'It Ends with Us' Costumer on Lily's 'Masc and Femme' Looks, Reuniting with Blake Lively and Discourse (Exclusive) (2024)

Note: This article contains spoilers for It Ends With Us, in theaters now.

The costumes in It Ends with Us keep you guessing at every turn.

For Lily Bloom (Blake Lively), a flower shop owner, her love of all things quirky, bold and beautiful is apparent. Just like in her life, when it comes to what she wears, she's unapologetic about what she loves.

The movie, based on Colleen Hoover's book of the same name, though framed as a romance, has dark undertones and finds Lily in some really tough situations at times, and her wardrobe also reflects that. For costume designer Eric Daman, whose other projects have included Gossip Girl (both the original and the reboot), Sex and the City and The DUFF, he knew exactly how to approach dressing the cast for such a film.

Ahead, Daman walks PEOPLE through what it was like reuniting with Lively after all these years, crafting the wardrobe for the film and more.

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Lily's wardrobe is so unique. She wears a lot of colors, a lot of mixed patterns, a lot of high-low, and it's hard to pinpoint exactly what her style is. One scene she's sexy, another scene she's wearing a Carhartt jumpsuit. How did you approach her character and who really is Lily Bloom?

Lily sees beauty where other people don't. How she designs her store and how she imagines her floral designs are the same things we wanted to bring into how she dresses. But I also wanted her to feel a bit masc, in a way.

It was important that Lily doesn't feel like a fading flower or too delicate or that we lean into this ultra femme woman that's designing flowers, and then ends up being abused and kind of make her feel very strong and independent and kind of self-possessed. And I think going into this masculine-inspired workwear, was part of that.

Lily has a few pieces that bring in the masculine side, like the Bode patchwork coat she wears in several scenes. That jacket specifically just felt so unique and so beautiful and it had such an artisanal beauty to it. Not everyone saw the beauty in it the way that Blake and I did, and I think that was a great testament to how Lily sees things. It kind of became a touchstone and kind of a hero piece for her.

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So Lily does have two distinct sides to her — masculine and feminine?

Exactly. She can be ultra femme and this glamazon. Like in that rooftop scene, when she's in the gown. But we wanted to break that up and give that juxtaposition between the masc and femme and make sure that we understand the balance of it — so she has a Carhartt coat on.

Also when Lily is in those femme looks, there's an aggressiveness to them. They're aggressively feminine in a way. They're aggressive, they're in your face. It's hard not to do that dressing Blake Lively also. She's in a wet paper bag and you're like, "Oh, that's the hottest thing I've ever seen, how's that possible?" And Blake and I go back. We did the original Gossip Girl together, so we have a long time of being connected. I understand [her look] and know how to use it, as does Blake to the best of our ability.

But there's a sort of aggressiveness to Lily that you don't see in the book, and it's something that Blake brought to the character that I thought was really special and really wonderfully thought out. She's not just delicate, she's an independent strong woman and what happens to her happened to someone strong is an amazing point.

So when she's in the Alexandre Vauthier gown with the Carhartt, that juxtaposition of masc and femme — but even when the Carhartt comes off and she's in this incredible bronze body fitting body-con Alexandre Vauthier million dollar dress — there's still an aggressiveness to that look. It's symmetrical and it's sexuality in your face.

That dress is incredible.

Thank you. It was a great find. We went through a lot of pieces to get to that dress, and when that one went on, we were just like, this is the moment.

Blake and I have a very amazing symbiotic relationship as far as fashion and understanding what will work on her and how it's going to turn the party for us.

Another incredible dress is the one that Lily wears to Allysa's birthday party. Between the dress, the boots and the jewels, it's a whole moment. And again, she comes in with a more masculine jacket on.

It starts with the pan of her walking in those boots. The YSL crystal boots that are Blake's. Again, this is the first time we're seeing her in the high-femme look. So the fact that it starts with this fire fishnet crystal boot. It's high-octane the minute she walks in. Again, that juxtaposition comes in with her hero camouflage hunting coat because it's also a game of cat and mouse happening between her and Ryle. I know who's the cat and who's the mouse, but it goes back and forth.

She's a lioness and maybe a little bit of an aggressor in her demeanor of seduction. Then she walks in the party, she has the coat on, she sees him talking to some other girl in the background and the coat drop moment is fierce as f---.

I think also her going into that situation, she's not used to going to those parties necessarily. And there might've been a little bit of insecurity. So that is a little bit overcome by this black cutout Christopher Kane dress. It's oozing confidence and strength and sensuality. Blake brought in her own jewelry, her Lorraine Schwartz jewelry. I didn't have budget for that. She has incredible taste and incredible things.

I want to touch on Lily's wedding look briefly, even though we see so little of it. Tell me about the inspiration there.

First of all I am the luckiest man alive. I got to dress Blake for not one but two weddings!We definitely wanted to lean into one-of-a-kind vintage vibes. I remember texting Blake asking, "Wedding thoughts?" And she replied, "Priscilla."

So from there we just went hard pulling '60s Priscilla Presley minis with matching coats and embellishments in creams and sherbet pastel hues.We landed on this gorge super chic number from Happy Isles, paired with sheer pearl beaded gloves from Anthropologie, Blake’s personal Christian Louboutins and her jewels.We spliced together two vintage veils from 1stDibs and voilàLily Bloom bridal is born!

You've worked with Blake before (on Gossip Girl), so you know her, especially when it comes to dressing her. How did that influence how you created Lily's wardrobe? Especially considering there weren't a lot of descriptors of Lily's wardrobe in the book. Did you start with Blake in mind?

Blake was definitely front of mind as much as Lily in that way. This was really about coming back together for us. Blake would send me ideas. She wanted Lily to have a unique, very special kind of look. Because everyone is aware that it's Blake and I back together again after 10 years and we have a track record that we want to keep up. So it was important that there was a cool factor to this character.

And I think because there wasn't intense description in the book about how Lily dressed, it kind of opened up the field for us to play. We both came to the table with ideas of how that would be, and they were very similar. We had one initial fitting and then I think from that fitting, we wanted to tweak it and maybe add in a little bit more masculine vintage street, lean into the menswear vibe. We used some upcycled pieces from the Consistency Project in Brooklyn, which Blake loved. Most of the pants and Blake's overalls were from Consistency Project and the shape, the drape of them just really worked beautifully on her body.

There was so much discourse back during the filming of this movie over the costumes. Justin Baldoni spoke out at the time and asked people to hold their opinions until they saw the movie. As the costume designer, how did that feel for you? And now that the movie is in theaters, how are you feeling about the work being out in the world?

[Laughs] A lot of people had a lot to say, yes. People are so quick to judge. But they saw pictures and didn't know what Blake is bringing to this character, but once they see the movie, it'll all make sense. I love the looked, Blake loved the looks, and we did something very, very special and genuine.

I'm thrilled and excited and grateful. I've worked with Blake again and to be able to create something new and exciting, that feels very different than what we've done in the past. It feels very true to who Lily is and who Blake is as Lily, and that I feel like is very special and unique and I'm excited for the world to see it in its full glory, as opposed to just social media pictures that are showing up from paparazzi shots in Hoboken, N.J.

It Ends with Us is in theaters now.

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