Though her daunting sleep paralysis once dissuaded her from watching many horror films, Mica Kayde has now headed the costume departments for some of the most anticipated horrors of the past two years — especially “Longlegs.”

While growing up, Kayde was inundated by the clothes that her mother had made as a seamstress and the cultivated films that her homeschooled older sister took the time to acquaint her with.

After working on a photoshoot with her sisters for a small magazine, she was referred to work on an indie film. Kayde said she “sort of fell into” the film industry after convincing the producers of her talent, even though she “had absolutely no idea” what she was doing just yet.

With the recent release of “The Monkey,” after having cemented herself into the industry for over a decade now, WSN spoke with Kayde to discuss her role as a costume designer and the evolution of her career.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

WSN: You have worked with Osgood Perkins three times now. Was there ever a moment that left an impression on you while working with him?

Kayde: I think sometimes when you’re doing a job, you have this feeling that maybe you don’t belong there or you’re not good enough to be in that position. I think that’s such a universal feeling, especially when you’re starting to get to that top percent. But when I read the script for ‘Longlegs’ and was trying to figure out Nicolas Cage’s costume, [Perkins] was like, ‘Okay, figure out the costume and pitch it to me, but it needs to be iconic.’ I just thought, ‘Fuck, that’s a crazy thing to say to me.’ But then I did a ton of research, sketched out the outfit and emailed it to him. I told him, ‘I really want to do this with these fabrics; I think this is going to be so sick.’ And he wrote back and said, ‘I absolutely trust you; just go off.’ Besides that moment, I’ve never had such an immediate reaction from someone letting me know that they fully trust me and my abilities. He told me to ‘just do it’ — I think that really showed me that I can really do it, I have good ideas and I know I can execute the job. 

WSN: With indie films like ‘The Monkey,’ do the restricted budgets force you to draw on your creativity?

Kayde: I would like to think that, but it’s hard. With ‘Longlegs,’ we made a lot of costumes, especially for Nic’s character. We made six versions of the same one of his outfits because he had a photo double, and he needed multiple outfits for when he smashes his face in at the end of the movie. With ‘The Monkey,’ there are so many more characters, and every character is so specific in terms of their depth, so we also had many multiples to do multiple takes with blood. In the movie, Theo James plays twins, and in one scene, he has to bring this custom funeral suit from his childhood. For that, we used a kid’s suit and built it out. So, ‘The Monkey’ was a lot more sourcing and figuring out how we were going to stay on budget with about five costumes for each person. There’s never enough money, though, and there’s never enough labor, so you really do have to see the fun in the process because it’s challenging. But it’s true, you end up doing things where you have to bring in your own creativity and skill set because you have to think, ‘How can I make this costume cool with zero dollars?’

WSN: You also style for shorter-form content like commercials and music videos, and you’ve done the costumes for two of your husband’s — Bob Sumner’s — music videos. How is it working with your partner on projects, and how does it compare to working on films?

Kayde: It was really fun working on ‘Motel Room’ and ‘Bridges,’ but I think it’s always funny when you clash a little bit because not only did I style them, but I also helped with producing them. I had to be the annoying one who was saying, ‘Okay, we have to wrap this up,’ but it was great. I love working with him because I just love him so much, of course. When it comes to movies or shorter-form content, though, I have to say movies are my favorite because they focus on the story, the character arc and how those characters are going through life emotionally. Movies show more of a dynamic between a human being and why they would wear something or why they connect with the clothes on their back.

WSN: Even though ‘Longlegs’ is set in the ‘90s, the clothes almost feel timeless. When you first join a time-specific project, do you plan for it to be period-accurate, or do you focus more on the character types themselves?

Kayde: With horror in general, I feel that there’s more leeway with how you dress certain characters. [Perkins] and I talked about that and decided to keep most of the characters in clothes that were technically ‘90s. But ‘Longlegs’ also has flashbacks to the ‘70s, so I wanted to create these timeless outfits that could work in the ‘70s and in the ‘90s, or even in a decade like the ‘60s. So I took a bunch of elements from different time periods to create Nic’s costumes. One of my favorite costumes that I’ve ever made was actually for Nic but was cut from ‘Longlegs.’ It’s always a classic thing that happens, like your favorite outfit being filmed in a tight shot. It had layers because for that costume, I wanted him to look almost like a toddler in a weird way. When we did the fitting, he was super down with it, so I put these light purple knit leggings from the ‘70s and this giant oversized T-shirt with this red heart patch on him. He looked like such a sad baby. Then, when he put on his prosthetics, it all came together, and I loved the creativity behind that outfit even though it seemed so silly. I had too much fun putting an adult man in kid leggings.

WSN: So disappointing. We missed out on seeing Nicholas Cage in that getup.

Kayde: I know! But I have a photo of him in it. So many incriminating photos. [Laughs]

Contact Jadah Jules at [email protected].