When Miley Cyrus hits the big screen in Hannah Montana: The Movie, you can bet that thousands upon thousands of young girls will be watching. And those young girls will be taking note of what Miley is wearing. The fashion of Hannah Montana is a fashion blend of over-the-top, pop-star glam and down-home, approachable style. We chatted with costume designer Christopher Lawrence about creating these two distinct looks, his favorite pieces, and what it was like working with the world's most famous teenager.

Natalie Broulette: Where did you get your inspiration for the costumes?

Christopher Lawrence: In the film, Miley really has two key looks. There's Hannah the pop star and then there's Miley Stewart in Tennessee. When the film opens, Miley Stewart is enjoying the Hannah pop star life full tilt -- the paparazzi, free clothes and the jet-set lifestyle. Whether she's shopping or taking a private jet somewhere, she's completely pulled together kind of unlike pop stars of today. So as I thought about how I would want to set Hannah apart from her real-life contemporaries, I really looked at what makes a fashion icon and that's where I tried to draw my inspiration, from back when we really had movie stars like Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn and Faye Dunaway in Bonnie and Clyde.

Costume designers back then were literally designing everything the actors wore in a movie. They didn't shop anything, and unfortunately, in this day and age, all that's changed, and we do go to stores and rely on fashion designers to help design a character's look. So for Hannah, I decided I wanted to change all that and design every garment she wore. Everything that Miley wears as Hannah Montana I designed. I really had to think about Hannah's role as a pop star and took very seriously her role model status. If you look around at teenage girls today they don't look like teenagers. They're emulating the Britneys of the world, and they're dressing so much older than they should be, and they're really dressing too sexy for their age.

I really wanted to make Hannah look like a teenager -- a beautiful, fun, exciting 16-year-old girl. So in the design, I didn't do any micro-mini skirts or camisoles, any strapless or spaghetti-strap tops. I designed her clothes to be much more playful. There's ruffle skirts and big bows and petticoats, little shortie jackets in bright colors with really fun accessories. Just to give it more of a contemporary and relevant pop-star vibe, I added things like spray-painted graffiti to a party dress and screen-printed jewelry on t-shirts and things like that.

NB: What about the Miley character?

CL: For Miley, that was much more about the location. She's on the farm, so we pulled the color palette way back. I still designed a lot of the clothes for her, and again going back in time and doing classic feminine blouses and some beautiful '70s carefree looks. Miley is remembering what her life was like before Hannah started to take over. I wanted to share a simpler, softer side to Miley, so looking at the farm and the faded colors really inspired me to take her to a much softer palette. It was also great to contrast Hannah and Miley.

NB: Are there standout pieces that were fun for you to design that we should keep on eye out for?

CL: My favorite outfit, I think, is a white satin party dress. It's strapless and it's short, but again because I didn't really want to do strapless on her, she wears it over a bright kelly green tank top and a trendy little blue shrug sweater. And then I found this beautiful antique cut-out fabric that has black circles and ovals, so we put that around the top of the dress, on the bust line. Then on the bottom border of the dress, I had an artist spray-paint the same circles and ovals, so it has a little punkier edge. She wore it with a platform tennis shoe that was really cool. That dress I really love because you can see sort of the '50s influence, but it's completely modern and relevant for today's fashion. The other thing that I really loved is a multi-colored leather dress that shimmers and shines, and on the middle of her side, there's a big silver star. Because Hannah is a star, there are stars kind of hidden all over her wardrobe, on her earrings or on her belt. This is a really great dress that she wears in the opening concert, and it's such an iconic kind of pop star dress. And again, she still looks like a kid, it still looks like a really fun playful dress.

NB: What was the process with Miley like? Did she have input on the costumes?

CL: I met with Miley and her mother, Tish Cyrus, and we started looking at sketches and samples. It's very difficult when any actor comes in and has to put their look and their style in the hands of a stranger. I think they were a little skeptical when they first came in ... like what's this guy gonna do? But as we looked at sketches, they just got really excited to see original costumes that were designed just for Miley. And then after meeting Miley, she is so beautiful and so funny and has such a great energy about her that it really kind of inspired me. It just made me really bump everything up a notch because she could pull anything off. It's so exciting to see your work get translated onto such an amazing personality like Miley. She would look good in anything, but when she's given something great, she just makes it spectacular.

NB: As far as comparing the movie to the TV show, is everything just sort of bigger and better?

CL: Yeah, I absolutely used the TV show as inspiration. They had kind of taken her into a little bit more of an '80s pop star look, so that's where I started too. It made me think about the '80s and Pat Benatar in the "Love Is a Battlefield" video where she's wearing kind of a '50s party dress. That's partially what led me to the dress I was talking about with the graffiti circles. I used the '80s and then that brought me around to incorporating other eras as well.

NB: Do you have any advice for young girls who want to emulate Hannah Montana's style?

CL: What I really wanted to achieve and what I hope happens with this movie is girls will learn that they can just be great, strong girls. When they're wanting to dress like Hannah and they're wanting to dress like Miley, just remember that this a fun, free, exciting time in their life and they can just play and have a great time.

See more of Hannah Montana's style.

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