A Fashion Analysis of 'The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping'

What do District 12 escort Drusilla Sickle and Aunt Gladys from runaway horror hit Weapons have in common? (Besides terrorizing children, that is.) Her severe red bob certainly makes an impression at the trailer’s start. The character’s face is embellished with thumbtacks, a grotesque surgical choice from the novel that demonstrates the Capitol’s shift into aesthetic extremism that we know so well from the original trilogy.

There’s no better way to convey that shift towards spectacle than through Sickle’s obvious surgical proclivities, wasplike tunic, and blackbird hairpiece. Lucy Gray Baird had been the flashiest girl at her own reaping ceremony in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, her iconic rainbow dress outshining the few Capitol attendees present at the time. Even the drawing of her name for her Games lacked the same ceremony that this new film introduces: Rather than the traditional on-camera lottery, her name was announced by District 12’s mayor. It’s clear that the games are beginning to have more structure, more glitz and glam to cater to its growing audience. It’s visually alluring and incredibly unsettling.

Speaking of escorts, a first glimpse of Effie Trinket, played by Elle Fanning, just might assert her as the most indisputable fan casting of all time. Effie’s younger years see her not quite at the level of garish, powdered perfection that Elizabeth Banks’ iteration of the character reaches in the OG trilogy, but her oversized butterfly pendant, star-studded hair piece, and clustered lashes ring true to the character’s eccentricities and love for the extreme impression. Her embodiment of a younger Capitol crowd that naively sees the Games as “for a greater good” is sure to stand in stark contrast to a post-bloodbath Haymitch when they appear together on-screen.

It also seems like the tributes’ garb has been upgraded for the big screen. While Suzanne Collins’ novel places them in a simple long-sleeve, pants and belt combo colored based on district, Joseph Zada’s young Haymitch and the rest of the tributes take their marks at the Cornucopia with the addition of sweeping white cloaks that could be easily tripped on, torn, tugged – you name it. The movement towards standardizing arena wear (given that we saw Lucy Gray Baird simply wear her Reaping dress into the Games) points to an increasing awareness of the tournament’s entertainment value, given that it is now a much more public affair – a political gambit that is best served to the public on a television screen.

As telling as the costuming within the film is, panoramic overhead views of the Quarter Quell’s candy-colored arena might be the most indicative stylistic choice of all. The cornucopia serves up Midsommar-level realness, rows of flowers dividing each tribe from one another in meticulous patches. It’s a setup for a daytime horror movie if I’ve ever seen one, and epitomizes the Capitol’s obsession with that aforementioned spectacle.

Readers will know that the arena’s paradise turns out to serve up horror and violence in spades, and its gruesome hidden underbelly is an apt metaphor for the bloodlust and apathy gracing the upper echelon of Panem.

All in all, I’m obsessed.

I love the glimpses of Haymitch and his sweetheart Lenora back in District 12, their simple garments and general happy demeanor posing a sharp contrast to the beautiful horrors that compose the trailer’s remaining footage. I love seeing McKenna Grace taking on a serious franchise role, prompting me to reflect on the uncomfortable fact that most of the leads are younger than me this time around. And I love Ralph Fiennes’ first appearance as the tyrannical President Snow, the color of his coat perhaps the most telling fashion metaphor of all: Stark, blood red.

Image courtesy of Lionsgate/Murray Close