This approach comes from Johnson’s father, who worked for the FBI. He taught her how to “look at people in that kind of forensic detail,” she says. That now makes up the backbone of her work.

People watching and analysing passersby with this focus extends to the characters themselves. In many ways, the extensive research that Johnson commits to cuts to the very heart of her role as a costume designer.

“The costume designer digs into the forensics, the psychology, the why, the how of people’s impetus to dress the way they do,” Johnson says. “The first time you see someone, their clothing tells a story of who you think they might be. That first impression tells you so much of who you are as a viewer as well. That initial judgement we all make is so fascinating.”

Once the research is complete, the sourcing begins. This process is no less extensive than the research, and means Johnson has to look far and wide for the right clothing. A huge selection of clothes she uses are vintage – she points to the ties worn by Dafoe’s character Raymond in one segment of the film, which came from a vintage dealer in New Orleans. Sourcing such items involves visits to swap meets, flea markets and even stopping passersby in the street and making them an offer. That said, not everything involves trawling through vintage markets.

“In the first story, Robert and Raymond are two well-appointed gentlemen with discerning taste, elegant, and a little eccentric,” Johnson says. “MR PORTER was my go-to for special pieces such as Robert’s lilac silk TOM FORD turtleneck and his Loro Piana double-breasted suit, and Raymond’s Charvet shirts, TOM FORD turtleneck and Kingsman suit.”

This approach allowed Johnson to add an element of backstory to both Plemons’ and Dafoe’s characters. “We shot the movie in New Orleans, but needed the character in the first story to feel as if they shopped in Milan and Paris.”

With its anthology structure of and character-shifting actors, Kinds Of Kindness created unique challenges in terms of format. It also allowed Johnson the opportunity to work with Lanthimos, with whom she previously collaborated in 2019 on the short film Nimic. The Greek director is known for the creativity of his films, and some of his collaborators have garnered critical acclaim in their own right.

“Yorgos assembles a group of people that have a certain energy that could inspire one another or complement each other,” Johnson says. She describes the process as a “collective exploration” as people figure things out for themselves. “It can have surprising results. It’s a really nice way of working and inspires independent thinking, and collective group energy to come up with things that are not obvious.”

Good costumes are often ignored in films – if they accurately reflect the character’s personality, they should be invisible. No one comments on them unless they appear incongruous or out of place. However, there are a million questions that go into every garment. And many of those questions aren’t even about clothes.

“The costume is a signifier,” Johnson says. “A shorthand of where someone is coming from, what they’re made of, what their background is, what side they are on politically, they might be funny, are they shy? Are they extroverted?”

It is about “peeling back the layers” and showing how “one’s clothes telegraph the telepathy of the inner soul’s onion. You can see so much on someone’s clothing when they walk down the street, even if you’re wrong about the judgement.”

Costume design has a resonance outside of films as well. “It’s been the zeitgeist of popular culture and affects people dressing,” Johnson says. “Halloween costumes can just arrive from a movie that somebody was inspired by, and fashion trends are born out of cinema, music and art. Those are the best ways to get your creative energy going when you’re young and starting to develop your own personal style.”

Luckily, the work that people like Johnson have done – the research, sourcing and forensic attention to detail – means that the rest of us can just watch their films and take our inspiration from there.