Hallmark Channel’s 2025 lineup of new Christmas movies has had something for everyone — comedy, romance, celeb cameos, festive music, quirky families, and every Christmas decoration you could possibly imagine.
What you might not notice are some of the wardrobe decisions that make a Hallmark Christmas movie vibrant, believable, and survivable for the stars, who are often filming in the summer heat, dressed in layers of winter gear. So we’ve gathered up our Top 5 behind-the-scenes fashion secrets to watch for!
5. Textures & Layers Are Used to Evoke ‘Seasonal Warmth’ in Christmas Movie Wardrobes
HallmarkHallmark has numerous costume designers it depends on to bring the holiday cheer with their fashion choices, which “She’s Making a List” costumer Jaralin Detienne told Vogue should “feel magical, warm, nostalgic and emotionally comforting—almost like a visual hug.”
“People are often surprised by how much storytelling goes into every wardrobe choice,” she told the outlet. “Nothing is random—each look is carefully considered in relation to character development, lighting, set design, and the emotional beats of a scene.”
While colors are obviously chosen to highlight the seasons — lots of green, red, and white — Detienne told Vogue that “texture is just as important as color. Sequins, tweeds, velvets, flannels, and chunky knits all help sell that sense of seasonal warmth on screen.”
Layers do the trick, too, she told Vogue. In the photo above from “She’s Making a List,” for instance, Andrew Walker’s seriously selling those holiday vibes by wearing a scarf over a leather jacket over a brown shirt — and even holding a cup of hot cocoa with candy canes in it, to boot!
4. Costumers Have Very Little Time to Outfit the Christmas Movie Casts
HallmarkHallmark stars often have only weeks (sometimes days!) to prepare for a movie they’ve been cast in. Their costume designers frequently have even less time to pull together outfits — from the design concepts to sourcing the clothes to actually crafting signature pieces.
Keith Nielsen, known in the Hallmark universe as “Keith Costumes,” has overseen the wardrobes for more than a dozen Hallmark Christmas movies including both “Holiday Touchdown” movies. For 2024’s “A Chiefs Love Story” starring Tyler Hynes and Hunter King, he said on the Girls Gone Hallmark podcast that he had less than three weeks to outfit the entire cast.
Nielsen said he and his assistant arrived in Kansas City a couple of weeks before the shoot began, right after the 4th of July, to search local malls for sweaters and coats at retailers like J.Crew and Talbot’s. But they initially came up empty-handed, realizing there was “literally nothing because it’s July in Missouri, so basically we just had to order everything (online).”
He did note that Kansas City retailers bent over backwards to search for old stock in the back of their stores and basements, but described the situation as “basically running around like a chicken with your head cut off.” He also designed the custom Chiefs jacket that King wore.
3. Hallmark Stars Have Lots of Tricks for Keeping Cool on Christmas Movie Sets
EntertainmentNowBecause so many Christmas movies are shot months in advance in the heat of summer, the stars and costume designers have come up with ingenius ways to keep them cool during long, hot days dressed in winter gear.
At the Hallmark Christmas Experience over Thanksgiving weekend, “Merry Christmas Ted Cooper” star Rob Buckley shared the funny photo above, in which the film crew used various fans and an ice pack underneath his his pink holiday sweater and winter coat to try to keep him cool.
Detienne told Vouge, “There are plenty of tricks my team and I use to keep them cool while they’re layered in wool coats and scarves. We’ll often remove sleeves from sweaters worn under coats, or create the illusion of layers, by pairing a coat with a tank top and a strategically styled scarf. Ice packs tucked discreetly within the layers are common, along with personal fans, cooling tents, and lots of de-layering between takes.”
2. Christmas Movie Wardrobe Departments Are Always Ready for Mishaps, Like Paul Campbell’s Split Pants
HallmarkNo matter how much they try to have everything perfect for the casts, the wardrobe departments have to be ready to address mishaps they could never predict. While filming “Three Wisest Men,” Paul Campbell ripped his pants more than once during the ball pit scene.
Describing the chaos of that scene, in which all three actors leap into a kids’ ball pit looking for a hard-to-find toy, Hynes told the outlet, “Everybody pulled something, Paul ripped his pants clean in half in the crotch area.”
“Wardrobe was so angry with me,” Campbell added. “I ripped through, they had to double-reinforce those pants because I kept doing the inverted split — the ‘inverted bicycle,’ I call it — and wardrobe just had a sewing machine on-set, just madly sewing away to keep my private bits private!”
1. You Can Wear the Actual Clothes the Stars Wore On Set!
HallmarkSometimes the stars do take home items from a movie wardrobe they really like (Alison Sweeney and Ashley Williams hilariously told EntertainmentNow they each packed a suitcase full after shooting their “To Barcelona” movies in early 2025.
But many items that don’t head home with the stars wind up becoming available online for purchase, oftentimes to raise money for charity. As of December 20, LuxAnthropy has over 75 items wardrobe items available from Hallmark movies, mostly from the Cherry Lane Christmas movies. There are also items from fall 2025 movies like Andrew Walker’s suit from “Adventures in Love & Birding.”
Meanwhile, if there’s a style you love in a Hallmark movie, the It’s a Wonderful LifeStyle blog has done the homework for you. Among the fashion finds are Kimberley Sustad’s coveted snowflake sweater from “Merry Christmas Ted Cooper,” Lyndsy Forsenca’s cardigans in “Single on the 25th” and even the sparkling dress Lacey Chabert wore to promote her 2026 Christmas movie being filmed at Disney World.
If so much planning about costumes/outfits takes place why are there so many scenes with the woman walking in the snow with stilettos, or running out the door without a coat in winter. Doesn’t make sense when it happens so often