Emmanuelle Youchnovski Nominated for her Work in ‘The Substance’ at the Costume Designers Guild Awards
Emmanuelle Youchnovski’s costume designs for The Substance is a masterclass in storytelling through fabric, color, and texture. Every piece she designed tells an authentic story, shapes the characters, and underlines the themes with visual shorthand. And from the moment Demi Moore’s Elisabeth appears on screen, her wardrobe speaks volumes.
Elisabeth’s style is primary colors. They are bold, graphic and very much in your face. For instance, and you might find this interesting — her yellow coat, now an icon of the film, wasn’t an off-the-rack choice. She had tried fifty coats before finding the right fit, and Youchnovski sourced the fabric from Italy and designed it herself. It’s not just a coat that clothes Elisabeth. It’s a coat that armors her in a world that is demanding more and more of her. The oversized fit, the masculine tailoring — everything about the coat tells you from the get-go that she isn’t one to back down.
Moreover, when Elisabeth is in her element, commanding the screen with her workout show, her wardrobe is a time capsule of ‘80s aerobics. For Youchnovski, Jane Fonda’s exercise tapes were a clear influence. The high-cut, matte blue bodysuit is straight out of an era of high-energy fitness and curated perfection. But The Substance is not just about nostalgia. It’s about transformation, and that extends to the costuming, too.
Sue, the younger, revitalized version of Elisabeth, is modernity, extravagance, and a dash of reinvention. Her bodysuits, unlike Elisabeth’s, shimmer in metallics and neons, drawing from contemporary pop stars like Dua Lipa and Beyoncé. The sharp but intentional contrast highlights the generational divide and the underlying tension between past and present. Every outfit tells a story of these women and who they want to be. Youchnovski’s attention to detail goes as deep as the film’s darkest and most surreal moments. The New Year’s Eve gown worn by Sue in the key scene is a delicate, princessy thing in light blue — deliberately like Cinderella. But this fairy tale takes a brutal turn, destroying the dress like Sue. Youchnovski’s inspiration came from Queen Margot, where Isabelle Adjani’s white gown was forever stained with blood. That visual parallel is haunting and makes Sue’s fate all the more tragic, the horror beneath the glamour.
Beyond aesthetics, however, Youchnovski embeds more symbolism into her designs. The spine, the central motif of the film’s body horror, is everywhere in the wardrobe. The dragon on the bathrobe, the zipper on Sue’s Catwoman-inspired suit, and the stitching on the back of Elisabeth’s pre-transformation black dress — all reference the spine, foreshadowing the gruesome transformation. Even the yellow coat has an intricate couture stitch on the back, a quiet nod to the film’s theme of bodily reconstruction.
Nonetheless, almost every costume in The Substance was custom-made, a sign of Youchnovski’s commitment to a narrative and visual wardrobe. Elisabeth’s wardrobe was built from scratch to reinforce her carefully curated image. Sue’s is more fluid, more ephemeral, more artificial.
Recently Emmanuelle was nominated at the 27th CDGA (Costume Designers Guild Awards) for her work in The Substance which she is extremely proud of. The CDGA awards celebrate costume designers from all over the world for their achievements in film, television and short form costume design.
Youchnovski’s work in The Substance isn’t just about dressing characters; it’s about defining them, raising them, and burying meaning in every fabric, every cut, and every color. It’s a trick that makes The Substance stay with you long after the credits roll, the images seared into your brain through the power of costume design. And the trick works, doesn’t it?
