‘Forbidden Fruits’ Costume Designer Breaks Down the Campy, Y2K Looks: Shop the American Eagle Pieces That Made Them Possible

Costume designer Sarah Millman came onto witchy cult horror movie “Forbidden Fruits” with a constrained budget, a tight prep window and a cast of characters who each needed to feel visually distinct. The answer came from an unlikely collaborator: American Eagle.

American Eagle came on as a sponsor for the film in a way the designer described as unlike anything she’d done before. “A mall brand was helping fund a movie about a mall,” she tells Variety with a laugh. The partnership wasn’t just financial — American Eagle supplied the foundational pieces that grounded each character’s look, filling out the costume department’s racks and anchoring the aesthetic in something realistic, yet outlandish. “It really just grounded the film in the mall,” she says.

The overall aesthetic? “Campy, Y2K, a little bit vintage inspired” — and very much a product of its mall setting.

But though the pieces were accessible, that didn’t mean the costumes were effortless. Preparation for the film began weeks before the official start of production. The designer spent about a week building mood boards — eight hours a day — and reached out to more than 100 brands in the early weeks of prep, looking for partners willing to lend or donate pieces for the shoot. Beyond American Eagle, the team thrifted roughly a third of the total wardrobe, supplemented by vintage rentals and a handful of custom builds and alterations.

Each character received her own visual identity. Apple, the Coven leader played by Lili Reinhart, was anchored by deep reds and blacks. Cherry, played by Victoria Pedretti, leaned into pastels and high-femme silhouettes, drawing references from figures like Anna Nicole Smith and Lana Del Rey. Fig, played by Alexandra Shipp, the resident mall goth, pulled from references like FKA Twigs and early Aaliyah. And Pumpkin, played by “The Summer I Turned Pretty” star Lola Tung — the most grounded of the group — wore the most American Eagle as her palette was deliberately less elevated, her style still finding itself.

The actors were deeply involved in building out their looks with accessories in particular, which became a largely collaborative exercise. “My instinct isn’t to pile 17 necklaces on,” the designer admits. However, in the end, heavy jewelry became essential to Fig’s wardrobe through validation from Shipp that it would be fitting for the character. “It’s so valuable to have someone else be like, well, actually, I think it could be cool,” Millman says. Like Shipp, Pedretti helped shape Cherry’s look, even requesting the glasses and oversized scrunchie that became a staple for the character. Pumpkin’s heart necklace — a piece that anchors the character across nearly every scene — was chosen by the Tung herself during a fitting.

Even Emma Chamberlain’s character, Pickle, was outfitted heavily in American Eagle. “[Chamberlain] was cartwheeling backwards into all that American Eagle,” Millman says. “It just grounded the character so much.” True to form, Chamberlain had the pieces hemmed shorter and altered. It’s the kind of customization the designer says everyone should feel empowered to try. “Don’t feel like you have to spend a million dollars to get a cute fit.”

Shop a few of the American Eagle pieces as seen in “Forbidden Fruits” below and at the official site.