“The Woman King” Costume Designer Gersha Phillips on Outfitting History’s Fiercest Female Army
Intensity and discipline were trademarks of the Agojie warriors who defended the African Kingdom of Dahomey in the 19th century. Their caliber of combat was so unmatched that one of their most unexpected traits often went undetected by their enemies.
“They fought with male warriors, so they would disguise themselves and look like men,” costume designer Gersha Phillips shared from her research. “There are several accounts of people who said when they came through their camp,
Best of Summer: “Thor: Love and Thunder ” Costume Designer Mayes C. Rubeo on Dressing Gods & Goddesses
As we’ve done for the past few summers, we’ve compiled a few of our favorite interviews to highlight in this last week of August. This is by no means a comprehensive list, but a little taste of some of the great conversations we’ve had during these hot summer months. Bring on sweater season.
Thor: Love and Thunder has scored the biggest Thor opening yet, proving MCU fans are loving writer/director Taika Waititi’s romantic comedy space adventure.
“Westworld” Costume Designer Debra Beebe on Living in Charlotte Hale’s World
Westworld season four wrapped this past Sunday after a dizzyingly twisted 8-episode arc, burrowing ever deeper into the rabbit hole of a post-human world. As ever, Westworld remains one of the most ambitious shows on television, and season four has arguably been the series’ most devilishly complex yet. With the line between “real” and synthetic obliterated ever since the hosts slipped the confines of the original theme park and infiltrated the real world,
“Thor: Love and Thunder ” Costume Designer Mayes C. Rubeo on Dressing Gods & Goddesses
Thor: Love and Thunder has scored the biggest Thor opening yet, proving MCU fans are loving writer/director Taika Waititi’s romantic comedy space adventure. The film reunites Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and his ex-girlfriend Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), who has become the Mighty Thor. They fight to stop Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale) from killing all the gods and goddesses of the universe.
Essential to capturing the essence of Waititi’s aesthetic is the bright explosion of color represented in every aspect of the project,
“1883” Costume Designer Janie Bryant on Elsa’s Epic Journey
The farther west her family’s pioneer caravan travels, the heavier a burden customs become, narrates Elsa (Isabel May), the heroine of 1883 on Paramount+. Observant and headstrong, she is the missing link from the series Yellowstone, a presence felt but not seen. Over the course of this ten-episode prequel, we follow her family’s journey leading to their stewardship of Montana’s biggest ranch and to Elsa’s ignominious fate.
The Dutton’s arduous move from Tennessee begins thanks to Elsa’s father,
From “Pachinko” to “Severance,” Costume Designers Discuss Their Apple TV Series
Last Year, Apple TV+ won seven Creative Arts Emmys and landed four Primetime Emmy Awards. They have kicked off this year’s Emmy FYC season with a number of events that will take place at The Grove in Los Angeles.
Last Thursday evening (5/19) a panel of costume designers took the stage to pull back the creative curtain of their series. The artisans making the journey were Jane Petrie from The Essex Serpent,
“Russian Doll” Costume Designer Jennifer Rogien Travels Through Time in Style in Season 2
During Russian Doll’s first season, hapless downtown New Yorker Nadia (Natasha Lyonne) can’t escape her own birthday party. In Season 2, she finds herself trapped by missing laws of space and time yet again, except now she’s a full-on time traveler. Stepping onto the 6 train, she gets off in her own neighborhood in 1982, where, she is understandably disconcerted to learn that she is her mother, Nora (Chloe Sevigny). Just as she gets used to firsthand insight into Nora’s crappy relationships and pregnancy with her own self,
“Moon Knight” Costume Designer Meghan Kasperlik on Minting a New Marvel Superhero
Moon Knight was a particularly intriguing challenge for costume designer Meghan Kasperlik. Coming off an incredible piece of work with her designs for the gritty crime series Mare of Easttown on HBO, where Kasperlik was key to helping Kate Winslet fully embody a detective in Delaware County, Pennsylvania (as a DelCo native, I remain amazed by this series on every level), Kasperlik plunged into the realm of superheroes,
“Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” Costume Designer Graham Churchyard Makes Marvel Magic
Directed by Sam Raimi, Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) is back in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and he and Supreme Sorcerer Wong (Benedict Wong) speedily land an unexpected assignment — protect America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez), a teenage multiverse-traveler who can’t control her world-hopping powers. To keep his charge safe, Stephen turns to Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen), who turns out to be living not in an apple orchard, busily mothering her twin boys,
How “The Batman” Batsuit Designers Went Lean & Mean
Outside of The Batman writer/director Matt Reeves (who co-wrote the script with Peter Craig), Glyn Dillon and David Crossman probably have The Batman‘s coolest credits attached to their names. Both share the title of Batsuit costume designers, with Dillon serving as chief concept artist and Crossman the costume supervisor. In terms of superhero icons, it doesn’t get much better than designing the Caped Crusader, and the tandem created a unique silhouette for a younger Bruce Wayne,
“Winning Time” Costume Designer Emma Potter on Making Magic With the Lakers
Working on Max Borenstein and Jim Hecht’s Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty didn’t require an advanced degree in NBA fandom in general and Lakes lore specifically, yet a lot of the folks involved had both. Hecht himself is a lifelong Lakers fan, and writer Rodney Barnes has loved basketball his whole life, and everyone likes Magic Johnson. Yet, one of the key people who helped give Winning Time its period-perfect look admits she was neither a massive b-ball fan or a follower of the NBA.
