Disney's live-action Cruella made a lot of buzz due to its star casting of Oscar-winners Emma Stone and Emma Thompson, but it truly strutted onto the scene with its show-stealing costumes that came from the Oscar-winning costume designed Jenny Beavan. Throughout Cruella, the titular character dons a huge range of fashion-driven looks. Disney's Cruella tells the origin story of one of their most iconic villains and is set during the fashion revolution of the 1970s, allowing Beavan to go all out with her designs for every one of Cruella's costumes in the 2021 movie.

Cruella sees Emma Stone's character slowly evolve from the meek Estella into Cruella de Vil herself and Jenny Beavan's Cruella costume designs make a powerful statement as they illustrate this narrative flow. There are plenty of details for fashion fans to hone in on to discover the full impact of the various fabrics, accessories, and all of their intricacies. Every aesthetic choice is specially designed to drive the audience's enjoyment and understanding of this character's transition into villainy and the motivations behind it. Here's a look at every costume Cruella wears in Cruella and a look at how the evolution is inspired by fashion trends and each holds its own significance.

Estella On The Con

Diving into Cruella's backstory, these earlier outfits show that fashion was always a passion of hers even if she didn't always have the means to be a part of the rich fashion world. To survive the streets of London, Estella and her found family (made up of Jasper, Horace, Wink, and Buddy) went on the con, pulling off many jobs and creating characters that wore costumes designed and sewn by Estella. It alludes to her later use of fashion as a weapon against the high-society types that covet it so much.

The first time the Cruella audience meets adult Estella, she is in one of her con costumes: a pinstripe suit with 3/4 sleeves and a dark blouse with cuffs. Disguised in a checkered coat, dark gloves, sunglasses, and a silk scarf, Estella and the team make easy pickings of businessmen on a London bus. For her next outfit, Estella's costume features a bored rich-girl look with a matching bandeau scarf. A leopard print top, fur hat and vest, with a matching bejeweled sweater for her partner Wink, complete Estella's costume for the next job.

Estella Working For The Baroness

When Estella finds a straight job at the Liberty Department Store, she finds the outfits aren't quite as glamorous. However, when she starts working for the Baroness, Estella begins to hone the edgy, slightly punk aesthetic that she later embraces as Cruella. Estella dresses in all black to blend in, complete in suits often set off by knicker style pants and a beret when she gets the chance to work with her fashion idol, The Baroness. The outfits Estella wears in the Baroness's fashion house are always paired with a signature pair of cat's eye glasses.

Estella/Cruella At The Baroness' Black & White Ball

Estella begins her fashion-centric revenge against the Baroness with this memorable entrance into her Black and White ball. Estella gives a classic gown design by The Baroness's a makeover and makes an entrance in a costume meant to startle and capture everyone's interest. Cruella enters in a white silk hooded cape and becomes the center of attention. It burns away in a scene reminiscent of Katniss Everdeen's fiery dress turning into the Mockingjay in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.

With the traditional and "acceptable" dress gone up in flames, Estella reveals a red gown that makes her standout in the crowd. It's not only red like the color of her blood that the Baroness callously drew but also red like the stone in Estella's mother's necklace. Estella wears it to symbolize both her past and what she wants for her future. It also plays into the punk theme of the 70s-set story with the color red introducing some anarachy into the black-and-white party.

The Leather Skirt-Suit

Cruella puts her Estella self away, debuting a colder, more arrogant version of herself after the Baroness' chilling confession at the Black and White Ball. Cruella recruits Anita and Artie to aid in her plan while wearing this outfit that not only has a sharp, patchwork look but it also brings to mind the checkerboard pattern of a game of chess – fitting since she intends to outwit and outplay the Baroness. The leather and corset-style shape of the jacket brings to mind a dominatrix, particularly when paired with Cruella's cane.

Motorcycle Outfit

Cruella throws down the gauntlet to the Baroness, arriving by motorcycle to crash the Baroness’s red carpet moment. Cruella introduces herself to the world by revealing her name in neon graffiti on the building. Her gold sequined pants and leather motorcycle-style jacket convey Cruella's vibe of a glam bad girl. Her dramatic face-paint simply reads, "The Future." It's another message to The Baroness: Cruella is the future and The Baroness is the past.

Petal Dress

Cruella makes a bold statement that there's a new fashion queen in town by trapping the Baroness in her car with a long, dramatic, feathery red and black skirt of her imperial outfit complete with a military jacket with epaulets. The jacket is a not-so-subtly way of telling the Baroness that they are at war and Cruella seems to predict the end of the Baroness by literally covering her in flowers as if it were a funeral burial.

Garbage Truck Dress

Cruella crashes another Baroness event, arriving by garbage truck, having created an elegant ballgown of fabric and recycled gossip and tabloid stories about herself. Her glamorous look is topped by her Marie Antoinette-style pouf hairstyle and glittering makeup - as always, Cruella shows how she can take nothing and turn it into something amazing. In that same scene, what at first looks like garbage spilling out of the back of the truck is transformed when Cruella reveals it to be her wearing a magnificent gown with an extreme train. It is Cruella's way of showing that she can play dirty and still look good doing it.

The Dog Coat

Once again, Cruella upstages The Baroness by throwing a concert outside during The Baroness's fashion show with the Stooges' song "I Wanna Be Your Dog" making for a memorable addition to the Cruella soundtrack and a fitting song for this particular scene. While Emma Stone's version of Cruella is not as cruel as some of the other versions, she is not above playing mind games with the Baroness. After stealing the Baroness' dogs, Cruella debuts a "dalmatian" ensemble that implies some true wickedness on her part even though she never actually harmed the animals.

Charity Gala Frock

It is surprising that in a movie about the famous Disney villain, Cruella isn't even the most evil character in Cruella. In fact, the audience cheers for Cruella to get payback against the Baroness in this climactic scene. Cruella creates a room full of look-alikes and forces the Baroness to acknowledge her by sending costumes, (a severe straight black dress with geometrically designed shoulder cape and Cruella wigs) to all of the Baroness's latest party guests. This is one of the most understated costumes of Cruella and uses the Baroness's restrictive idea of fashion against her.

Confronting The Baroness

At the climax of the film, Estella confronts the Baroness wearing an outfit that calls back to her original costumes before her transformation first began. There are two key differences to those original outfits, however: the skirt is distinctly fuller and her sleeves are much puffier. When the Baroness pushes Estella over the balcony in an effort to kill her, it is revealed that the outfit's skirt actually transforms into a parachute enabling her to fake her death at the hands of the Baroness.

Resurrected Outfit

After the Baroness is arrested, Cruella makes her grand return wearing a marvelous patent leather and silk design that coordinates perfectly with her hair to reveal to the public she was not dead in the climax of Cruella. It's one part dominatrix, one part haute couture, and one part boss lady - perfect for Cruella's coming out and feels like a fitting homage to the Glenn Close version of Cruella.

Final Outfit

Cruella gives Estella a proper burial while wearing something that could be considered a mourning dress. It's notable that she's wearing the same choker necklace that she wore the night the Baroness seemingly killed Estella. The same choker is spotted again at the end of the movie, so it clearly holds some significance to Cruella. Cruella claims her rightful legacy, in a dramatic cape with bell sleeves. Her witch-like silhouette is fitting – as she drives in to take possession of Hellman Hall, some of the letters fall off the sign to transform it into "Hell Hall" – and Cruella is the diabolical mistress at its heart.