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Oscar ® winning movie, Little Women tells a coming of age story through a classic narrative by Louisa May Alcott as well as show-stealing wardrobe from costume designer Jacqueline Durran. Here are her three tricks of the trade that helped to land her the Oscar ® for Best Costume Design at the 92nd Academy Awards ®.

1. The characters shared clothes

Although the characters are quite different and their individual wardrobes reflect this, items of clothing were shared among characters to add backstory and to add the kind of intimacy that real-life friends and family members would have naturally. For example, good friends Jo (played by Saoirse Ronan) and Laurie (Timothée Chalamet) share various items such as his waistcoat. This helps to establish the closeness between them as well as Jo’s tomboyish style. The March sisters also share clothes between them the way most sisters would.

2. There were separate wardrobes for childhood and adulthood

The costumes were also used to convey the passage of time. For example, Meg’s (Emma Watson) transformation may have been the least dramatic from childhood to adulthood but you can still see her character development through the clothes. While the younger Meg’s wardrobe was more romantic, with Gothic revival detailing, the older Meg had simpler and more unembellished clothing.

3. Each sister had her own colour palette

Although it wasn’t a very rigid one, but each sister had a colour palette that ran through their clothes thematically. Jo had red and blue, Meg had lavender and green, Beth (Eliza Scanlen) had pink and brown, and Amy (Florence Pugh) had light blue.

Little Women is a triumph in both storytelling and award-worthy costumes. Don’t miss its release on the 21st of February.