Interview: Meet Barbara Gregusova, the costume designer for The Knight Before Christmas

With a dozen Christmas movies under her belt, costume designer Barbara Gregusova knows how to set the stage for a beautiful Christmas film.

Barbara Gregusova knows her way around a Christmas movie. With a dozen Christmas credits to her name, the costume designer for Netflix’s The Knight Before Christmas knows how to bring viewers into the Christmas season.

The Knight Before Christmas follows a medieval knight (Josh Whitehouse) who magically lands in modern-day Ohio and falls in love with a disillusioned high school science teacher (Vanessa Hudgens).

I chatted with The Knight Before Christmas‘ costume designer about the joys and constraints of designing a Christmas movie and our shared background in theater costume design. (My mom worked in local theater for years, and Gregusova just finished designing Macbeth in Vancouver.)

Culturess: Let’s start off by telling me about your creative process. How did you develop your vision for The Knight Before Christmas? 

Gregusova: I started to research the armor for Sir Cole. I researched the period for the 14th century [and then] it was time to source it. We rented the armor from Angels in London, but the doublet was too short for him to wear, so we added a skirt.

I talked to Vanessa, and she suggested to do the pants. I wanted her to look special, and for her sweaters, I wanted there to be a connection between Sir Cole and Vanessa in the wardrobe, and I was looking for certain sweaters and blouses that looked unique. I wanted little historical aspects in her wardrobe but in modern times.

Culturess: Many medieval movies have dark color palettes and use mostly neutral earth tones without any vivid color. This movie is overall very bright. What led you to Cole’s beautiful red cape?

Gregusova: It’s a Christmas movie, but I didn’t want to go over the top. It’s kind of what happened naturally in the fitting.

The cape we found in Angels in London and we liked it the most. For his armor, he has lots of under layers. The doublet we ended up going with was rusty red and brown, but there was also a bright red option, so it could have been more Christmassy.

You have to work with the actor’s body type and figure out what is going to work to work for his character. We had two possibilities of armor, and we had them shipped to Toronto for the fitting. We had to keep in mind whichever armor we chose to keep him as comfortable as possible for sitting on the horse and his other movement.

Culturess: It seems like Cole’s key color is red, while Brooke’s is green, and they match in blue as their romance develops. Aside from the obvious red and green Christmas symbolism, what did you hope to convey with the color palette?

Gregusova: I did lots of Christmas movies, and the movies I worked on, they didn’t really like any sparkles. There was this beautiful gold sweater I found, which actually ended up on camera, which I wouldn’t have been able to use in another movie. I really wanted it to get approved, and luckily, it did.

I found a short sleeve silver T-shirt. I never really used that color on any other Christmas movie, and it was a very good piece for Vanessa and very elegant . Each piece looked very special and picked properly.

Culturess: As Cole becomes more modern, Brooke also takes on more of Cole’s traits. I’m remembering in particular the scene with the cream sweater that has the appliqué that looks like an antique collar. Was this intentional?

Gregusova: I was definitely looking for lots of texture. I love texture and I love fabrics. The coats were the hardest thing that time of year. I started prep in April and we went to camera at the end of April so all the coats were out of season … there were just no coats out there.

The green one at the end, it’s more like a darker, deeper green I would say. That’s something that would end up in another Christmas movie. The brown capelet [she wears in the tree farm scene] is probably my favorite. Vanessa looked so good in it during the movie.

I usually go to the stores and figure out what would look good for each character, and everything comes together during the fitting. It’s kind of a natural process because you have to work with the actor’s body type.

Culturess: Brooke mostly wears high-waisted pants and tops in the movie. If I remember correctly, we don’t actually ever see her in a dress or skirt. Why did you make this choice? 

Gregusova: Since she’s a science teacher, it didn’t really make sense for me to put her in skirts and dresses prior to the feast. It just didn’t make sense. She wouldn’t be overdressing herself when she has a knight in shining armor just staying there. So mostly she wears the trousers just off and on throughout the whole movie.

Culturess: I see that you’ve worked on a lot of Christmas movies. What is your favorite part and what makes them challenging?

Gregusova: One challenge is to make them look different. There are productions, which really want to [accentuate] the Christmas colors. The other challenge is they are usually shot in summer. There’s no coats, no gloves, no sweaters [available]. Like for The Knight Before Christmas, we actually ordered the Christmas sweater with the hood for Cole from Amazon. I was looking for something different that I’d never used in any of my movies before. I do like Christmas, fantasy, princesses and knights. In a Christmas movie it really depends on the story. We don’t usually have a knight in shining armor coming to a modern day, so the challenge to put medieval and modern together was exiting because it gave me different aspects to play with.

I was really happy how it all turned out. For two months you do end up putting in more than 12-hour days, sometime you put in like a 21-hour day. So it was very exciting for me to attend the premiere at Netflix in L.A. and enjoy watching it and knowing there’s nothing I’d want to change.

Culturess: What is your favorite look in the film?

Gregusova: For Vanessa, it would definitely be the gold sweater. She didn’t wear it with the brown caplet jacket, but that’s my favorite.

Culturess: Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Gregusova: I’d like to thank my small team. I couldn’t do the show by myself … every person on my team helped to make it happen.

The Knight Before Christmas is streaming on Netflix now.