Back Into The Closet: From why we have Clueless to thank to the costume Drew Barrymore absolutely hated, all the wardrobe secrets from Santa Clarita Diet

Back Into The Closet: From why we have Clueless to thank to the costume Drew Barrymore absolutely hated, all the wardrobe secrets from Santa Clarita Diet

Costumes are a television show essential. Without them, a show is rendered completely unbelievable, but with them they catapult our imaginations to a particular time and place, leaving behind a legacy in the process.

Whether it’s Villanelle’s pink dress in Killing Eve or Ugly Betty’s poncho, there’s usually always more than meets the eye and a whole world of tiny details that escape unnoticed.

Each week Back Into The Closet will deliver an exclusive look into the wardrobes of some of the world’s leading series to bring you all the costume secrets and niceties we might have missed.



Last time we caught up Catherine The Great costume designer Maja Meschede, but today we’re delving through Santa Clarita Diet’s wardrobe with Mona May.


We have Clueless to thank for all of the plaid

There’s a lot of plaid in Santa Clarita Diet (Picture: Netflix)

There’s so much plaid in Santa Clarita Diet that it’s pretty hard to go unnoticed.

However, it turns out that there’s a pretty incredible reason for it all and it’s all thanks to the iconic 1995 film Clueless.

‘I’m partial to plaid because I did Clueless,’ Mona said. ‘Plaid makes it into every costume project that I do and it will remain that way forever.

‘It’s a classic. It will never go out of style.’

Clueless inspired the Santa Clarita Diet wardrobe (Picture: Rex)

Mona added that dressing the characters in plaid shirts gives them a suburban vibe.

‘In the beginning, it gave us a casualness of Sheila (Drew Barrymore) and Joel (Timothy Olyphant).

‘It’s really important to show they’re a regular family living in the suburbs, trying to deal with this craziness.

‘We always wanted to ground it and through wardrobe you can do that quite beautifully.’

Sheila’s sick caused a huge stench on set

This scene was rather smelly (Picture: Netflix)

The opening episode of the Santa Clarita Diet involved a lot of sick thanks to Drew Barrymore’s character Sheila being struck down by a sudden illness that causes her uncontrollable lust for human flesh.

You know, like the symptoms of all bad tummy bugs.

A whole bathroom was covered wall to ceiling in Sheila’s vomit and Mona revealed that it produced an unimaginable stench.

‘When we did the vomit that was really interesting too,’ Mona recalled. ‘There were so many crazy concoctions that we had to deal with that she threw up.

‘The props made the concoction but it went bad, so whatever they mixed it with started smelling and there was this horrible smell on-set of putrefying bile.’

Delightful.

Revealing what went into the vomit mixture, Mona told us: ‘It was like oatmeal and glycerine.

‘We had a lot of meetings about the consistency, how chunky should it be, what colour should it be. As you can imagine, it was a really funny meeting.’

The body parts of Sheila’s victims were made of soy

Drew munched on soy products (Picture: Netflix)

A huge part of the show saw Sheila chow down on various body parts after she killed her victims.

But what exactly was Drew eating?

Mona revealed the limbs were made from ‘soy products’ which had been specially moulded.



She laughed: ‘I don’t think I’ve ever worked with so much blood in my life, I cannot tell you.

‘The image of Drew chewing on bones and intensities will never leave my memory.’

Drew Barrymore hated the diving helmet – but she was a true champ

Drew Barrymore wasn’t a big fan of the diving helmet (Picture: Netflix)

Season three episode Belle And Sebastian Protect The Head saw Sheila’s hubby Joel dig out his old diving helmet for her.

And it turns out Drew loathed wearing it.

‘She actually kinda hated it because it was quite claustrophobic and it didn’t really have a lot of ventilation,’ Mona said. ‘It wasn’t something that she liked a lot.’

Despite Drew’s dislike for the headgear, she was always ‘game for anything’, with Mona adding: ‘Sheila wasn’t an easy part and there was a lot of physical activity, a lot of jumping around and biting people.

‘Drew was always game, she’s really a true performer in every sense of the word.’

Sheila had a subtle wardrobe evolution throughout the show

Sheila’s style changed from season 1 (left) to season 3 (right) and started wearing more feminine suits (Picture: Netflix)

Sheila’s style slowly transformed throughout Santa Clarita Diet’s three seasons thanks to her penchant for cannibalism.

‘Eating humans and the flesh and the blood gave her this super strength and clarity of who she was,’ Mona said.

‘When we first met her she was kind of dowdy in her suits but as she evolved she became a lot more secure in herself in who she was and what she wanted in her life.’

Mona explained how this reflected in Sheila’s wardrobe, adding: ‘We were putting her in more feminine things, really good pantsuits, rather than the cheap suits she was wearing at the beginning.


‘The materials changed to designer. The hair and make-up changed too and there was more jewellery.’

Will Santa Clarita Diet ever come back?

Santa Clarita Diet was cancelled earlier this year (Picture: Netflix)

Unsurprisingly the whole cast and crew were completely gutted when it was announced that Netflix had cancelled Santa Clarita Diet.

‘We were devastated and I think there was a lot of sadness online too because the characters were really beloved,’ Mona admitted. ‘I think people wanted to know more of the story.

‘There was a lot more to really find out why all this stuff is happening and we really didn’t get a chance to know that.’

Metro.co.uk asked whether Mona could see the show coming back, to which she answered: ‘I would hope so, I really would.

‘But Drew is already onto the next thing, she has so many things she’s doing.’

Santa Clarita Diet is available to stream on Netflix.

Back Into The Closet is a weekly series that delves into most iconic costumes to ever grace television, from shows past and present. Check back each Thursday for the latest wardrobe secrets.

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