Costume Designer Annie Symons On Charting Colors Against the Deception for ‘Mary & George’

A lot of press has been made about what goes on in Mary & George when the clothes come off, but every single piece that lands on a royal bedroom floor is an absolute stunner. This limited series contender is a perfect of what Starz does best with his historical programming, but this series has caught audiences’ attentions for its fearless depiction of sex and deception while looking good doing it. Costume designer Annie Symons’ work is not just gorgeous, but it’s also driven by the journeys of each character. As members rise and fall in this court, she is there with a new garment to get them up to the next rung in this treacherous ladder.

Symons and I speak a lot about color and theme throughout our conversation, but is always comes back to symbolism and color. If we have a really important event coming up, we always want to look our best, and when Julianne Moore’s Mary and Nicholas Galitzine’s George come to play at court, they need to impress.

“If you had a lot of money, you would peacock to show your wealth,” Symons says. “It’s such a symbol. When Mary goes to court for the first time, she wears purple, and that’s an utter taboo since purple is a royal and clerical color. Here she is dressed like Queen Anne. It’s all about symbolism. Costuming has to support the story, and it doesn’t work if it doesn’t move the story on. That’s a fundamental difference between costuming and styling. You are telling somebody else’s story–that’s critical to understanding the difference.”

When George tries to nab King James’ eye, I couldn’t help by notice that he wears a lot of blue, and I kept calling him ‘Little Boy Blue’ in my head. Symons explains that when George is wearing the same color as someone else in his life, it indicates something bigger than just a costuming coincidence. Nothing Symons did in Mary & George is accidental.

“George is a mummy’s boy, and his mother dressed him up to a certain point in his life,” she says. “We dressed to impress, and in Jacobean times, it was incredibly important. You had to look like you belonged to the world you aspired to. Mary knew that currency, and George was a sweet, wee boy–all he wanted to do was to shag the maid. Mary corrupted him to great currency and ethicacy.

The blue is pretty thematic since it represents harmony in the show. With Oliver Hermanus, our lead director, we talked a lot about the symbol and meaning of color. The scenes where Mary and George are most harmonious, they are both wearing blue. It’s a color that suits most people, and, therefore, it’s sympathetic, and it’s not a challenging or unkind color. Mary knew what she was doing, for sure, and George quickly learned what his mother taught him.”

There is a scene early on when George stands alongside the road with a number of men who are trying to be that glint in James’ eye. All they want is for The King to see them through his carriage window. Imagine getting dressed up with purpose just for the slightest chance that someone will see you. A lot of young men in that crowd scene are wearing stripes, and it was something that the real King James was fond of. George is wearing blue again in this scene, but he is also wearing a pair of unique cut gloves that I want to snag for myself.

“Ah, yes, the bees buzzing around the king,” Symons says with a laugh. “Apparently, James like stripes, and he likes to wear them. As soon as word gets out, that’s what people did. That scene is a real flea market of high fashion, low fashion and hand-me-downs. That was a fun scene. George was in this fashion-forward, slightly French get-up that mommy has arranged for him before he ends up with mud all over his face. Gloves were highly symbolic since they are so hard to make. They indicated wealth, and they used to give them as wedding gift–they called them jessamy gloves. They were perfumed with jasmine, and they became fetishistic. People spend a lot of money to artists who make them.”

For Moore’s Mary, every time she walks on screen, she is wearing some more extravagant than the scene before, but her costuming is a fantastic example of seeing a journey evolve over time. With more power, the more dedicated Mary is to looking the part. Colors are always a big part of Symons’ research and planning, but with Mary it was especially on display.

“I always map out the colors to show the journey in a clear way,” she says. “They start in constrained circumstances where their color is bleached out of them. They’re moldy or dried blood, so it’s distressed but the fabrics are quite nice. As she moves forward, she’s establishing her palette and becoming more assertive. When she marries for money for the third time, she’s become a country wife, and her colors are pathetic with nature. She’s blending in. When she gets married, she wears this vibrant, audacious green since it’s the umpteenth time. White didn’t exist for weddings in those days even thought I used it for when her son gets married. I used it as a symbol of sacrifice.

When Mary gets into London, she wears dark colors and leather jacket so she can blend into the shadowy color scene. It’s smoky and dirty. As she climbs up the greasy pole, her colors become more vibrant. When she becomes Countess, she has an almost-absurd Cinderella moment that’s a pretty blue and slightly too young for her. Julianne is the most amazing actress, and she’s so receptive to ideas. We had about sixty changes, and they were all hand built. She has never worn a corset before, and I had the top craftsmen and women in Britain working on this show. Just Mary’s costumes alone were a beast.”

You cannot talk about Mary and George as characters without briefly mentioning Tony Curran’s King James. He is a man who uses his body in many different kinds of transactions, and Symons could not speak more highly of the man who sits on the throne.

“The beauty of Tony Curran is that he is a man who is entirely comfortable in his own skin, Symons says, simply. “He can wear a period costume like it’s jeans and a t-shirt, and that, to me, is a gift from above. If he couldn’t embrace that deconstructed style, we would’ve been lost. Likewise with Mary with her constructed look and her almost masculine, businesslike precision. She and Tony inhabited their own worlds. James’ is slightly chaotic and damaged.”

Thinking of what to take for your own closet seems like a taller order for a show like Mary & George. It feels grander. In episode seven, Charles wears a stunning pink outfit when he sings to the court in Spain, and nothing else in the season looks like it. Symons has a more comfortable option for her own closet.

“That was a masculine color, and they called it carnation,” she says of what I have my eyes on. “Charles is an infant in that scene, and he is beautiful in it. For me, I am a big fan of Sandy and that eclectic style. She wears a lot of things that come from my deep, deep archives. I love the bedchamber robes. They’re loose but very grand, because he held a lot of audience in his bedchamber. It was as important as being fully clothed in court.

Mary & George is streaming via Starz. You can follow Symons’ Instagram here. Photos below are courtesy of Starz.