Production Companies New Line Cinema, WingNut Films, Lord Dritte Productions Deutschland Filmproduktion GmbH & Co. KG (in association with), The Saul Zaentz Company (licensor) (d/b/a Tolkien Enterprises)
With each film, Oscar-nominated Ngila Dickson and her team started from scratch in designing, developing and hand-making the myriad costumes for each of the three films in the trilogy. Dickson sees her work as not deriving from fantasy, but creating clothes that could have existed thousands of years ago. At the earliest stages of preparation, Dickson wrote her own histories for each character to develop how their costumes would evolve throughout the journey. "We’re developing a completely new world with each film that we do," Dickson describes. "Enormous arcs happen with each character and part of that is aided through costume changes."
The most dramatic transformation in The Return of the King is undergone by Aragorn -- from anonymous Ranger to the destined King of Gondor. "The biggest element of the final film is Strider assuming the mantle of king," says Dickson. "It represents the side of him he always knew was there but kept hidden. In bringing him to that moment in the character, we drew on a lot of different things. We brought in the White Tree of Gondor. We made the colors stronger and more resolute for him. Royal red becomes very important. And they actually relate back to parts of his costume -- in his Strider costume he wore, for quite a period of time, this very faded red shirt. We've carried that through thematically."
For the Hobbits, the third film also represented dramatic changes in wardrobe. From their previously earthy, simple designs, Dickson created miniature versions of the Rohan Guards’ costume (for Merry) and the Gondorian uniform (for Pippin), extrapolating on where these smaller uniforms would come from. "It comes back to the idea of always making sure that you can believe how this happened," Dickson explains. "The Rohan Captain costume was based on the idea that Théoden's first outfit as a child of the court was gifted to Merry. Pippin’s would have belonged to Boromir or Faramir when they were children. As in the nature of any great court, specially made wardrobe for children would be kept in the family and passed down through the generations."
Dickson used all organic fabrics that appeared lived in and realistic when aged, and made two sets of everything to accommodate the scale doubles for the different characters in the film, particularly the Hobbits. The wardrobe department managed between 30 and 40 costumes per actor.
Wellington, New Zealand-based Jasmine Watson provided the jewelry to complement the wardrobe.
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