How Dune’s costume tech cooled Timothée Chalamet in scorching desert

Considering the setting of Dune – the movie franchise that pushed actor Timothée Chalamet into the limelight – it’s only natural that most of the filming took place in scorching desert conditions that would make his job a challenge – if not for cutting-edge costume technology.

Indeed, Jacqueline West, the costume designer for the movie, developed costume tech inside the clothes of Timothée Chalamet and others’ to keep them comfortable in an actual desert (as opposed to just green-screening it), while wearing heavy costumes and gear, according to a recent report by SupercarBlondie.

Specifically, as West, a former high-fashion designer turned costume creator, told The Hollywood Reporter, she used layers of fabric to make a ‘micro sandwich’ that wicks away sweat from the skin while letting air circulate around the body and create a cooling effect whenever there’s a light wind.

As she explained,“when there was a breeze in the desert, there was a cooling effect on the wearer – and the actors said it really worked.”

To achieve this, she took to deep research and character-driven design, basing her creative process on the aesthetics of the Avignon Papacy, pre-revolution Russian rulers, and the Knights Templar, ultimately creating around 2,000 costumes for Dune, 400 of which were specialty costumes, with her collaborator Bob Morgan.

What else is happening in the Dune universe

Meanwhile, the final Dune movie featuring Paul Atreides, called Dune: Part Three and adapted from Frank Herbert’s second book in the Dune series – Dune Messiah (1969), will come out in cinemas in December 2026, following the stellar success of the previous two installments.

While waiting, gaming fans can also rejoice at the chance to once again become part of the world of Arrakis when Dune: Awakening, an open-world MMO video game, comes out on June 10, 2025, on Steam, after being delayed from the previous release date on May 20.