“The first time I understood how seriously people take their watch game was after season one of The Gentlemen came out,” laughs Loulou Bontemps, Guy Ritchie’s costume designer of choice. In her role, which started as an assistant on Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre before she was quickly put in charge of all of the outfits, watches and jewellery on display in Ritchie’s varied projects including the Netflix megahit The Gentlemen, Second World War adventure The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare and the iconic director’s latest caper, In the Grey. They have now worked together on eight projects including Ritchie’s forthcoming films Wife & Dog and Viva La Madness.
Bontemps’ road to becoming Ritchie’s go-to costume designer (and occasional personal stylist) took a more unusual route than most. The daughter of an antique dealer based out of London and Paris, Bontemps had always been around interesting items and beautiful things, and had an early interest in fashion and design. She says: “When I was really little, my dad made me do a page a day in a sketchbook, whether that was a painting or a still life but most of the time it was dresses and not particularly good ones.” Speaking from her plush London studio, she admits route one was not necessarily the most desirable: “I was told to get a real job and went to work in the catering industry.”
Bontemps would not find her way onto a film set until 2015 where she did a day’s work in the costume department on the Kray Twins biopic, Legend. In her own words, Bontemps says she “rode the wave” into the orbit of Guy Ritchie, getting a job on the Jason Statham vehicle Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre, which features an ensemble of frighteningly colourful suits, mighty Panerai watches and Aubrey Plaza in a pair of dazzling Stephen Webster earrings.
Half a decade later and Bontemps’ sixth collaboration with Ritchie – In the Grey – has just landed in cinemas around the world. An action caper starring Henry Cavill and Jake Gyllenhaal as Sid and Bronco, two cooler than ice special operatives, In the Grey has the aesthetic palette of Miami Vice combined with The Thomas Crown Affair. Cavill is old school English class while Gyllenhaal is modern American cool and Bontemps explains how the contrasts in their characters are represented in the wardrobe and accessories: “Jake’s character is like ‘I’m just going to throw on this Prada, wear this Cartier watch,’ That’s all down to Jake.”
While Gyllenhaal is all about the Cartier, In the Grey sees Cavill yet again opt for a Jaeger-LeCoultre, a brand he has been seen wearing for almost a decade. On screen, the former Superman previously wore JLC in The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, where he was styled by Bontemps. The film, a semi-factual account of Operation Postmaster, allowed Bontemps to dive into the history of Second World War watches, principally the Dirty Dozen, twelve Swiss made timepieces commissioned by the Ministry of Defence with only 20 complete sets thought to still exist.
Nailing that historical accuracy and getting watch aficionado Cavill to wear such an iconic piece was important to Bontemps: “I really wanted to find some original Dirty Dozen watches and we did. We found this beautiful Jaeger-LeCoultre Dirty Dozen watch from the 40s and I presented Henry with a selection of watches, some were vintage, some were kind of new, but vintage-inspired, and he just went straight to the one that I wanted him to wear. Of course, he chose the best one, because he knows what he’s doing.
“To me, that was a wonderful moment, and I think Henry enjoyed that too, just knowing that it was an original Dirty Dozen watch, and those little details just bring the character to life. That was probably my favourite watch moment so far.”
Jaeger-LeCoultre were also more than happy to be involved in production, bringing Bontemps and Cavill to their HQ to explore the history of the watches in detail: “They went out of their way to invite us over to have a look at their watches and the construction of them. They’re beautiful watches.”
Relishing in the Dirty Dozen found for The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare also emphasises Bontemps’ whole approach to costume and styling, always returning to the lessons she learnt watching her mother deal in antiques. “I always prefer vintage,” she says, “Something antique with some history because I like a watch that has its own story to tell. It makes me feel like I’ve found something nobody else has,”
While that may have been Bontemps’ favourite watch moment, it is her work on The Gentlemen that went viral, with fans of the series bowled over by the aristocratic couture paraded by the likes of Theo James, Daniel Ings and Kaya Scodelario throughout the crime-comedy. It is also a show that leaned heavily on the watches to tell character beats such as James’ Eddie watches getting bolder and more expensive as he rises up the criminal echelons and his brother Freddy (Ings), who has inherited his father’s vintage Omega (and much to his chagrin, nothing else). Featuring around £6 million worth of watches (they were all loaned), Bontemps kept the process simple, given how many pieces were used in the show: “It’s about finding the right watch for the right character and then sourcing it. We had a very small budget.”
Season two of The Gentlemen will be arriving later this year with expectations high for both the show, which adds Hugh Bonneville and Maya Jama to its ensemble cast, and the outfits on show. Bontemps reveals that the styling has developed: “It’s more mature, more grown-up, everyone’s dressing better. Susie Glass [Scodelario] is a little bit more bougie. Most of the characters get a style up. I can’t wait for everyone to see it.”
Also on the horizon is Viva La Madness, which Bontemps recently wrapped production on in Malta. The film sees Ritchie reunite with Statham and Vinnie Jones for a quasi-follow-up to the 2004 crime classic, Layer Cake. A throwback to the fast-talking gangsters on which Ritchie made his name in the late 90’s, Bontemps reveals: “It’s a little bit of an homage to Snatch. Statham’s in that old school 90’s style of shirts and suits and he looked really fantastic.”
Just a handful of projects in as a lead costume designer, Bontemps has quickly established herself as one of the most eye-catching and daring figures in her profession. Her characters are styled boldly, with thought and the character at heart. She’s become a lynchpin of Ritchie’s close knit team and credits the director for being so interested in costume: “I’m really fortunate Guy gives me time to talk to him about each character. He has such a brilliant mind, he needs to be in a room with people who talk to him, not wait to be instructed.”
Emphasising the collaborative nature of filmmaking where hundreds of people can be on a set on any given day, Bontemps refuses to take too much credit for her creations, which have gotten so much attention from fans: “The whole idea of making films is bougie but it’s not really bougie. It’s especially long hours and things change, especially with Guy. You’ve got your team and I’m only as good as my team.” Bontemps is as integral to the DNA of Ritchie’s films as a Jason Statham scowl or a slow-motion action sequence and eight projects in and counting, there’s plenty more on the horizon.
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