Previewing Wicker (2026)

I had no idea what the film Wicker, coming to theaters October 30, 2026, was about. Apparently it’s based on a short story called “The Wicker Husband” by Ursula Wills-Jones. The trailer dropped recently, and the flick looks like a hoot!

Aside from the funny sexy vibe and the completely stacked cast (starring Olivia Colman and Alexander Skarsgård), what stood out to me were the caps and hats! The story isn’t set in a specific time period or place, and the costumes mix a lot of historical and modern styles. But costume designers Tóth András Dániel and Godena-Juhász Attila threw in some great historical headgear just to amuse me.

There’s Ella Bruccoleri (The Other Bennet Sister, Call the Midwife) in a renaissance-y bodice and wearing a linen cap.

A side-view of this woman with Bruccoleri shows the hat shape better. It’s a loose interpretation of a mid-16th/early 17th-century cap worn by peasant to middling-class women.

Then there’s this hat that I need to know more about in the movie’s context! Looks like two different women wear it, and I think they’re married women because they both also wear metal collars.

I was immediately reminded of the “lace bow worn as ‘traditional costume’ in turn-of-the-century Arles” Kendra pointed out in her review of 18th-century influences in Beauty and the Beast (2017).

More generally these lace caps resemble “coiffes bretonnes,” the various stiffened lace headdresses still worn today as folk costume in the Brittany region of France. The fashions started after the French Revolution and come in a variety of delightful shapes, as cataloged in this 1928 book. The specific shape of these pictured below shows off the elaborate lace made in the area, while the movie caps use a more simple lace with a wire structure. But the inspiration is there, IMO.

I also noticed the men’s hats, like those worn by Peter Dinklage, who plays “the Basket Weaver.”

He’s wearing a knitted version of the tall “sugarloaf” style hats worn from around the 1590s to 1640s, like this:

Knitted / woven effects are used throughout his costume, fitting a character who weaves for a living. His coat (above photo) and vest both have a thick woven appearance, and he also wears a knit beret:

The film has a “whimsical yet grounded medieval aesthetic” created by Hungarian production designer Renátó Cseh, as noted in the Budapest Reporter. The movie was filmed in Hungary, using sets recently built for a movie set in 15th-century Europe. The team of Hungarian costume designers (who’ve previously worked in fashion and design, along with dabbling in film) created an “anachronistic folk world rich in character detail” according to one preview.  The costumes mix renaissance through 18th-century peasant garb with touches of modern couture, and while that’s often something we’d snark, I think it works pretty well here.

For example, I was pleased to NOT see obvious metal grommets on the renaissance-y bodices (because metal grommets are the visible panty lines of historical costumes), like here:

And here:

Although the costumes worn by Elizabeth Debicki, as “the Tailor’s Wife,” have a bunch of other odd details. Like the peter-pan collar added to that laced-front bodice.

Here, it looks like she’s wearing a modern blazer (made in something thick and fuzzy) over a corset (made of the same fabric), accessorized with a weird triangle neckpiece (in a subtle pinstripe fabric). I can only hope the neckpiece is a version of the metal collars worn by the other presumably-married women.

The neckpiece is more clearly shown in this screencap, along with the corset — which looks like it has a very random set of buttons on the lower front.

Then there’s these ladies with hints of 18th-c. fashions…

On the left (in brown stripe) is a jacket reminiscent of these:

On the right, a woman wears a blue “zone-front” gown over a brown petticoat. Kendra has written here before about this style:

“The (so-called) ‘zone front’*: in which there is a separate overbodice front piece that slopes away from the center front neckline out to the waist, showing an underbodice (‘waistcoat’). This cutaway style was hugely popular in the 1780s, and could either indicate a specific dress style that was cut with this line (like the robe à la polonaise), or could simply be added as a menswear touch to a nightgown, riding habit, redingote, etc. (The 18th-Century Robe à la Polonaise).

*Because it’s my life’s work, I need to clearly state that the term “zone” is entirely modern! There’s no period term to describe this style, other than an ‘open’ bodice or dress (but earlier, V-shaped openings over stomachers — like on a française — were also called ‘open.’ So, we’re screwed. I’m going to call it ‘cutaway’ here as a shorthand).”

This is perhaps the most famous extant example of the style with a curved cutaway design:

Some of the menswear also skews 18th century, with long waistcoats:

And possibly fall-front breeches?

Finally, there’s Olivia Colman as “the Fisherwoman” in a scraggly outfit that looks just “generic historical peasant,” fitting her place in the film as smelly and sweary.

 

Does Wicker look appealing to you?