sallyhwkins:

It was up to Luis Sequeira to design the elaborate ball gown Hawkins wears in the scene. He found inspiration in [Ginger] Rogers’s sequined dress from the film Top Hat, a design that he felt would best complement Hawkins’s petite frame.

“We had the finest of French Chantilly lace that was completely cut up and appliquéd onto fine tulle. Cream feathers were used strategically along the lower half of the dress, so when it twisted and rotated, it gave an extra floating element. Then underneath that, there was a silk chiffon gauze that acted as a screen. Below that was silk chiffon with sequins, so that the whole dress had a shimmer to it. The dress was lined in a silk charmeuse, and underneath that were rows and rows of silk organza ruffles. The final step was hand-placing more than two thousand Swarovski crystals, in various sizes, in an ombré pattern.” 

— Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water: Creating a Fairy Tale for Troubled Times