How Marissa Schwartz brought Muskoka to life with the costumes in Sterling Point

When Toronto costume designer Marissa Schwartz began preparing to dress the band of teens in Amazon Prime’s coming-of-age series Sterling Point, she drew on her own experiences of attending summer camp in Muskoka.

Sterling Point, created by Canadian director and actor Megan Park, premiered on Aug. 5 and has already been greenlit for a second season. The series tells the story of 17-year-old Manhattanite Annie Jacobson (Ella Rubin), who travels to a small island in Muskoka to learn more about her late mother. Though she begins the show as an uptight city kid, she forms close bonds with the locals and ultimately embraces the carefree cottage-country lifestyle.

“ When the script came and I read it, I related so much to the story and the different worlds colliding,” Schwartz said. “I felt like I had a really interesting perspective on that collision of wealthy teens in this really rustic environment and what that actually looks like.”

Schwartz, who has worked on the CBC series Sort Of and Run the Burbs, recreated that universe with vintage tees, worn-in jorts, oversized sweaters and strappy bathing suits. Many of the outfits from the show quickly went viral and continue to attract attention online more than a month later. As colder weather approaches, some content creators are using the costumes as inspiration for their transition wardrobes – particularly the wool sweater, shorts and rainboot ensemble Annie wears toward the end of the season.

We spoke to Schwartz about dressing teenagers authentically, sourcing pieces from Toronto vintage shops and the aesthetics of a Muskoka summer.

Being by a Canadian lake is such a specific experience. How did you use clothes to help convey that?

There’s a casualness and an ease in the way you want to dress when you’re in that type of landscape. You can wake up and it might feel like a chilly fall morning, and then it can get up to 30 or 35 degrees in the middle of the day, and then by nighttime you’re in your sweats by the fire.

I leaned on clothes that felt lived in and nostalgic to help us marry the styling with the functionality of being up there.

Sterling Point has been praised for how real its characters feel. How did you choose costumes that felt authentic to how teenagers actually dress?

I’ve learned that it’s less about what teens are wearing today and more about what authentically reads on the actor portraying the character. A lot of the work was to watch closely in fittings and see how the actors moved in their bodies and how they felt.

I also really leaned on the cast. For example, Annie [Ella Rubin] wears Repetto ballet flats, and as a proud millennial, I thought, “A ballet flat is a ballet flat.” But Ella said, “No, Marissa, it has to be this brand.” I tried to listen to the people around me and not be too attached to my own ideas, because the best version comes through when we’re all collaborating.

Annie’s character undergoes quite a transformation throughout the show. How did you demonstrate that change through her clothes?

In episode one, she wears an all-white outfit to symbolize what someone who might not know what Muskoka actually looks like, but is envisioning a vacation-esque spot like the Hamptons or the south of France, might wear. But we knew that by the end of the season, she was going to fully transform into the Muskoka version of herself.

I had two of the last looks she wears in the show early on: A slip dress and this big, oversized tee and her Frye boots, and then a brown wool sweater with embroidered shorts and rain boots. I knew that was where we were going to land, and we knew the white outfit was where we were going to begin. The work was plugging in the evolution as we went through the season.

 Is there one outfit that you think represents the moment when she starts to transform into the Muskoka version of herself?

In episode three, she finds and wears this purple lace dress that was her mom’s. That is the moment where I think we really start to pivot her toward a more relaxed version of herself.

It’s subtle, but that was the turning point for us where she starts to connect with her history and her mom and really care for this place.

Which local brands and stores did you source from?

We pulled so many pieces from amazing vintage shops in Toronto like Smoking Vintage, Nouveau Riche, Shopcoat, The Wanderly and VSP Consignment.

We used a few Canadian bathing suit brands too, like Minnow Bathers and Bather. We also used a Muskoka store called Clutter Porch, and we pulled some pieces from Muskoka brand Seasonal Resident.

One of the things that was really exciting for me was to showcase how good our talent here is. We have great vintage and thrifting, and we have amazing, creative costumers in the city who produce really special work.