How Hair and Makeup Transform Florence Pugh From Cathy Ames to Kate in "East of Eden"

Morally complex and full of memorable performances, Netflix’s adaptation of East of Eden has quickly become one of the year’s biggest TV hits. The adaptation of John Steinbeck’s 1952 novel, created by Zoe Kazan (whose grandfather Elia Kazan directed the first onscreen interpretation of the book in 1955), centers Steinbeck’s multigenerational saga on the book’s most controversial character, Cathy Ames (Florence Pugh), exploring her agency and evil from a different perspective. Pugh’s performance is hands down the most memorable of the show, enhanced by her hair and makeup that serve as visual markers for the character’s shifting identity.

Creating beauty looks for a series that spans four decades offers a particular challenge for those working behind the scenes, like co-hair and makeup designers Nancy Hennah and Sarah Rubano. “East of Eden is set over 43 years, so our beauty vision changed with the characters and with what was in fashion during each time period,” says Hennah. The first episode places the audience in New England, right after the American Civil War, and introduces us to veteran Cyrus Trask and his sons, Adam and Charles. We watch as Adam and Charles grow from boys to teenagers to men before a bloodied Cathy arrives on their family farm and disrupts their world. By the end of the seven-part series, we’re in the 1910s as men are being sent off to fight in World War I.

Hennah and Rubano collaborated closely with the show’s art and costume departments when researching the time periods and gathering historically accurate references in order to root the characters in realism across each chapter of their lives. “We focused mainly on the script rather than the book for reference,” says Rubano. “And Zoe [Kazan] was very descriptive and had clear ideas for most characters.”

Pugh’s personal on-set hair and makeup team—who worked alongside Hennah and Rubano—also challenged themselves to work as historically accurately as possible. For example, hairstylist Jaime Leigh McIntosh avoided using hot tools when styling Pugh’s wigs. Instead, she “wet set the hair to create texture.” Makeup artist Heba Thorisdottir, on the other hand, had to take into account that in the late 1800s, at the beginning of the series, cosmetics weren’t yet widely manufactured or commercially available. But as Cathy moves through life and eventually into her role as a brothel owner (when she is known as Kate), makeup becomes increasingly accessible, aligning with her character arc. “The cosmetic availability went perfectly with the storyline of Cathy transforming into Kate and wearing makeup,” says Thorisdottir.

In Kazan’s remake, Cathy craves power and freedom and manipulates the men in her life to achieve those goals. Her beauty is one tool she uses, and if you look closely, you’ll spot cosmetic clues that hint at Cathy’s motives and power plays. Below, McIntosh and Thorisdottir reveal the hair and makeup details you might have missed. And a warning: There are spoilers ahead!

Cathy plays the innocent

East of Eden follows Cathy through the many chapters of her life, so it was important for her hair to reflect those changing realities, says McIntosh. “I needed to figure out her starting point and her end point and then fill the space in between to work out how we get from A to B,” she says, adding that she was “very aware of the passage of time” when designing the styles that Pugh would wear over the more than 40-year timeline.

Pugh wore three wigs in the series, all created by wigmaker Samuel James. She wears the first while Cathy is in Boston with Mr. Edwards (a brothel owner she becomes romantically involved with), while on the Trask farm (where she shows up after being beaten by Mr. Edwards), and on the ranch in Salinas Valley, California (where she moves with Adam Trask, whom she marries and has twins with).

Wig number one is lighter, offering a natural development from Cathy’s adolescent blonde to a very realistic adult hue her hair would have naturally grown into, explains McIntosh. “We wanted the color to be a darker blonde than it was when she was a child, but still look incredibly natural with lighter ends, as if they were sun-kissed.”

Leaving Cathy’s hair down during this period was intentional for a number of reasons. It made logical sense: When she arrives on the Trask Farm, she is healing from her injuries, including a broken wrist. “We figured the most she would be able to physically do herself is brush it, so we left it out and natural,” McIntosh explains. “As she begins to heal, we started pulling it back softly into a half-up style, but we kept it very practical, effortless, and soft.”

The entire hair team were also all big fans of fluff, wisps, and flyaways at this point in filming. The whimsical additions to Cathy’s hair play into the character's healing state. They also give Cathy a softness that helps her present herself to Adam as vulnerable in order to gain his trust and eventually become his wife.

Cathy’s hair accessories are also important clues to her character’s psyche and societal position: “When we see Cathy in Boston, she is young; she is presenting with beauty and innocence. We chose key moments to have an Alice in Wonderland-inspired blue ribbon in her hair,” McIntosh adds.

While on the farm, Cathy is wearing hand-me-down clothing from Mrs. Trask, and still a version of her innocent, helpless self. “I was using small pieces of fabric ripped into ribbons to tie her hair back,” says McIntosh. “I also created one of those out of the bloodied dress she [was wearing when she] arrived at the home. Just a bit of a secret for Florence and me that no one would notice unless pointed out.”

