A Gnarly Detail In ‘Crimson Peak’ You Probably Missed

Let’s face it, the entirety of Crimson Peak, the clever and aesthetically pleasing 2015 romantic horror, has a ton of gnarly details. I don’t want to spoil anything for those of you who still haven’t seen this surprisingly moody masterpiece, but some relationships should probably stay hidden. All big plot points aside, there’s a cool and creepy detail hidden in the movie that you probably missed.

The Creepy Detail in the Park Scene

To find the detail you missed, watch the park scene that starts at around 24:00. Edith (Mia Wasikowska) and Thomas (Tom Hiddleston) are spending the day in the park. It’s a warm day and the place is crowded. Edith splits off from Thomas and has a conversation and little picnic with his sister Lucille (Jessica Chastain). What you’re looking for is actually a part of Edith’s outfit:

See her belt? While it may seem like a weird detail, it’s actually a lot more gnarly than you’d think. This belt is actually a Victorian mourning belt. Edith is mourning the loss of her mother and does this with the creepy belt. Historically, mourning belts were made from the deceased person’s hair and the buckle modeled after the deceased’s hands. In this scene, Edith is wearing a belt made of her dead mother’s hair.

If that wasn’t creepy enough, costume design Kate Hawley used real hair for the film’s mourning belt. “We used all Victorian techniques,” she told Variety. “We just made them a bit larger. It’s all very heightened.”

You can see the detail of the belt better in the picture above. Check out the hair woven and braided together to create the belt. The buckle’s hands were carved from wax and then cast and painted to look like ivory.

It makes you wonder whose hair was used for the belt. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be an answer from Kate Hawley. I guess you’ll just have to leave that up to your imagination.

You can watch Crimson Peak on Netflix.