Early in “The Order,” the ’80s-set historical crime thriller, there is a chillingly timely stand-off between the staid establishment and the insurgent next generation. Aryan Nation founder Richard Butler (Victor Slezak) attempts, and fails, to defuse Bob Matthews (Nicholas Hoult), the charismatic young leader of an ultra-violent and extremely organized splinter group planning an armed white supremacist revolution. “Robert, you have a gift … a voice,” says Butler, clad in a conventional trench coat over a full suit and tie. Eye-to-eye on the dusty dirt road, Matthews stands defiant in a weathered waffle shirt barely tucked into belted, worn-in jeans.
“Justin [Kurzel, the director] and I wanted Bob to feel really recognizably all-American,” costume designer Rachel Dainer-Best told IndieWire. “He’s super simple — wearing jeans and a T-shirt for basically the whole movie.” Because photos of the real Matthews and his acolytes proved rare, she studied ‘70s and ‘80s images of the Aryan Nation by American photojournalist Mary Ellen Marks, known for her documentation of people living on the fringe and young men in the rural Pacific Northwest.
Matthews, a meticulous strategist, brands himself and his deadly cause through his aesthetic. “Butler dresses like a politician, and Bob Matthews, his whole thing is, ‘The Aryan Nation is saying stuff and not doing it. The Order, we’re gonna actually do something,’” explained Dainer-Best. “So he wants to look appealing to people who have no respect for politicians.”
During an Aryan Nation meeting, the magnetic Matthews mobilizes fellow angry, disaffected members, many of them wearing iterations of his uniform. “He was trying to sell this image, to recruit people and get them on board with his brand of white nationalism,” said Dainer-Best, who aged and dyed contemporary but vintage-referential Japanese jeans for the group. “That meant that he would be projecting a conscious image, all the time.”
In contrast, FBI Agent Terry Husk (Jude Law), a grizzled veteran investigator relocated to the tiny Idaho outpost, has more on his mind than his standard-issue white shirt, black tie, and slacks. “It was really important, character-wise, to telegraph through his clothing that he was a bit worse for the wear,” said Dainer-Best. Estranged from his family and battling health issues, Husk, a fictional character, becomes consumed with stopping Matthews and his destructive grand plan.
“A lot of the time, he’s a bit of a renegade who’s trying to do his own thing and not always in that super prescriptive uniform look,” added Dainer-Best. Closing in on Matthews, Husk armors up in a rugged green Harrington jacket, which Dainer-Best customized in multiples, referencing a ‘70s vintage piece. “That was more city-leaning than what people in Coeur d’Alene were wearing, but we felt really strongly that we wanted his clothes to look older,” explained Dainer-Best. “We wanted him to look out of place in rural Idaho.”
Like Matthews, Husk’s sartorial expression also influences his protegees, like newfound ally, principled Idaho deputy Jamie Bowen (Tye Sheridan). When Bowen joins Husk to question Butler at the Aryan Nation survivalist compound at Hayden Lake, he dons his best version of a suit: a light yellow Western shirt and tie.
“It’s one of my favorite looks from the movie, just because it’s not a shirt that you’re supposed to wear with a tie,” said Dainer-Best, imagining that Husk directed the uniformed deputy to dress professionally. “It’s country, a little bit dated, a little bit ill-fitting. Maybe something that his wife might have bought him.”
While Bowen and Husk haven’t updated their wardrobes since the ‘70s, Special Agent Joanne Carney (Jurnee Smollett) telegraphs the modern era, and her accomplished track record, in tailored black trousers and crisp button-down shirts. “We wanted her to definitely look like she’d been shopping at some point in the past 10 years [from 1983],” joked Dainer-Best. “Being a woman in law enforcement, she would be more conscientious [than] Husk. He just gets up and throws on whatever was on the floor and walks out the door, not caring what he looked like.”
Denver DJ Alan Berg (Marc Maron) opens the movie with a stirring, provocative, and foreboding monologue. Dainer-Best referenced a photo of the Jewish radio host known for his bold, confrontational, and progressive rants. But Berg’s true-to-history herringbone blazer and black mock-neck shirt also depicts the vast polarization between the ideals, values, and motivations of Berg and The Order, which brutally murdered the DJ in 1984. “The herringbone jacket feels very much intellectual and urban coded,” said Dainer-Best. “He feels of a completely different world than Bob Matthews and The Order.”
