Snell spoke with WWD about how the film's costumes communicate wealth, status and sisterhood.

The muted tones and layered elements of Grace Snell’s costume design for “Sense and Sensibility” are grounded, earthy, tangible — words that might not always come to mind with a film set around the turn of the 19th century.

“I think, for me, period dramas can sometimes be somewhat at arm’s length,” Snell told WWD over Zoom. “I think if you’re not familiar with the clothing of the period, it’s sometimes hard to make assumptions about where women are in society because everybody looks so lovely.”

The costume designer worked with filmmaker Georgia Oakley to create a visual language for the latest adaptation of Jane Austen’s first novel, emphasizing familial bonds and the financial divide between its characters.

The story follows the Dashwood family — sisters Elinor, Marianne and Margaret, played by Daisy Edgar-Jones, Esmé Creed-Miles and Bodhi Rae Breathnach, along with their mother, played by Caitríona Balfe, following the death of the family patriarch, which sees the women lose their comfortable living and a total change in their prospects.

While adaptations of Austen’s work almost immediately bring to mind sweeping romance and love stories, the author’s biting novels satirize and critique the position of women during Austen’s era, many of whom depended on men with money for financial security and stability in their lives.

“One of the biggest things for Georgia and myself was to have to visually see quite a difference in society, especially once [the Dashwoods] have fallen and have lost all their money,” Snell said.

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