Apple TV+
Warning: spoilers for episodes one through five of Disclaimer below.
Going into the fifth episode of Alfonso Cuarón’s Apple TV+ series, Disclaimer, tensions are ramping up just as quickly as the escalating number of questions. What secret has Catherine Ravenscroft (Cate Blanchett) buried for 20 years? What led to Jonathan Brigstocke’s (Louis Partridge) drowning death in the Ligurian Sea decades ago — and what does Catherine have to do with it? How far will Jonathan’s father Stephen (Kevin Kline) go to avenge his wife Nancy (Lesley Manville)? How true is the story in Nancy’s novel, The Perfect Stranger, to the events in Catherine’s hidden past? And, whose point of view are we even following?!
“You have a lot of puzzles in the series,” says Paris-based costume designer Jany Temime, who’s already watched the series six times. “Each time I discover something new. The story and [the layers of story interconnect] on different levels — and so do the costumes.”
Within the non-linear storyline, the wardrobes — filled with enviable designer pieces, period-agnostic Y2K fashion, Italian beach resort-wear and a moth-eaten cardigan — drop clues to the overarching mysteries, while obfuscating fact from fiction.
“The entire time, I needed to have the possibility of different interpretations for the same pieces of wardrobe,” says Temime, who also designed season one of House of the Dragon and the Harry Potter franchise on the big screen. “Everything is very, very clever and very thoughtful.”
Catherine (Cate Blanchett) in an Isabel Marant blouse. | Apple TV+
Catherine’s Arty, Boho Aesthetic
Catherine is a dedicated journalist and documentarian working at an A24-ish production house. She lives in a fabulous townhouse in an affluent London neighborhood famed for its charm, culture, and a Julia Roberts-starring rom com. “Notting Hill is known to be full of very rich, artistic women, and that’s how I dressed Catherine,” says the Paris-raised Temime. “[Her wardrobe is] very expensive and put together, but it has a strong artistic [vibe].”
In episode four, Catherine’s office look embodies the aesthetic: a ruffled Isabel Marant blouse, with colorful floral embroidery, layered under a short-sleeve gray cashmere sweater, and raspberry flared trousers by Gabriella Hearst. “That’s exactly that sort of chic bohemian that I was talking about,” says Temime. “It should look like it’s from the flea market, but it’s actually coming from the best shops.”
As Catherine feels increasingly isolated toward the finale, her aesthetic darkens and becomes more streamlined. For a showdown, and ultimate blow-up at the office in episode five, Catherine armors up in a black pointelle sweater, an inky denim Prada skirt, and tall Russell & Bromley boots.
Catherine in her vintage robe. | Apple TV+
The Meaning Behind Catherine’s Pink Palette
“The show is very symbolic. The images are very symbolic,” says Temime, referring to pink elements that pops up in both of Catherine’s timelines. “I thought pink was absolutely beautiful, because it’s very flesh-y,” continues Temime. “But, it also reminds me of the sky behind her and the sun rising. It’s a new day.”
At first, Catherine’s plush velvet and mauve pink robe, with intricate laser-cut detail on the sleeve cuffs, feels enigmatic, if not foreboding as she sets Stephen’s novel ablaze in the kitchen sink. “I’m being punished,” says a distraught, robe-clad Catherine to her husband Robert (Sacha Baron Cohen) — and who her father later accurately refers to as an “incompetent imbecile.” The next morning, a resolute Catherine pensively peers out of her bedroom window and dons the pink robe, as the London morning sunlight illuminates her silhouette.
“It’s an antique dressing gown that belongs to me and [Blanchett] wears it absolutely beautifully,” says Temime. “It has a link [to her past], with the sky behind her.”
Catherine (Leila George) in Italy 20 years ago. | Apple TV+
Catherine’s See-Through Pink Floral Dress
In a flashback to 20 years ago, Jonathan first meets a younger Catherine (played by Leila George) on the Tuscan beach. He’s immediately enamored, as her delicately-printed pink floral dress billows with the sea breeze, and turns alluringly gossamer sheer against the radiant sunset. “There was a ring of sun around you — an aura,” says Jonathan, after Catherine catches him snapping photos of her and her four-year-old son, Nicky happily playing together on the beach, without her consent. At first, she admonishes a stammering Jonathan, and then segues into a teasing flirtation — as she seems to enjoy the young man’s discomfort.
