Vampire Lestat Costume Designer Reveals Rockstar Wardrobe Easter Eggs

Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- Lex Wood, costume designer for 'The Vampire Lestat,' centered Lestat's wardrobe on color to reflect his new rockstar persona, drawing inspiration from Iggy Pop, David Bowie, and Freddie Mercury while deliberately not modeling him after any single artist.
- About 75% of the season's costumes were handcrafted, with silk used deliberately to thread Lestat and his 18th-century mother Gabriella (Jennifer Ehle) back to their shared past, complete with hidden Easter eggs Wood said eagle-eyed fans will catch.
- Louis de Pointe du Lac (Jacob Anderson) was dressed in layered, colorful pieces reflecting his post-Armand freedom while still 'kidding himself' about being fixed; his bracelet features notches representing kills made for the Talamasca.
- Regina (Delainey Hayles) wears a yellow waitress uniform that deliberately echoes the dress Claudia died in, and as she begins impersonating Claudia, her wardrobe nods to book-described pieces without replicating the show's actual vision of Claudia.
- Armand (Assad Zaman) begins the season in 'full-on gremlin' mode and gradually shifts to softer layers, earthy tones, and more tailoring, with Wood promising his famous black coat arrives by season's end as he draws closer to Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian).
- Wood dressed Lestat's mother Gabriella in deliberately androgynous 18th-century tailoring to reflect how Lestat sees her, and the production team envisioned a second tour bus behind the band to haul Lestat's constantly shifting wardrobe.
Why it matters: For a prestige vampire drama now pivoting into rock-tour territory, the wardrobe — 75% handcrafted — does the heavy lifting of signaling character psychology: Louis's 'hiding' layers, Lestat's changeable jewelry, Regina's Claudia callbacks, and Armand's slow style evolution toward his iconic black coat all give viewers visual shorthand for emotional arcs the scripts only hint at.




