Philip Pullman’s books are hugely evocative but contain few detailed descriptions of costume and scenery, leaving them to the reader’s imagination. The challenge for the costume designer is to create a definitive appearance for a multitude of characters across multiple worlds. Here you can find out where the ideas came from and how they developed as part of the overall design.
Costume designer
Jon Morrell explains how he uses existing visual material as reference points to start the design and how he decided on a particular period feel for the
principal characters of Lyra’s world. You can see the original sketches for the
Bears and Gyptians and the fashion and tribal imagery that sparked the development of the spectacular
Witches' Costumes. You can compare the original sketches for the children at
Bolvangar to the completed costumes and see the Edwardian and inter-war origins of the
Church and Scholars in Lyra’s Oxford.
