Pomegranate Blush and “Vagina Braids”

When the trailer for Emerald Fennell’s highly-anticipated Wuthering Heights adaptation, starring Margot Robbie as Cathy and Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff, finally dropped—two things became abundantly clear: This is not a film concerned with historical accuracy, and the audience is in for a visually stunning treat. Fennell has stated the film isn’t a direct adaptation of Emily Brontë’s classic novel, instead a version of how reading the book made her feel. Since it’s through the lens of a teenage girl, everything is heightened: the sex, the romance, the costumes, and the stunning beauty looks.

Fennell tasked Siân Miller to lead the hair and makeup direction (the two previously worked together on Saltburn), giving her complete freedom to dial up the looks beyond classic regency braids and subtle blush. “[It became clear] this was going to be a fever dream; a fantasy seen through the eyes of a 14 year old. This was going to be an eclectic mix of so many things,” Miller tells Byrdie. The result? A candy-colored spectacle, complete with face gems, corseted braids, and lots and lots of blush.

Ahead, Miller shares all the secrets behind the film’s hair and makeup, including the blink-if-you’ll miss it hair symbolism and her key products.

The Inspiration

Miller says she found the deemphasis on historical accuracy both freeing and intimidating. Fennell came armed with pages and pages of mood boards that Miller likens to “a work of art”—everything from movie stills to fine art references, architecture, and photos of grass stained knees. “It really helps to build the world in your mind,” says Miller. From there, Miller worked closely with the costume and production designers to create a unified visual language for the film.

The story takes place over several years, and the beauty looks were key in showing both the passage of time and the characters’ development. Miller approached the film in three major sections: Wuthering Heights, The Grange, and the final act. In the first section of the film, where Cathy and Heathcliff run wild on the moors, the team used faux freckles, windswept blush, and free-flowing hair to reflect that. Once Cathy moves to the elegant Grange, the looks were dialed up to reflect the opulence of her surroundings. Think: playful lip colors, bejeweled eyes, and gold freckles. Miller was inspired by ’90s runway looks including Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen, and Pat McGrath’s makeup for Dior’s Fall/Winter 2007 and 2009 shows.

The Makeup

For the opening act, “We went off the fact that they live in Wuthering Heights, and [the house] is isolated and it’s exposed. From childhood, there’s nothing to do. The Moors are their playground,” Miller shares. For the look, she wanted “sheer skin, flush tones exposed, freckles, and wild-and-free hair.” Natural-looking skin and a “weather-beaten” flush was key for all the inhabitants of Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff included.

For Cathy, “it was very much ‘less is more.'” She and Robbie’s personal makeup artist, Nana Fischer, skipped eyeshadow and mascara, instead letting the natural definition around the actor’s eyes shine. The main elements of her look were inspired by the “pomegranate makeup” trend with heavy berry blush and faux freckles, which she created using custom freckle masks and an airbrush machine on both Miller and Charlotte Mellington, who plays young Cathy. That way, the freckles would be identical on both actors as well as from scene to scene.

When Cathy moves to The Grange, the neighboring property where she meets her eventual husband Edgar Linton, the look changes yet again. “We knocked the freckles back because she’s now living a more indoor, sheltered life. “There’s a lot more opulence, a lot more dress up,” Miller says. That’s when those runway references come in, as do bolder colors and interesting textures.

For products, Miller used Chanel foundation on the whole cast. For Cathy’s Moor flush she used the Chanel No. 1 Lip and Cheek Balm, and palettes from Le Maquillage Professional. “Because this is an Emerald Fennell film, I always have something that can create a bit of sheen or perspiration.” That includes Paw Paw ointment, Elizabeth Arden’s Eight Hour Cream, and an atomizer sprayer.

The Hair Symbolism

Miller created between 35-40 hairstyles for Robbie over the course of the film, using two bespoke wigs custom-matched to her color—it was important to Fennell that she was blonde—as well as half-wig piece in the back, six bespoke switches, “a couple of clusters,” and at least seven meters of weft. Fennell wanted lots of looks in the short shooting schedule, so Miller developed a plug-and-play system. “I wanted it to be like Lego, where you could have a fundamental basis. You could leap-frog wigs; one off, one on.”

While the makeup mainly reflected the passage of time, Cathy’s hair revealed more of her character development. Once she moves into The Grange, she trades moor-blown waves for polished styles not possible without the help of a servant. In an already-copied look from the trailer, Cathy wears intricate braids corseted with red ribbons. Miller points out that in the earlier scenes, Cathy is seen wearing a leather corset laced in the front, since there were no servants to lace it for her in the back. “Of course, she went to the Grange, and everything’s done from the back, because you have somebody to help you. The hair is mimicking that change in lifestyle.” In the scene, the camera follows Cathy from the back, and she’s lead into Isabella’s ribbon room full of clothes made to her measurements. “It’s a statement about status, and it really contrasts to where she’s come from.”

As time passes, Cathy becomes much more severe and even cruel, which is reflected in what Miller calls her “horns,” a take on ’40s Victory Rolls. Cathy gets meaner and harder, her gowns are less full and floaty, “and that’s where we get into the those rolls,” says Miller. “The silhouette, it’s less soft, it’s more severe.” The look itself was inspired by a grainy photocopy of an image of Vivienne Lee from Gone With the Wind that both Miller and Emerald loved, but represents her devilish turn as well.

Other symbolic details include what Miller calls a “vagina plait” in the back of one of Cathy’s hairstyles during a sexually-charged scene (it also coincides with a crack forming in a wall in Wuthering Heights). There’s also Cathy’s wedding hair, though mostly covered by her gorgeous veil. Miller created a chainmail formation with the hair, a symbol of the cage she’s built by betraying her heart and marrying Linton despite the fact that she loves Heathcliff. “She’s trapped herself, but there is this trap, albeit willingly. She’s walked into this with open eyes, but there is regret, and so that’s what that [represents]” says Miller.

Jacob Elordi’s Heathcliff Transformation

Heathcliff has a more overt transformation than Cathy, going from rugged farmhand to rich gentleman. But first, Miller had to take Jacob Elordi from modern heartthrob to farmhand. Her first note to him? “Grow everything.” He came in with a “wonderful beard,” and Miller had a custom wig made by Samuel James wigs in London for his long, flowing locks.

Makeup was key to making Heathcliff’s character look lived-in. Miller used a custom mix of pro palettes and the Make Up For Ever cream palettes to create “ground in dirt” and “a flush from the elements” all over his body. She also rubbed ground in blood onto his arms—”it’s not obvious, but it’s there”—to nod to his farm labor. Faux scars on his back and a missing tooth completed his look.

For Heathcliff’s grand return, Miller wanted him to look like the “quintessential romantic hero.” “That incredible contrast, that’s what we wanted to show. He really grows into those clothes and into that part, whereas [in the beginning] he’s hiding behind that hair.” She kept the flush tones in his skin and cut Eloridi’s hair into a classic Regency style cut, and added an 18 karat gold tooth.