The guise of a youthful flush

In those early episodes, Cathy’s makeup had to mirror her hair’s equally nonthreatening appearance, so a fresh, skin-first look was important. “For her younger look, I sheered out the [Westman Atelier] stick foundation with Beau Domaine The Cream to add a wash of color,” says Thorisdottir. But what really sells Cathy’s faux-naïf act is her flushed cheeks and rosy lips, courtesy of Westman Atelier’s Baby Cheeks Blush Stick in Petal and HydroBalm Tinted Lipstick in English Rose. Thorisdottir has since used English Rose on at least one actor on every job since East of Eden. “It is the perfect nude [for this skin tone].”

Pugh was also integral in shaping Cathy’s beauty looks. “Florence is very authentic in her approach to her acting, which sets the tone for my work,” says Thorisdottir. “She is just as comfortable in front of the camera with or without makeup on as long as it is right for the scene.” Along with always giving the makeup artist the freedom to create before the two discuss details of her character's looks. “If it makes sense, she is game.”

Kate’s dark side eclipses Cathy

Adam offers Cathy shelter and protection when she most needs it, but after giving birth to two boys, she feels her agency slipping away, tied down and forced to play the role of wife and mother. In a brutal attempt to reclaim her narrative, Cathy shoots Adam and abandons her sons, running away to a brothel in Salinas proper in hopes of reclaiming her prior profession as a sex worker for financial independence.

The brothel owner Faye (Martha Plimpton), takes Cathy in. “It’s not until we see Cathy at Faye’s that we see the first big change [in her hair],” says McIntosh. “When she meets Faye, she wears her signature blue ribbon, presenting herself as she did to Mr. Edwards. Then we slowly start to see her morph into Kate.”

A detail taken from the book helped determine what Cathy’s second wig would look like. After recognizing her from her portrait that hangs in Adam and her sons’ homes, the town sheriff and Cathy reach an agreement: She’ll create a new identity for herself, and the sheriff will honor her secret if she leaves her old family behind, unharmed. “Once the sheriff tells her to color her hair darker, she is presenting to the world as Kate and not Cathy anymore,” McIntosh explains. “This second wig was made identical to the first, but then I dyed it. I didn’t want it to be made with darker, naturally brown hair. I wanted to color it like Kate would have [in order] to have more control over the final result.”

Once settled in and working at Faye's brothel, we see Kate playing with different hairstyles and shapes. “I did a style one morning, which featured two peaks at the top of her head, that Florence was very drawn to,” McIntosh explains. “We ended up nicknaming [the look] ‘kitten ears,’ and throughout the rest of the series you see [the ears] continue and grow with Kate.”

Madame Kate becomes queen of her arena

By the time Kate becomes the owner of the brothel, time has again passed, and her final wig is closer to her natural hair color. Given that she spends less time in the daylight, this wig is darker and includes visible grays running through it. “Because she is running the brothel and not working [in it], she is presenting with intricate styles,” says McIntosh. “I am also keeping in mind where in the world this is taking place. She is not in Paris, London, or New York, so I never went too elaborate or perfect.”

As Kate blossoms into her most powerful self, “Florence beamed with delight at the idea of Kate wearing tiara-type hair accessories—for Kate to be queen of her arena, and to be in full control of her world,” McIntosh says. Along with costume designer Kirsty Cameron, McIntosh sourced a number of hairpins, crowns, and accessories, including some handmade by a local New Zealand artist, Daughters of July.

As Cathy transitions into Madame Kate and embraces her newfound power and wealth, Thorisdottir imagined Kate would also be dabbling in the newly purchasable makeup of the early 1900s. “While makeup products might not have been readily available in Salinas, her clients would have likely traveled and traded, so she could have cosmetics before anyone else in that town.” Thorisdottir made her own cosmetics discovery while filming, a fact that impacted what she used on set. “I got introduced to Westman Atelier while I was in New Zealand, and I just loved it,” she says. “[Gucci Westman’s] foundations were the perfect fit for almost all the looks for Cathy from young to old.”

In episode six, “The Great Try,” we see Kate in the boldest red lipstick she wears in the show—a far cry from the innocent Cathy from past episodes and one of Thorisdottir’s favorites. “For the red lips, I mixed Le Rouge Français 010 and MAC Russian Red, a shade that’s been in my kit since I did Inglourious Basterds,” she says.

In the final episode, “Tinshel,” Kate’s empire is falling apart, and her hair follows suit. “In her final hours, we wanted Kate [to look] a little unraveled,” says McIntosh. “We also wanted to keep those kitten ears, essentially keeping a crown of sorts on her head, but made of hair. The half-up style also mirrors the little Cathy we see her come face-to-face with at the very end.”

Unlike many other productions, where the goal of the makeup is to have it hold up on set through long hours and weather, Thorisdottir wanted “the makeup to break down and move with her.” Thorisdottir explains that she secretly loved Cathy’s look at the end of the series when, decked out in all her jewelry, she hugs her younger self. “She has yet another breathtaking costume on, her hair is long and messy with the ‘kitten ears' styling, and her makeup is all broken down. That scene is so epic. I was in awe watching it all happen in front of me.”

For more from The Scenario:

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• Homecoming on The Shards Can Only Mean Cindy Crawford Hair, Michelle Pfeiffer Glam, and an ’80s Makeover
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