In Zoe Kazan’s 12-episode adaptation of “East of Eden,” pure evil has never looked sexier. The reboot centers around John Steinbeck’s conniving anti-heroine, Cathy Ames (Florence Pugh), as she weaponizes her sexuality across schoolyards, farmland, and brothels to gain power over men. Costume designer Kirsty Cameron developed an evolving array of period-accurate gowns and undergarments to follow Cathy across her transition from a runaway schoolgirl to a masochistic dominatrix, all-while preserving certain character throughlines for those who know where to look. 

When it came to costuming turn-of-the-20th-century prostitution, Cameron collaborated with researcher Phil Park to study a varied array of photography, erotica, films, and magazine spreads. Most prominently, Cameron referenced E.J. Bellocq's film portraits of prostitutes in New Orleans in the 1910s as research for the dresses and undergarments. The costume designer drew loose inspiration from Steven Meisel shoots for Italian Vogue in the ’90s, going through her personal collection of tear sheets for styling cues. “It's a combination of the real and the imagined,” Cameron says, citing the 19th-century brothels in the Taiwanese film “Flowers of Shanghai” as further cinematic inspiration.

The series’ first lingerie set appears in episode two when Cathy seeks refuge in a brothel after escaping her childhood home, and encounters an older sex worker wearing a brown corset layered over lacy bell sleeves and knee-length bloomers. Her outfit bears modern resonance to Edwardian-inspired silhouettes sold at stores like Dôen and Free People without taking audiences out of the period. Taken out of the context of a depraved whorehouse, the costume could inspire a Pinterest board. “[Looking good] should always be the takeaway with everything,” Cameron says in jest, when asked about her costumes’ modern-day resonance and coolness. “I've always loved underwear so much, particularly all those beautiful cotton undergarments. There is just a lovely sort of simplicity and femininity about them.”

When Cathy escapes her husband’s ranch to start over anew, she cozies up to an elderly brothel owner named Faye (Martha Plimpton) who is known for running a respectable establishment. Here, she goes by the name of Kate. Rather than corsets and stockings, Faye’s girls are covered up in luxurious ballgowns. In keeping with historical precedent, Faye’s brothel, and the dresses that occupy it, resemble a palace more than the sort of dingy, roadside motel one might associate with modern-day prostitution. “There's a lot of real opulence in some of the boudoirs of the brothels,” Cameron says. The archival photography she based Faye’s brothel on showcased the women in gorgeous and ornate gowns. Cameron described the powder puff aesthetic as “feminine, lazy, and ornate” while still bearing sex appeal. 

In Faye’s brothel, Cameron imbued the costumes with subtle odes to sisterhood and humanity while still embodying a period-accurate male gaze. “You're always looking for those moments to undress somebody and to show their vulnerability,” Cameron says. “With the prostitutes, there is this wonderful ability to show what's underneath.” In one such scene, Faye gets drunk with Cathy and opens up her corset, literalizing her vulnerability and openness. Because Faye runs an upstanding institution, the girls are “very coveted, covered and elegant,” while still bearing a peacock quality in their cachet of decorated gowns. Cameron had the idea for the ladies of the brothel to share clothing, much like sisters would. “The girls would have their own [signature dresses], but there was an ability for them to sort of mix and match,” Cameron says. 

As Cathy sinks into financial independence as a prostitute, and later, brothel-owner, she wears more and more of her riches around her neck like a trophy. “The very young Kate keeps baubles, and her father accuses her of not giving them back, so that's kind of echoed later on in Kate's jewelry,” Cameron says. “[Pugh’s] idea was that they're a collection of things that she's gleaned, and been given, from various rendezvous and men who have fallen in love with her,” Cameron says. She sourced most of the jewelry in and around New Zealand, “haunting” auction houses and antique shops at every opportunity. In one scene, Kathy wears a brooch on a thick black ribbon around her neck before torturing a man in her brothel. 

“The desire was to always keep her in the same [silhouettes] even though she's being a chameleon and shifting in and out of these characters,” Cameron says. Cameron embedded continuity throughout the shapes and silhouettes of Cathy’s costumes, while drastically changing the color palette. When performing the role of a more innocent character, Cathy adorns herself in pale blues, pinks, and pastels that bear a childlike quality. While prostituting at Faye’s upscale brothel, she moves into what Cameron describes as “mid-tones” before wearing all black at her own brothel. “[Cathy] has a front of someone that looks pure and sweet [and] innocent and that is all part of the design of making sure that her characterization makes sense later when she is wearing black,” Pugh says. By the end of the series, she is styled in custom-made black boots that lace up over the knee. “Florence really wanted [Kate] to be sexy,” Cameron says, describing how each dress was tailored to the actress's body.