In ‘Stepmom,’ Opposites Attract Distinct Looks

The Movie: “Stepmom.”

The Setup: Until she becomes gravely ill, Jackie (Susan Sarandon), a divorced mother of two, doesn’t take kindly to her ex’s new girlfriend, Isabel (Julia Roberts).

The Costume Designer: Joseph G. Aulisi, whose credits include the films “Nobody’s Fool,” “Billy Bathgate,” “Die Hard With a Vengeance” and “Three Days of the Condor,” as well as the theatrical productions “Broadway Bound,” “Rumors” and “Jerome Robbins’ Broadway.”

The Big Picture: The idea was to make the two women look as different as night and day fashion-wise, and they do, even though, as Aulisi put it, “both ladies can wear practically anything” in real life.

Isabel’s Look: A sophisticated, take-charge photographer, she wears the usual New York essentials. There’s her perfect white cotton shirt (custom-made for the production), black leather pants, Gucci boots, Jil Sander shoes, cargo pants, cashmere sweaters and a funky ‘70s-style leather coat that she could have unearthed at a thrift shop.

The coat actually bears a Sammy Davis Jr. label from the singer’s brief foray into fashion. Aulisi found it at a flea market and had to have it.

Go Figure: Coming out of left field are Isabel’s farm-girl accouterments. In one scene she wears a red kerchief on her head, and in another she wears her hair in pigtails--such weird style aberrations that you can only assume they were put there to make her seem human or at least born on a farm.

“Moments before we started shooting, Julia said she wanted something in her hair. We grabbed [the kerchief] off the truck,” Aulisi explained. “This is the quiet, homier side of her and not the pressurized world of photography.”

Must Have: Isabel’s essential accessory is a Cartier Tank Francaise watch in stainless steel.

“It’s a nice, sleek-looking watch,” Aulisi said. “I find that people in fashion may wear the rattiest clothes in the world, but there’s usually one or two accessories that let you know that they know that this is a zillion-dollar watch. Julia instantly loved it. That was it.”

Jackie’s Look: She is the idealized earth mother whose warmth translates into an anti-New York look. That means khakis (pleated, of course), hand-knit sweaters and the beautiful yellow-striped cotton blouse in which she first appears. Discussing the shirt, which he designed, Aulisi said he wanted a wide, clean, cheery stripe.

“I can’t tell you how many places I looked for something crisp and clean, weeds and tweeds, anything not contemporary New York City, not the latest.” Sweaters (several from Oilily), scarves and blouses are patterned, fuzzy, tactile and earth-toned. Even Jackie’s shearling coat is moss green. And it’s hard to remember the last time a women wore orange in a contemporary film. Here it’s an orange plaid shirt.

Trivia: As her illness advances, several devices were called into action to change Jackie’s appearance. (Sarandon also lost about 15 pounds.) She went through three sets of brassieres to minimize her bust line as the story proceeded. She wore lower scooped necklines to highlight the clavicle bones, which were accentuated with makeup to make her look even thinner. When Sarandon asked the designer for another aid, underneath her sweaters he tied weights on her forearms with ace bandages to literally drag her down.