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| From left to right: Baby (Ansel Elgort), Bats (Jamie Foxx), Darling (Eiza Gonzalez), and Buddy (Jon Hamm). |
In the film, costuming is used to parallel the different personalities of Baby's criminal partners. The most notable use of this technique can be seen with Jon Hamm's character, Buddy (pictured on the far right). Buddy's all black costume design is meant to symbolize what happens when a person's life becomes consumed by their criminality. In a scene later in the movie, we discover that his character used to be a successful businessman who turned to crime to pay for drugs under the table.
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| Baby in the film's climax, wearing a grey undershirt to symbolize his plunge into criminality. |
The motif of black symbolizing crime is utilized to show Baby's character arc of needing to get his hands dirty in order to break free of his past to be with Deborah. In the beginning of the movie, Baby can be seen wearing a white undershirt, symbolizing his innocence both emotionally and legally. As the plot advances, and Baby get further entrapped in his job, his undershirt becomes darker to demonstrate that he is moving closer towards being consumed by his criminality, like Buddy.
