A New ‘Scream’ and a New Look

The Movie: “Scream 2.”

The Setup: Another killer is loose in this sequel, which finds “Scream” survivor Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) and friends in college somewhere in the Midwest.

The Costume Designer: Kathleen Detoro, whose credits include “Hard Rain.”

The Look: It’s amazing how two years have transformed Sidney, as well as ruthless TV reporter Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox). It’s partly character development, as they say in Cinema 101. Sidney has toughened up; Gale is now a media star. But the actresses also have changed physically. Both flaunt leaner bodies, darker hair (deep auburn for Sidney, burgundy streaks for Gale) and no-frills, blunt-edged cuts--both worn board straight.

The changes are especially striking for Sidney. In “Scream,” Sidney first appears on screen wearing a floral nightgown and cutesy ponytail. In “Scream 2,” we see her emerging from bed, hair now framing her jaw, clad in only a steel-gray sports bra and matching boxer shorts. We have confidence in Sidney from the get-go.

You Should Know: The power of blue jeans. Anyone who has ever struggled to find perfectly fitting jeans might be pleased to learn that the ones worn by Campbell were custom-made.

“You would laugh if you were ever at a fitting,” Detoro says. “We went through racks and racks of jeans to find the perfect ones.” Finally, low-rise, boot-cut jeans were chosen from Lucky Brand on La Brea, but they had to be special-ordered. To complete her collegiate look, Sidney wears clunky, platform Steve Madden boots; tiny silver rings, crucifix choker and earrings, all by Lee Brevard (available at Jennifer Kaufman in the Beverly Center and Neiman Marcus). And there’s lots of leather, including a blue suede jacket by D&G; and a black Coach backpack.

“Coach has gotten really hip, but that’s not why I got it,” says designer Detoro. “I wanted a small, simple, classic backpack.”

The Mind-Set: The thrift store look is no longer happening, at least not with this flock of hip (yet wholesome) looking, hot young actors. They went for some big fashion names for their wardrobes. In the movie, Jada Pinkett wears Joseph; Sarah Michelle Gellar is in Tom Mark’s Markwongnark label and Anna Sui; Torie Spelling’s in Markwongnark and Easel; Elise Neal’s in Isaac and CK; Jamie Kennedy’s in Calvin Klein and Neiman Marcus private label; and Jerry O’Connell’s in Brooks Brothers and Ralph Lauren. As for Cox, her all-black wardrobe includes Jean-Paul Gaultier, Dolce & Gabbana and Vertigo, with one clingy white top from L.A. knitwear designer Bette Paige.

Quoted: “I didn’t want to use any red. That was a big thing for me. That way there would be much more impact if and when we saw blood on screen,” Detoro says.

Shopping Around: Finding the latest looks requires a long, involved hit list, from important streets to investigate (Hillhurst, La Brea and Beverly), malls (Beverly Center), and specialty departments within department stores (Nordstrom’s Savvy). Then, of course, come the boutiques, from the famous (Fred Segal Environmental) to the obscure (Slave in Venice).