Fashion and film have long been kindred spirits, but there seems to be no more perfect marriage of the two genres than the current predilection for saccharine frills- as seen on the catwalk at Erdem, Valentino, Gucci and many more- and the costumes in The Beguiled, the latest work by Sofia Coppola which comes out this weekend.

Starring Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst and Elle Fanning, the film centres around a Christian boarding school in the Deep South during the Civil War where a handful of pupils and their teachers remain holed up within its decaying grandeur as war rages in the forests around them.When they discoverinjured soldier Corporal McBurney and take him in, their quietly disciplined lives are turned upside down.

Although The Beguiled"s story has already been told in both film and book format, costume designer Stacey Battat didn???t watch or read either- ???a lot of people might think it???s negligent not to pay attention to them, but my feeling about that is that we???re making something brand new,??? she theorises.

Instead, her starting point for the crisp cotton dresses in pale hues and delicate prints was something which Coppola saidearly on in the creative process.???She said that she wanted them to feel like ghosts who had been left behind,???Battat recalls, ???that never left me.???She says that ???diaphanous, light, romanticand mossy??? were the other prompts which she worked to.

Rather than adhering to the costume norms of the time- which would have seen the women donning dark colours, often as a sign of mourning for the men they had lost- Battat creates a world of pretty innocence, building a montage of looks which are at once the same, but different and which she researched during visits to The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the V&A in London, where she pored over textile samples and original dresses from the time.

???The goal was to make them look like they belonged together and have a similarity, but mix the prints and the patterns in a nice way so that they didn???t look clashing,??? she explains.Whether the costumes are seen lit by candlelight during tension-laced late-night conversations with the soldier patient, played by Colin Farrell, or fluttering in the breeze on the washing line in the school???s bucolic, overgrown garden, each has a considered, ladylike-yet-innocent feel.

Headmistress Miss Martha, played with steely grace by Nicole Kidman, ???is the most stern so she had the least amount of frills???.One of her signature buttoned-up blouses was based on a style worn by women from the time which Battat felt was ???very authoritative and uniform-y???.By contrast, Elle Fanning???s Alicia ???was the flirtiest??? with costumes covered in frills and flounces all the better to underscore her coy behaviour.

Then there???s Kirsten Dunst as the romantic heroine of sorts, Miss Edwina, whose heartfelt narrative is played out in her penchant for ditsy florals and diaphanous fabrics.In one scene, Miss Edwina wears her very ???best??? dress in a bid to attract Corporal McBurney???s attention but the other girls soon notice her all-too-blatant efforts; when it is pointed out to Miss Martha that Miss Edwina is wearing a shoulder-exposing dress, she asks the younger teacher to place a shawl over her shoulders to preserve her modesty.Ironically, Miss Martha borrows the very same tactic herself in a later scene.

Although Battat avoided sticking too rigidly to the period conventions, some details acted as perfect accomplices to the rich visual storytelling at play.In one scene of heightened flirtation from Alicia, she wears pretty pink ribbons in bows around her wrists; ???it was something which women did in the Civil War which I thought it was cute.???

Elsewhere, the girls??? amplifiy the sweetly innocent appeal of their petticoats and blouses by wearing crowns of fresh flowers.???We thought they would have picked the flowers in the fields and made an effort to put them in their hair for him,???Battat reflects.

If the film???s costumes ultimately have a feeling of romantic dreaminess then their purest incarnation comes in the few night time scenes when they wear beautiful cotton and lace nightdresses.Around 90% of the film???s costumes were handmade by Battat and her team, including Kidman and Dunst???s sleepwear.???The team hand-sewed every individual bit of lace into the top of Miss Martha???s nightgown.It???s really complicated so they are like couture nightgowns,??? she remembers.

???We joked around about The Beguiled night gown line and how it would be the most expensive night gown line there ever was, it would be $4,000 for each one.???She may be laughing at the thought, but I???d wager that people would pay for their very own piece of the The Beguiled???s loveliness.

Ruffles, frills and dreamy dresses: get The Beguiled look