Besides the numerous accolades “Everything Everywhere All At Once” has received for its performances and direction, the A24 flick has been lauded for its Oscar-nominated costume design by Shirley Kurata, who outfitted the multiverse economically to accommodate the indie film’s limited resources.
As Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh), Waymond (Ke Huy Quan), Deirdre (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Joy (Stephanie Hsu) jump from different ends of the multiverse, Kurata adjusted their looks to fit each version of the characters, with villain Jobu Tupaki being what Kurata calls a “free-for-all.”
Take a look at the film’s seven best costumes ahead of the rest of awards season.
When Evelyn encounters Jobu Tupaki, the version of her daughter who has been overloaded by Evelyn’s demanding nature, Jobu appears in an Elvis costume with pink hair and a cigarette alongside a pet pig. As Jobu extinguishes her cigarette on the security officer’s badge, her costuming, which deviates from a clean-cut perfect daughter, works to “antagonize her mother,” according to Kurata.
In the same scene, Jobu sports a preppy golf look, which Kurata says exemplifies the perfect Asian daughter who excels at sports and everything else in her life — serving to rub in the fact that Evelyn’s desire for this level of intangible perfection created a villain.
We aren’t just in it for the spectacle. Evelyn’s “tax universe” look — a simple button-down with a vest inspired by Kurata’s observation of Los Angeles Chinatown — underlines a quotidian experience for this version of Evelyn. Later on, as Evelyn adds a googly eye to this outfit, we sense she is ready to embrace some whimsy into her everyday life.
As Evelyn’s movie star version hits her with realizations of the rich lifestyle she could have lived had she not married Weymond and moved to the U.S., Kurata embraces this level of glamor in her extravagant ball gown, which was influenced by Yeoh’s real-life role in “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.”
This colorful, playful look for Jobu, inspired across genres of Japanese fashion, K-pop and science-fiction films, mixes avant-garde imagination with street wear.
When Evelyn enters Jobu’s pristine white palace dressed as a beggar, Jobu’s Renaissance-esque pleated commands attention from her mother as she implores her to be drawn in by the everything bagel.
By the end of the film, Jobu experiences emotional and physical chaos as she and Evelyn jump between different universes, which Kurata matches in a look she calls “jumbled Jobu.” As Jobu attempts to take in all of her conflicting thoughts from pieces all over the multiverse, Kurata draped pieces from previous costumes on a mannequin to achieve an avant-garde free-handed drape to construct the look.
