Best of 2021: Mixing History & Modernity in the Costumes of “The Harder They Fall”
This interview is part of our highly subjective, decidedly non-comprehensive “Best of 2021” year-end list. It was originally published on November 2.
The Harder They Fall, Netflix’s addition to the world of Westerns from director-writer Jeymes Samuel, is not a monochromatic throwback set on the dusty frontier. Honoring the names of historical characters like Nat Love (Jonathan Majors) and Stagecoach Mary (Zazie Beetz) while leaving most of their actual histories behind,
“The Power of the Dog” Costume Designer Kirsty Cameron on Highlighting Harsh Beauty
There’s a Japanese film from director Hirokazu Koreeda titled Shoplifters about a family that goes to great lengths in order to survive. It sneaks up on you and pulls you in such a profound way that by the end you’re left craving for more. It’s an extraordinary film that is brought together, in part, by the creativity of those behind-the-scenes who shaped a deep, realistic environment that allows viewers to comfortably sink into the world.
“Being the Ricardos” Costume Designer Susan Lyall on Capturing Lucy & Desi’s Many Lives
Being the Ricardos takes us back to the days of I Love Lucy for an intimate, behind-the-scenes look at its stars, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. Written and directed by Aaron Sorkin and starring Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem as the iconic TV couple, the film delves into such sensitive subjects as Arnaz’s infidelity, Ball’s pregnancy, and the turmoil that ensues when columnist Walter Winchell alleges that Ball is a communist.
“Last Night in Soho” Costume Designer Odile Dicks-Mireaux’s Sinisterly Swinging Style
At the beginning of Edgar Wright’s thriller Last Night in Soho, budding fashion student Eloise (Thomasin McKenzie) is living with her grandmother (Rita Tushingham) in Cornwall, wearing clothes she made herself and experiencing visions of her dead mother (Aimee Cassettari), a situation she and her grandmother seem to agree is just a part of who she is. But an acceptance to the London College of Fashion pulls her away to city life,
Mixing History & Modernity in the Costumes of “The Harder They Fall”
The Harder They Fall, Netflix’s addition to the world of Westerns from director-writer Jeymes Samuel, is not a monochromatic throwback set on the dusty frontier. Honoring the names of historical characters like Nat Love (Jonathan Majors) and Stagecoach Mary (Zazie Beetz) while leaving most of their actual histories behind, the film is centered around a complicated, fictional rivalry between two outlaw gangs seeking revenge and vying for control of a frontier town called Redwood.
Costume Designer Meghan Kasperlik on Capturing the Gritty Essence of “Mare of Easttown”
Costume designer Meghan Kasperlik did some serious fieldwork when she was preparing for HBO’s critical hit Mare of Easttown. One of her first research trips? To a Wawa in Coastville near where the series is set. The iconic chain is well known to residents of the greater Philadelphia area and southern New Jersey, and it proved an invaluable point of entry for Kasperlik to get a better sense of how the characters in Easttown would dress.
Dressing Icons and Con Men With “Genius: Aretha” and “Better Call Saul” Costume Designer Jennifer Bryan
Costume designer Jennifer Bryan can pivot from glamour to gaudy, from an icon to a con artist, without missing a beat—or a thread. Bryan’s work can currently be seen on National Geographic’s third season of Genius, which focused on the monumental career and legacy of Aretha Franklin (Cynthia Erivo).
Bryan’s now hard at work on a very different kind of show, trading in Aretha Franklin’s shimmering dresses (and profound decency) for the gaudy,
“Lovecraft Country” Costume Designer Dayna Pink’s Many Worlds of Fashion
Creator Misha Green‘s Lovecraft Country was one of the most startling, sumptuous series of 2020, and one of the big reasons why it looked so good was the work of costume designer Dayna Pink. Designing looks for everything from shoppers on Greenwood Avenue in 1921 Tulsa to soldiers during the Korean War to the Afrofutrisim of a multidimensional world set in space, Pink’s designs were integral to the success of Lovecraft Country.
“Halston” Costume Designer Jeriana San Juan on Channeling a Fashion Icon
Starring Ewan McGregor and produced by Ryan Murphy, the Netflix miniseries series Halston charts the rise and fall of the iconic American fashion designer, by way of the glitzy, glamorous, and cocaine-addled Studio 54-era New York. We talk to costume designer Jeriana San Juan about getting into Halston’s head to create the pivotal pieces and teaching Ewan McGregor the tricks of the trade.
Halston’s director Daniel Minahan said recently the show “lives and dies by the clothing and the costumes.” How did you go about meeting that challenge?
“12 Mighty Orphans” Costume Designer Goes Deep on Football Helmets & Fedoras
As underdog sports dramas go, it’s hard to improve on the fact-based 12 Mighty Orphans, which tracks a team of scrawny teenagers living in a Fort Worth orphanage as they progress from dead-last in their league to the 1938 state finals under the leadership of Coach Rusty Russell (Luke Wilson). Football fans might marvel at the antique charm of the players’ homemade uniforms while vintage fashion buffs can savor a cavalcade of period-perfect hats worn by Wilson,
The Limitless World of Fashion Created by the “Bridgerton” Costume Designers
As we were all distancing ourselves from one another over the past year, Bridgerton burst into our homes with a voyeuristic view of steamy couples getting very, very close. The most indulgent fantasy of the series, however, was imagining the pleasure of putting on a magnificent Regency ensemble and actually having somewhere to go.
