Wuthering Heights (1956)?

What Margot Robbie’s costumes get wrong about Brontë—and right about mid-century cinema

I’ve been staring at the Vogue Exclusive costume stills from Wuthering Heights, where Margot Robbie is playing Cathy and Jacob Elordi is Heathcliff, and having a weird reaction where I kind of love them…but I also don’t think they’re right for Wuthering Heights. Like, not even close.

If you came for late-18th/early-19th century accuracy, go ahead and leave now (just kidding…please stay!).

Almost every look is either a) wrong for the period, b) wrong for the region, or c) accurate for an entirely different era — mostly the 1950s or 60s. The red velvet cape in the snow? Gorgeously cinematic, but pure Technicolor melodrama. Same with that shiny red “latex” dress (not actually latex), which feels more Mugler than anything Brontë described.

But here’s the thing: it’s intentional. The movie isn’t pretending to be accurate. Costume legend Jacqueline Durran already admitted to the “inaccuracy,” saying the mood board “marries Victorian and 1950s.” Once you know that, it clicks — corsets, dramatic waists, candy-glass fabrics, Chanel jewelry in Cathy’s hair and garments.

And as someone who loves 1950s and 60s fashion, I’m not complaining. I love when movies aren’t afraid of whimsy. Of risk. Paying homage to mid-century melodrama feels bolder than another beige BBC costume drama.

The internet has already turned this into a fan theory playground. Some think the movie is from the perspective of a teenage girl reading Wuthering Heights and imagining herself inside it — the pink cellophane “gift wrap” dress does give that. Others think Margot Robbie is reading the book and mentally casting herself in an Old Hollywood fantasy. Then there are the Kate Bush fanatics convinced it’s a nod to her song (the red cape is incredibly Kate Bush-esque).

Personally, I don’t think the shtick is that literal. It feels like an old Hollywood Wuthering Heights that never happened — a lost 1956 studio adaptation, Emerald Fennell just finished in 2025, perhaps. The pieces aren’t modern or “period accurate.” They’re costumes in the cinematic sense — and the movie knows it.

Which is why I’m torn. Wuthering Heights is tied to class, land, and social structure. Clothing matters in a literal way. The story is rooted in reality, not fantasy. So when Cathy shows up in a shiny red synthetic dress, part of my brain screams “wrong movie!” and the other screams “camp!!” Add the vintage Chanel and couture references, and it gets even more stylized.

So no, I’m not convinced these costumes are right for Wuthering Heights. But I do think they’re right for Wuthering Heights (2025) — or 1956. Maybe the movie isn’t trying to be Wuthering Heights at all, but the Wuthering Heights dreamed up by Kate Bush, a teenage girl, or camp lovers alike.

Either way, it’s bold. And honestly? I’d rather have bold than boring.