For Her Role in ‘The Crow,’ FKA Twigs Wanted to Smell the Part

We’ve seen an uptick in method-dressing from actors and performers of late; the practice seems virtually synonymous with acting and film culture in this particular moment. But FKA Twigs has always taken a singular, character-embodying approach to her public appearances, whether she’s publicizing her forthcoming album Eusexua or her role in the film The Crow, which opens in theaters today.

While method dressing calls for looks that play to the part, so to speak, Twigs’s personal style can’t be so easily decoded. If anything, every outfit—including the brown faux-leather bustier top and sheer boy shorts she wore to an album-listening party earlier this week (made all the more distinctive by geometric-patterned makeup resembling tribal facial tattoos), and the following night’s sultry and glam black vintage Armani slip dress for The Crow’s New York City premiere—is characteristically unpredictable. This is an artist whose homeostasis is a state of constant transformation.

Of course it’s no surprise that Twigs would bring her own idiosyncrasies to Shelly, her character in The Crow, in order to make her feel more real—and the project on the whole, less intimidating. “The Crow is such an iconic world. It’s very daunting to dive into it,” she tells us on the morning of the film’s premiere. She’s wearing a tawny brown V-neck sweater, her hair pulled back to show off her half-shaved scalp. Indeed, the original 1994 film, based on the James O’Barr comic series of the same name, has become a cult classic for its era-defining dark gothic visuals, as well as for the tragic on-set death of its star, Brandon Lee, due to a prop-gun mishap.

But she’s quick to point out that director Rupert Sanders’s re-telling is ultimately a love story, and one in which Shelly—whose violent murder propels the plot—is more than just a catalyst for revenge; she’s a symbol of purity and hope. To become Shelly, Twigs collaborated closely with the costume-design duo Kurt and Bart, whose past projects include The Hunger Games: Mockingjay and Nocturnal Animals, to create a personal style that intersected with her own. Shelly is a character defined by her community, Twigs explains. “She has these cool friends that are getting themselves in trouble. They’re partying, taking drugs, escaping their families. They’re very indicative of a coming-of-age generation of young people really trying to find themselves.”

To capture that spirit, Twigs brought Kurt and Bart to Fantastic Toiles, a beloved London boutique known across the indie fashion scene for platforming emerging designers. “I’ve been supporting them from the beginning—there’s an amazing community there,” she says. Several pieces were chosen (both for Shelly and Eric, the film’s outsider-protagonist played by Bill Skarsgård), and worn throughout the film, including a memorable silk jacket with dangling, fringe-like strands. “I knew the designers. It made me feel like my character was real,” she says.

Twigs also wore several pieces by the ascendant London-based designer Sinéad O’Dwyer, known for her use of second-skin fabrics and intricate detailing, to bring Shelly’s club-kid persona to life, including a sheer crinoline skirt and a lived-in, shaggy lavender coat.

Despite being known for her bold aesthetic choices, Twigs tells us that fashion actually isn’t the principal catalyst she uses to unlock her characters: it’s scent. “Smell, for me, is a really big thing,” she says. “I make fragrances with my friend Christi [Meshell], who has a boutique fragrance house in Seattle called House of Matriarch.”

This olfactory-driven tendency applies to both her creative pursuits and personal moments or eras, which ultimately become one in the same for Twigs. A particular combination of warm, gourmet-leaning scents—rosé body butter from the Los Angeles–based brand BodyButterLady layered under Coco Blanc by House of Matriarch; and a woolen-like scent, aptly-named “Black Sheep,” also by House of Matriarch—became the most authentic-feeling aspects of Shelly’s character. And they became an indelible part of Twigs’s own experience throughout the project, too—not to mention those around her. “Everyone would always say they could smell me on set,” she says with a laugh.