Meet the Man Behind Those Stunning Wrinkle in Time Costumes

If there’s one thing that stands out in Disney’s “A Wrinkle in Time” it’s the immaculate costumes. It’s one piece of the puzzle I couldn’t quite put together when reading the story. Then again, I didn’t picture the three Mrs to be so gorgeous. I imagined old ladies wrapped up in bedsheets. Not glamorous dresses.

If you’ve seen the movie you know how stunning the costumes are, and how MANY there are. It seems as though every other scene the three Mrs had different dresses on.

The man behind those designs is Paco Delgado, and our group had the opportunity to talk to him about his inspiration while we were in Los Angeles last month. He said the tiny words on Mrs. Who’s costume cape were first inspired by graffiti.

“I was thinking, you know, that you walk into the streets, and graffiti is amazing… I don’t think a lot of people have really stopped to think about it. But graffiti is an amazing artistic expression,” Delgado said. “It’s not just, making a drawing of a butterfly. It’s like saying a message.”

Paco Delgado; photo via: Louise Manning Bishop / MomStart.com

And that’s what led him to realize Mindy Kaling’s character Mrs. Who could have something like graffiti all over her dress. Then he thought of ways he could evolve the words beyond just the English language.

“We all use the Latin alphabet, but on that, I just thought, you know, I mean, she embodies all the culture,” Delgado said. “She has to have Chinese. She has to have, you know, an invented alphabet. Consistently being in the universe. And maybe she speaks a language of a culture that we haven’t encountered yet. Or maybe in 200 years we will encounter them.”

For more on our interview with costume designer Paco Delgado just search #WrinkleinTimeEvent on Twitter and you’ll see many more perspectives. And in case you are totally in the dark about A Wrinkle in Time, here’s a bit to get you up to speed:

Visionary director Ava DuVernay comes Disney’s “A Wrinkle in Time,” an epic adventure based on Madeleine L’Engle’s timeless classic which takes audiences across dimensions of time and space, examining the nature of darkness versus light and, ultimately, the triumph of love. Through one girl’s transformative journey led by three celestial guides, we discover that strength comes from embracing one’s individuality and that the best way to triumph over fear is to travel by one’s own light.

Disney

Meg Murry is a typical middle school student struggling with issues of self-worth who just wants to fit in. The daughter of two world-renowned physicists, she is intelligent and uniquely gifted, as is Meg’s younger brother, Charles Wallace, but she has yet to realize it for herself. Complicating matters is the mysterious disappearance of Mr. Murry, which has left Meg devastated and her mother broken-hearted. Charles Wallace introduces Meg and her fellow classmate Calvin to three celestial beings (Mrs. Which, Mrs. Whatsit and Mrs. Who) who have journeyed to Earth to help search for their father, and together they embark on their formidable quest. Traveling via a wrinkling of time and space known as tessering, they are transported to worlds beyond their imagination where they must confront a powerful evil force. To make it back home to Earth, Meg must face the darkness within herself in order to harness the strength necessary to defeat the darkness rapidly enveloping the Universe.

Directed by Oscar® nominee Ava DuVernay from a screenplay by Oscar winner Jennifer Lee based upon the beloved novel by Madeleine L’Engle, “A Wrinkle in Time” stars: two-time Academy Award® nominee

Oprah Winfrey as Mrs. Which, Oscar winner Reese Witherspoon as Mrs. Whatsit, Emmy® nominee Mindy Kaling as Mrs. Who, Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Mrs. Murry, Michael Peňa as Red and introducing Storm Reid as Meg Murry, with two-time Emmy winner Zach Galifianakis as The Happy Medium and Emmy nominee Chris Pine as Mr. Murry.