Hunger Games‘ Costumer Spills On How She Dressed The Districts

The Hunger Games series is not a tale of fashion, glamour, or beauty, despite what the fancy collaborations and movie tie-ins might infer. Instead, it attempts to critique a world where the distribution of wealth is so wildly uneven that, in order to maintain control, a dictatorship forces young people to fight one another to the death. But, when you have incredible poverty paired with remarkable wealth, the stark visual contrast can be truly dramatic. Fortunately, Catching Fire's costume designer, Trish Summerville, understands the tension between the wealthy and poor, and instead of turning the second Hunger Games film into a "fashion bonanza," she took the time to use fashion to tell a story — even if that story isn't always chic.

Of course, that doesn't mean that the fashion isn't gorgeous and straight off the runways (Effie is admittedly very McQueen, Summerville says). The Capitol is image-obsessed, using extreme dyes, modifications, and uncomfortable style to communicate the excess experienced by those who don't live in the districts. And, as much as this story isn't about fashion, it is about what Katniss is wearing: to be subversive, to be protected, or to be a fantasy princess paraded in front of the people. "There's a lot to translate," says Summerville, who acts like the real-life Cinna to the new film. Check out what dressing all of Panem means — and exactly how she did it.