Behind-the-scenes, Temime removed the lining and completely recut a Maje dress to perfectly fit George for the beach encounter that’s straight out of a bodice-ripping romantic saga. “I wanted it to [evoke] ‘70s and ‘80s Italian novellas, with the see-through [element] and backed by music,” says Temime.
“Everything was soft, flowing ,and transparent,” says Temime, about the customized dress, which also enhanced Catherine’s striking red bikini underneath. “It’s so strong and so powerful.”
Catherine’s red bikini, which feels like a warning light. | Apple TV+
Catherine’s Intense Red Bikini
“Oh, that red bikini,” says Temime, with a sigh. She explains that she and her team painstakingly custom-made 40 multiples of the pivotal two-piece, which conveys brazen seduction, as well as, cool, young, and active mom on vacation with her toddler.
To determine the ideal sporty-meets-sexy shape of the triangle top and versatile bottoms, as well as the mechanics of the ties, Temime visited a bathing suit manufacturer to essentially Frankenstein swimwear components for the final design. She also needed to land on a very precise shade of red. “I didn’t want it too cherry. I didn’t want it too vermillion. Finding the perfect red was hell,” says Temime, joking, “I don’t want to ever see a red bikini for the rest of my life!”
Catherine, in Roksanda with red lined sleeves, and Robert (Sacha Baron Cohen). | Apple TV+
The costume designer did, however, need to revisit the bold color while designing Blanchett’s present day wardrobe for Catherine. “Cate is wearing something red in every single costume: a ring, a scarf..,” says Temime, about the symbolic motif that represents the true story and what Catherine has hidden for two decades.
When we first meet her in the premiere episode, Catherine accepts her journalism award from Christiane Amanpour in a sleek black Roksanda dress — with bright red lining peeking out of the bell sleeves. When Robert casts Catherine out of the house in episode three, she confronts the situation in a crimson silk-printed Massimo Dutti scarf against her comforting blush pink Raey cocoon coat. In another flashback to 10 years ago, when she meets an ailing Nancy, demanding a confession, Catherine wears red boots with her fuchsia argyle Ganni sweater.
“The red was [Blanchett’s] idea, actually,” says Temime. “I said, ‘okay, not so many people will see that. And she said, ‘Well, I feel it.’”
Jonathan (Louis Partridge) and Catherine discuss Kylie Minogue. | Apple TV+
Catherine’s Revealing Grecian Goddess Dress
In episode three following their beach meeting, Catherine aggressively flirts with Jonathan while suggestively fondling her wine glass stem. Robert left the family vacation early for work, so she’s on her own with little Nicky. Catherine laments about motherhood’s demands and admits envying Jonathan’s freedom to travel the world, as he appears as a naif who didn’t earlier throw his girlfriend’s underpants at passengers trying to exit a train. Catherine’s ethereal Grecian-style dress — with ultra-low-plunge neckline and arm-holes and super-high leg-slits — barely stays on and telegraphs racy Harlequin romance book covers, as the seduction scene leads into the barely NC-17 sex scenes to come.
“It has a risk of falling, any second, all the time — that was the idea,” says Temime, about the strategically-engineered and custom-made fine silk jersey dress. “It has a sort of cliché erotic shape, which I wanted, [referencing] ‘70s and ‘80s style.”
Stephen Brigstocke (Kevin Kline), in his late wife’s cardigan, unravels (pardon the pun). | Apple TV+
Stephen’s Pink Cardigan
Stephen blames Catherine for the decline and death of Nancy, who never got over losing her beloved son. Stephen wears his grief, and thirst for vengeance, through Nancy’s tattered pink cardigan that even Goodwill rejected. At first, the gesture feels sad, and maybe a little sweet, but eventually comes across as unrestrained and menacing.
“Alfonso wanted something comfy. If you look at it, you would like to snuggle into it,” says Temime, who experimented with various mohair, wool and angora combinations. “We found the perfect level of coziness, but then after all that [Kline] complained because it was itchy.”
Temime also needed to design two versions with a special elasticized yarn: one built for Manville and another that fit Kline, but looks too small. Again, Temime whittled down to a specific shade of pink, with a gray undertone, to illustrate the connection to Nancy and her palette — plus, more symbolism.
“If you look carefully, you will see that Catherine’s dressing gown is the same color as the cardigan. That’s the link,” says Temime, about the double meanings and color clues hidden in the costumes that connect the characters to the real story of what really what happened in Italy 20 years ago.