“Yellowstone” Costume Designer Johnetta Boone on Beth Dutton, Dueling Sons, and the End of an Era

Yellowstone rides again, six years after creator Taylor Sheridan defied Hollywood expectations by creating the country’s most-watched cable series. The show’s fifth season, part two, streaming weekly through December 15 on the Paramount Network, continues to follow the dysfunctional family of Montana ranchers formerly ruled by Kevin Costner’s grumpy patriarch, John Dutton. Now he’s gone, but his fierce daughter Beth (British actress Kelly Reilly), rivalrous sons Jamie (Wes Bentley) and Kayce (Luke Grimes), and ranch foreman Rip Wheeler (Cole Hauser) keep fighting to control the fate of their picturesque property, which, the show duly notes, was stolen decades earlier from Indigenous people.

Costume designer Johnetta Boone took over in season two after her mentor, Oscar winner Ruth E. Carter, departed Yellowstone for other projects. Over the years, Boone has developed a western “look” so popular that she now curates the Ariat X Yellowstone collection, one of several merchandise hubs catering to fans of the show.

Speaking to The Credits, Boone recalls riding horses occasionally during her youth, singles out the dress she considers to be Beth Dutton’s “hall of fame” look, and explains why Rip Wheeler’s Man In Black image is not quite as simple as it seems.

Is Yellowstone your first western?

I had not done a western before, but I did ride horses in high school.

Wow! Where?

I grew up in Washington, D.C., which is surrounded by horse farms in northern Virginia and southern Maryland, so there’s a huge equine community. I didn’t live on a farm, but every weekend, a group of my friends and I would go horseback riding, so that paid off. Not that I’m an expert, but just having some history with the culture of horse riding gave me a little bit of comfort.

So you felt somewhat at home in Montana’s horse country where the Yellowstone characters live, including Kelly Reilly’s breakthrough character Beth Dutton. 

She’s a rock star.

Rock star, exactly. Over the years, how have you developed the Beth Dutton look?

From seasons two to three, Beth wore a man’s shirt and a pencil skirt, which is her version of power dressing. Once things started to shift within her family, we started doing suits on Beth as well.

Does Beth’s clothes express a different vibe when she’s hanging out with her now-husband, Rip Wheeler?

Beath wears dresses when she’s around Ri[p], the love of her life, which works great because it softens her character to a certain degree. However, sometimes, she’s just as aggressive in a dress as when she’s wearing a suit!

What was it like brainstorming costume ideas with Kelly Reilly?

Kelly’s amazing. We spent lots of time in her fittings going through every sentence in the scene to make sure we presented Beth Dutton as Taylor Sheridan intended. And because we went over the script together, the clothes translated well on camera for Beth Dutton and Kelly.

What would you consider a hall of fame look for her?

I would say hall of fame—and I don’t want to give too much away for audiences who haven’t seen the show—but in one scene, Beth wears a gold-colored dress.

The metallic, low-cut party dress.

It’s very dramatic, very specific to the environment she was going into, very specific to what happened afterward, and separate from anything she wore before or afterward. That gold dress has become iconic. And of course, Beth Dutton’s micro-florals, her prairie dresses—that’s where you get to see Beth’s softness.

The romance between Beth and Rip resonates in a big way with Yellowstone fans. She has such an explosive personality whereas he’s much more reined in. How did you fit Rip Wheeler’s clothes to his temperament?

When he was young, Rip was a very damaged boy, almost like a drifter, so we transitioned that element into the man he has become — still very damaged, dark, protected, and guarded. He keeps a barrier around himself, almost like a moat, an invisible line that no one crosses. There’s no better color to create that line for you than black.

The man in black.

But it’s important to know that Rip does not always wear all black. Although it looks like he does, his jacket, for example, is actually a very dark, bittersweet chocolate brown.

And the shirts?

There are only so many black western shirts you can get, so I would overdye them in a rich dark green or brown, a blue or a steel gray to change the tone while still keeping it a saturated dark color.

How do you use these subtle variations on black to reflect Rip’s state of mind?

The difference is that brown and green blacks are warm, while steel grey or blue-black are cold tones, so I introduce those colors to help with the moment. If Rip is going to be with Beth at the end of the day, I would change his shirt to a warmer tone of brown so it feels a bit more romantic rather than cold, hard, and unquestionably stern.

So, by understanding the subliminal effect of color on emotions, you and your team can match the tone of the clothing to the mood of the scene. What about Rip’s jeans?

Rip wears Levi’s the entire show, nothing else. Someone sent me a DM saying, “You almost got it right, but cowboys don’t wear Levi’s.” I beg to differ. Levi’s were the first dungarees. In Texas, cowboys wear Levi’s, but in Montana, cowboys don’t typically wear them, so it depends on the region.

Rip has worn the same black cowboy hat for decades; he’s taped up his worn-out boots because he doesn’t want new ones. I guess he doesn’t like change.

In one scene, Rip tells Beth “I have five shirts and three pairs of jeans” and that’s what we maintained for the entire show.

The Dutton brothers couldn’t be more different. Kacey’s a somewhat down-to-earth family man, while Jamie’s more of a city slicker with a law degree and Attorney General job title. How did you dress Wes Bentley’s Jaimie to contrast with the rest of the Dutton clan?

Jamie’s such a polished politician that I made sure all his points were sharp. He’s always wearing a double Windsor [knotted tie] and a crisp shirt, and his suits always have a strong angle in the shoulder and the lapel.

Where would you source his outfits?

I went to SUITSUPPLY a lot. It’s something Jamie could afford, and he’s very mindful of finances.

For each season of Yellowstone, you and your team set up shop in and around Montana’s Bitterroot Valley for months at a time. How did your work in this production impact the local economy?

I love the [wardrobe] rental houses [in Los Angeles and New York], but because [production on] the show runs for so long, I did my due diligence to make sure I gave back to the community. I purchased from local stores and local artisans. In one town, the population is 600 people. Hamilton, where we shot for a month, was 3500 at the time, so it’s a huge benefit [for them] for us to be there, even more so when we work with locals directly. I love shopping at the vintage stores. And often times I would travel up to the reservation to get pieces for [native American character] Mo Brings Plenty to make sure I included the indigenous community as well. I really like to keep the money at home.

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Featured image: L-R: Luke Grimes as Kacey Dutton and Kelly Reilly as Beth Dutton on episode 512 of Paramount Network’s Yellowstone