We have costume designers Ellen Mirojnick and John Glaser to thank for those scrumptious fashion treats.
“Star Trek: Discovery” Costume Designer Gersha Phillips on the Future of Fashion
Costume designer Gersha Phillips has been part of building the world of CBS Studios’ Star Trek: Discovery since the beginning, garnering acclaim for her futuristic and creative designs used on the show over its 3 seasons. The 3rd season in particular represented major costume challenges, as the Discovery crew gets propelled through time to almost a thousand years in the future. Phillips and her costume department were more than up to the task,
Behind the Costumes, Wigs, & Makeup of the Deliciously Punk “Cruella”
When it comes to devilishly wicked Disney villains, Cruella de Vil is near the top of the list. So when the studio released the first trailer for Craig Gillespie’s live-action film Cruella and ensuing soundtrack featurette that plays like a must-have compilation of popular music from the mid-1960s to early ‘80s, we laid eyes on a mischievous title character that’s wholly reimagined and “ready to make a statement.”
Cruella is an origin story that follows Estella (Emma Stone) from her tragic childhood as an orphan to an ambitious,
Justine Seymour on Outfitting the Fleeing Foxes of “The Mosquito Coast”
Clothing isn’t a primary concern for The Mosquito Coast’s misfit Fox family. Broke patriarch Allie (Justin Theroux) invents unsuccessful machines to save the world while scraping by as a handyman/asparagus farmer. His suffering, formerly wealthy wife, Margot (Melissa George), is his primary enabler. Their teenage kids, Dina (Logan Polish) and Charlie (Gabriel Bateman) tolerate their unorthodox home life to varying degrees. In Stockton, where the Foxes live mostly off the grid, the household seems about 15 years behind the times,
Costume Designer Laura Montgomery Gets Noir on “Spiral: From the Book of Saw”
The ninth installment of the Saw film franchise, Spiral: From the Book of Saw, directed by Darren Lynn Bousman and in theaters now, takes the series in unexpected new directions. Chris Rock shelves his comedic side for the brash but grim role of Ezekiel “Zeke” Banks, a divorced detective who winds up leading an investigation into a grisly series of murders, wherein the dead are all Zeke’s fellow cops.
Costume Designer Lizz Wolf on Outfitting The Motley Crew of Superheroes in “Jupiter’s Legacy”
Based on the graphic novels by Mark Millar and Frank Quitely, Netflix’s new superhero epic Jupiter’s Legacy is a century-spanning origin story and contemporary action tale in one. When we meet Sheldon, the Utopian (Josh Duhamel), and Grace, aka Lady Liberty (Leslie Bibb), they seem like any ordinary if well-off older rural couple, drinking wine, clad in plaid and fretting over disagreements with their grown kids.
Shel and Grace,
Oscar-Nominated Costume Designer Trish Summerville on Diving Into Hollywood’s Past in “Mank”
This interview is part of our ongoing Oscar series. It was originally published on January 25, since then, Summerville has been nominated for Best Costume Design.
David Fincher’s black and white epic, Mank, revisits the storied Hollywood era of the late 1930s when Orson Welles was writing what would go down in history as one of the best films of all time, Citizen Kane. But did he write it alone or with the help of Herman Mankiewicz,
Oscar-Nominated Costume Designer Bina Daigeler on Mixing History & Myth in “Mulan”
When director Niki Caro took on Disney’s live-action reboot of Mulan, you knew the New Zealand-born filmmaker was going to deliver something transporting. The original “Ballad of Mulan” was first shared in China in the 6th century, and was then shared again as a Disney animated movie in 1998. In Caro’s hands, the mythology of Mulan becomes a lush live-action epic, buoyant and beautiful, as our titular heroine goes from a headstrong daughter into a fearless warrior fighting to defend China,
Costume Designer Deborah Newhall on Dressing the Dastardly in “I Care A Lot”
Writer/director J. Blakeson’s I Care A Lot is a gleefully cynical uppercut against late-stage capitalism that is also, incredibly, a blast to watch. The con artist at its center, Rosamund Pike’s Marla Grayson, would be hard to root for if both her performance and the film itself weren’t so infectiously committed to its amorality. One of I Care A Lot‘s central themes is that the heart of capitalism isn’t healthy competition or ingenuity or hard work—it’s exploitation.
Charlese Antoinette Jones on Dressing History in “Judas and the Black Messiah”
With ample photographs and documentary material to peruse for inspiration, designing costumes for a film set in recent history has its upsides. On the other hand, the descendants of the subjects you’re working to dress—or the subjects themselves—may be spending time on set, checking for historical accuracy. Such was the case for Judas and the Black Messiah, director Shaka King’s (Shrill, Newlyweeds) depiction of the lead-up to and FBI assassination of community activist and Black Panther chapter chairman Fred Hampton.
