Wild and Weird Wear

THE FILM: “Wild at Heart”

THE SET UP: David Lynch, director of television’s quirky “Twin Peaks,” showcases another of his own strange visions. The plot stays simple: Sailor and Lula (Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern, pictured) hit the road after her mom, who’s not crazy about him, takes a contract out on his life. In their travels they meet up with a wild assortment of oddball personalities and purely absurd situations. The world according to Lula is, “wild at heart and weird on top.” And it’s rated R.

THE LOOK: Patricia Norris, who served as costumer and production designer on the film, says that from Day One she realized the clothes would have to be a bit bizarre. They’re not “real clothes, as in things you would actually wear,” she says. “There’s something about this film that’s beyond your sense of reality.” Sailor’s best outfit is a sublime and strange mix: black shirt over black jeans and one of the loudest-color snake-skin jackets this side of a Motley Crue video. “It’s somewhere between cool and annoying,” Norris says. Lula’s look favors underwear-as-outerwear, her basic uniform being a sheer lingerie teddy over tights and cowboy boots. “The underwear is just fun,” Norris says. “She dresses the way you’d never look around mommy.”

THE STORES: Wardrobe is minimal here, since both romantic leads wear only what they tossed in the car before they left town. “It’s sort of a capsule wardrobe,” says Norris. Lula’s trademark lingerie was picked up at Trashy Lingerie on La Cienega. Avoiding labels and well-known stores Norris, found Sailor’s wardrobe in what seems a likely spot--Nicolas Cage’s closet. “Nicolas brought in the jacket,” Norris says. “I saw it and realized that jacket was going to guide my life. I made up three of them in a more obnoxious shade of orange.” The snakeskin blazer carries thematic as well as visual punch. Twice in the film we hear Sailor state, “This here jacket’s a symbol of my individuality and belief in personal freedom.” Words to live--and dress--by.