘30s via the ‘70s. Not to mention the sheer number of characters to dress, from the leads to hundreds of extras, all of whom needed period-correct clothes.
Schlesinger’s partner, photographer Michael Childers, was also on hand to speak before the film, sharing stories about swapping gossip about actors with Roth over coffees at Western Costumes (and later over martinis during rushes). He shared a letter written by Brenda Vaccaro, who worked with Roth and Schlesinger on Midnight Cowboy.
“If Ann Roth was doing your costume… consider yourself a very respected and honored actor,” Vaccaro wrote. “You are working, creating with the best in the business. First and foremost, with Ms. Ann Roth… she dresses your character first and you second, putting the two together brilliantly better than any costume designer I've ever worked with. Oh, yes. She gives me my character. She does more than the director. She puts you on a stage with everything you need to give a great performance, and then it's totally up to you.”
Vaccaro also wrote about her terror of filming a sex scene with Jon Voight when she considered herself “five pounds overweight—maybe 10—and terrified my mother would see it on the screen. Ann Roth came up with a solution of finding a red fox fur for me to wear in the love scene. And lo and behold, I was fucked in fur.”
That’s also quintessential Roth—the surprising detail that adds a touch of humanity to the character, something that is scattered throughout The Day of the Locust, from Karen Black’s fur beret to the utterly bizarre costume that child performer Adore wears throughout. And she’s still working at 93! She did the costumes for James L. Brooks’ upcoming Ella McCay, coming out later this year. Another reason to look forward to that release. An Ann Roth movie is always a treat—even one that ends in the kind of nightmarish terror of The Day of the Locust.
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