“Inventing Anna” Costume Designer Lyn Paolo on Dressing a Cunning Chameleon
When Anna Sorokin, a Russian woman in her early twenties, landed in New York, she had little in the way of entry to the glitzy social world she hoped to break into — no wealth, few friends, and a single stint as an intern at Purple, a raunchy Paris fashion magazine.
But as creator Shonda Rhimes swiftly demonstrates in Inventing Anna, Netflix’s nine-hour recounting of the fake German heiress Anna Delvey (Julia Garner) and the reporter who broke her story,
Oscar-Nominated “Cyrano” Costume Designer Massimo Cantini on a New Vision For a Timeless Tale
Cyrano (in theaters on February 25) boasts megawatt talent – notably, Peter Dinklage in the title role – but newly minted Oscar-nominee, costume designer Massimo Cantini Parrini, may be the film’s secret weapon. Parrini has won a bundle of European awards, mostly for his work in his native Italy. He came to Hollywood’s attention in 2020 when he was nominated for an Oscar for his costumes for Pinocchio,
“Death on the Nile” Costume Designer Paco Delgado on Killer Cruise Wear
Costume designer Paco Delgado grew up on a tiny island off the coast of West Africa, where he cultivated a vivid eye for color, shape, and texture. That aesthetic, developed at Institut del Teatre of Barcelona, has served him well. In 2011 he collaborated with the famously meticulous director Pedro Almodóvar on BAFTA Award-winning The Skin I Live In. Delgado then earned Oscar nominations for Les Miserable and The Danish Girl.
“The Gilded Age” Cinematographer Manuel Billeter on Lighting Old Money & New
Set in New York in the 1880s, The Gilded Age isn’t so much a follow-up to Downton Abbey as an across-the-pond companion piece from creator Julian Fellowes. In what’s being oft-referred to as a ‘lavish epic’ up and down the internet, this new HBO series follows in the footsteps of Fellowes’ previous series, with a slickly-produced focus on all the ways the rich are not like you and me.
Costume Designer Justine Seymour on Subtle Power on Display in “Women of the Movement”
After his 1955 murder, Emmett Till’s death became a galvanizing event for the burgeoning Civil Rights movement. The mutilated 14-year-old was given an open casket funeral at the behest of his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, who wished the world to see what Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam had done to her son. Lynched while on holiday to visit family in Money, Mississippi, after being falsely accused of whistling at a white woman, Carolyn Bryant, (Emmett had a stutter,
“Cowboy Bebop” Costume Designer Jane Holland on Creating a Jazzy Outlaw Look
How do you approach adapting the looks of a beloved Japanese anime series for a live-action Netflix series? This was the challenge for Cowboy Bebop costume designer Jane Holland, who managed to capture the glorious color of the original anime series about a crew of bounty hunters who will zealously pursue even the most dangerous criminals in the galaxy—if you’ve got the money—and do it all in the boldest of styles. Cowboy Bebop stars John Cho as the perenially sad bounty hunter Spike Spiegel,
“No Time To Die” Costume Designer Suttirat Anne Larlarb on Dressing Bond’s Allies & Adversaries
In part one of our conversation with No Time To Die costume designer Suttirat Anne Larlarb, we focused on the tall order of outfitting Daniel Craig for his fifth and final assignment as James Bond. In part two, we turn our attention to the allies and adversaries that populate Bond’s world, including two new agents, the love of his life, and a scarred sociopath who has designed a weapon that—spoiler alert—forces Bond to make the ultimate sacrifice.
“No Time To Die” Costume Designer Suttirat Anne Larlarb on Building the Apex Tuxedo
“Before Daniel, the Bond style, which was always very definitive, was being worn by someone who was more of a superhero character,” says No Time To Die costume designer Suttirat Anne Larlarb about the tall order of outfitting Daniel Craig for his fifth and final assignment as James Bond. “We didn’t really get the emotional landscape. We got the look, we got the icon, but we didn’t delve that much deeper. Daniel is a consummate actor and I really felt this responsibly to be able to costume him in a way that would live up to that Bond stratosphere,
“Station Eleven” Costume Designer Helen Huang on a Post-Pandemic World Filled with Art & Humanity
In times of fear, great loss, and regression in civilized society, creativity and culture will still blossom. This is not only the hopeful message of Station Eleven but also a truth about our world, proven by the fact that the show exists at all. The production team for HBO’s post-pandemic miniseries was a few episodes in when life began to imitate art, and art began springing up everywhere.
“You think about our pandemic,
