Joel Miller (Pedro Pascal) has a laundry list of concerns in the post-apocalyptic ,” which didn’t phase the actor.
“I’m excited to be wearing comfortable clothes, with boots I can work and run in,” Summers recalls him saying. “Bella said the same thing because she does a lot of period work.” This reaction helped put the designer’s mind at ease: “That was a great boost for me because I was like, ‘Oh, these two great actors coming in, and they’re used to playing within these amazing period pieces and sci-fi, and here’s your jeans and T-shirt, and you’re gonna get really dirty, bloody and everything else.’”
Photograph by Liane Hentscher/HBO
Dressing Bella Ramsey as the Perfect Ellie
Whereas The Baby-Sitters Club had an overt nod to the iconic plaid suit worn by Alicia Silverstone in Clueless, teen attire in The Last of Us is much more Lindsay Weir (Linda Cardellini) from Freaks and Geeks. An army jacket paired with a hoodie, baseball tee, jeans, and Converse could work in 1980 or 2023—Cordyceps brain infection or not.
“That was important for us to land on a nonspecific time period,” Summers says, when I mention the ubiquitous style choice for Ellie. “Even though we know we start in 2003, Austin, Texas, within four days, the whole world falls apart to this pandemic,” says Summers. “So if you think about that 20 years, people stopped with their fashion in 2003.”
Not everyone is fashion-forward, but there is another reason why you won’t spot Ellie leaning into early ’00s trends like ultra-rise pants. “We wanted to find a look for Ellie that spoke to the game but also had a timeless teenage look, so we weren’t taken out of this suspended reality that we’re in,” the designer says.
“You need to look for that middle ground, that Middle America look,” Summers says about the initial baseball tee with the purple ringer neck. Ellie is not a typical adolescent and has never gone to the mall. However, in Episode 3, she does acquire the red shirt with a gold palm tree print from Frank’s (Murray Bartlett) closet to match the recognizable ensemble from the video game.
“You’ll notice there are pieces of the iconic look—and I’m not gonna give it away—that remain with her for the rest of the season,” Summers teases. The duo will travel through burning summer heat and minus 40 temperatures (with the windchill factor) winters. “Layers may be added or changed somewhat. There are pieces that remain that I think were important to stay with the character,” she says. The “organic trail we left behind” should please gamers and new fans.
One clothing connection eagle-eyed viewers have spotted is the green and red plaid shirt Joel changes into when grabbing supplies from Frank and Bill’s (Nick Offerman) home. Frank is wearing this shirt during his fight with Bill about sprucing up the neighborhood (“Paying attention to things—it’s how we show love”), and while Joel is only an acquaintance of the couple, this link doesn’t go unnoticed.
“All of that is due to Craig Mazin,” Summers says about this choice. “It’s all in the small details, especially on a show like this, and he tries to connect and weave characters together in ways that we probably wouldn’t think of.”
Imagery isn’t chosen randomly, including references and Easter eggs from the game. The artwork on Ellie’s red shirt and Joel’s now-deceased daughter Sarah’s (Nico Parker) pink Halicon Drops band tee is created by The Last of Us video game company Naughty Dog. When Druckmann made the game, Halicon Drops is what his then-two-year-old daughter “called her stuffy, and he thought it sounded like a cool band name.” Summers says that details like this add layers of humanity that “make it easy for the rest of us on The Last of Us.”
There are no longer stores to shop in—other than Frank’s boutique—but The Last of Us demonstrates that all you need for a signature look is one durable jacket that can double as a pillow.
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