Going to Extremes

The Movie: “The Perez Family.”

The Setup: The complex passions of Juan Raul Perez (Alfred Molina), a Cuban prisoner; his wife, Carmela (Anjelica Huston), who’s in Miami and whom he hasn’t seen for 20 years, and Dottie Perez (Marisa Tomei, pictured), the sexpot he meets on the final Mariel boat lift to Florida in 1980.

The Costume Designer: Eduardo Castro, whose credits include “Sugar Hill,” “Bird on a Wire,” “Shout” and the TV series “Miami Vice.”

The Look: The intensely atmospheric and torrid extremes of Latin style. Quickly establishing Carmela’s character are her impeccable sultry-weather whites, particularly a classic, ‘50s-style, cinched-waist chiffon dress. She may no longer gaze out on sugar-cane fields from her front door, but she is still dressing the part of the landed aristocrat. Whether she knows it or not, her clothes are her emotional link to Juan (pre-imprisonment) and to Cuba, and they gracefully play her against the tawdry, in-your-face and vibrant Dottie. For reasons that become apparent, the film’s most ingenious fashion moment is when Officer Pirelli (Chazz Palminteri) appears with Carmela in a white dinner jacket.

Trend Watch: Dressing with innate sensuality--and entirely on the cheap--Dottie could single-handedly bring back midriff-baring shirts, and we don’t mean those shrunken little polo shirts now cramming the racks of your favorite department store. Her cropped, tie-front blouses work as well with capris as with short, flouncy skirts.

Scene Stealer: Dottie in her purple bikini. It’s so inappropriate for the moment that it almost takes your breath away.

You Should Know: Tomei may have arrived for work looking “very aerobic, very minimalist,” Castro said, but she went into a major transformation mode. She purposely put on 20 pounds, and a long curly full wig wasn’t the only thing she was fitted for. Castro said it took three weeks of adjustments to find the proper amount of lift and padding for her bras to achieve natural-looking full breasts. “It’s not a Wonderbra,” he said.

Quoted: “Toward the middle of shooting, (director) Mira (Nair) said, “I’m so . . . tired of this parrot shirt. Can’t we find him something else?” Castro recalled of Juan’s dreadful, castoff print shirt. “We couldn’t. It wouldn’t have made sense.” He wears it virtually throughout the film.

Sources: “We made hauls every day at one Salvation Army on the outskirts of Miami. We had 350 extras a day and we dressed every single one of them,” Castro said. Most of the principals’ clothes were custom-made, but Miami’s upscale vintage stores such as Blue Moon, Bodega, Chic and Miami Twice were sources for some of Dottie’s wardrobe. Her bikini was from Marshall’s. Some of Carmela’s white shirts were by Ungaro.