American Eagle Sponsors 'Forbidden Fruits' Costume Design
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- American Eagle partnered with the film 'Forbidden Fruits' as a sponsor, providing both funding and foundational wardrobe pieces for the cast, a collaboration the costume designer described as unprecedented for a mall brand.
- Sarah Millman designed distinct visual identities for each of the four lead characters, anchoring their styles in campy, Y2K, and vintage-inspired looks shaped by the film’s mall setting.
- Lili Reinhart's character Apple wore deep reds and blacks to reflect her role as the coven leader, with her wardrobe built around American Eagle pieces supplemented by custom alterations.
- Victoria Pedretti's character Cherry embraced pastel tones and high-femme silhouettes inspired by Anna Nicole Smith and Lana Del Rey, differentiating her from the other witches.
- Alexandra Shipp's character Fig embodied a mall goth aesthetic, drawing style cues from FKA Twigs and early Aaliyah, while still incorporating base layers from American Eagle.
- Lola Tung's character Pumpkin wore the most American Eagle clothing, reflecting her grounded, less stylized persona as the group’s most relatable member still developing her identity.
Why it matters: For indie film productions, brand partnerships like this one with American Eagle can materially reduce costume budgets while reinforcing narrative authenticity—here, the integration of a real mall brand into a story set in a mall created a self-referential aesthetic that elevated both the realism and the satire. The collaboration demonstrates how product placement can be creatively central, not just commercial.
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