How Costume Designer Paolo Nieddu Worked With Prada For “The United States vs. Billie Holiday”
Few musicians are as iconic as Billie Holiday. So much about Holiday was avant-garde for the time, and as a queer Black woman of power, she ruffled more than a few feathers just by existing. Lee Daniels’ new film The United States vs. Billie Holiday is focused around one specific event in the singer’s life, chronicling her determination to sing the protest ballad “Strange Fruit,” and the consequences of that commitment.
Costume Designer Trish Summerville on Diving Into Hollywood’s Past in “Mank”
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, a once sought after screenwriter fallen prey to twin drinking and gambling problems? In Fincher’s version of events,
Film & Fashion Historian Kimberly Truhler on her Book “Film Noir Style: The Killer 1940s” – Part II
Kimberly Truhler‘s “Film Noir Style: The Killer 1940s” is filled with detail, background, and insightful commentary about the slinky gowns, killer suits, and dashing trench coats that are still fascinating and influence us today. There are chapters on classics like The Maltese Falcon, This Gun for Hire, Lady in the Lake, Out of the Past, and Sunset Boulevard.
Film & Fashion Historian Kimberly Truhler on her Book “Film Noir Style: The Killer 1940s” – Part I
“Film Noir Style: The Killer 1940s” is a new book from film and fashion historian Kimberly Truhler about the influential, iconic, and unforgettably gorgeous costumes that helped define a genre and an era. The book, which is packed with images from the films, explores the way the costumes defined the characters and the way costume design and fashion design influenced each other. “Hollywood costume designers developed American style and replaced European couture as the greatest influence on fashion,
Oscar-Winning Costume Designer Mark Bridges on His First Western “News of the World”
Over his long and varied career, costume designer Mark Bridges has tackled just about every wardrobe challenge imaginable. His efforts have led to Oscar wins for The Artist (2011) and Phantom Thread (2017), as well as nominations for Inherent Vice (2013) and Joker (2019). But surprisingly, he has never taken on a Western. That changed with News of the World.
Costume Designer Phoenix Mellow on Modern-Day Vintage Romance in “Sylvie’s Love”
In these trying times, what’s better than the escapism of a sweeping, old-fashioned romance? Set between the late 1950s and early 1960s, the new Amazon feature Sylvie’s Love from director Eugene Ashe (Homecoming, Home Again) is a sweet and lovely epic in the style of the vintage films from which it takes its inspiration (premiering on Amazon Prime on Christmas Day). Both a love story and a coming-of-age narrative,
Costume Designer Cat Thomas on the Couture of “The Flight Attendant”
At the beginning of the HBO miniseries The Flight Attendant, based on Chris Bohjalian’s novel, Cassie (Kaley Cuoco) is a put-together first class flight attendant by day, maximalist reveler by night. She parties relentlessly wherever she lands, seemingly enjoying an endless montage of karaoke, clubs, bars, and hookups. But Cassie also encapsulates a particular sort of overgrown New York party drunk, one who’s getting a little long in the tooth for these sorts of hijinks.
“The Good Lord Bird” Costume Designer on Dressing Ethan Hawke as Abolitionist John Brown
Rampaging through “Bloody Kansas” in 1856, abolitionist John Brown and his hardy band of followers lived in the wilderness foraging for food and killing pro-slavery “Red Shirts.” As dramatized in seven-episode miniseries The Good Lord Bird, produced by Blumhouse Television and premiering on Showtime this past Sunday [October 4], the tiny army led by Ethan Hawke‘s vainglorious John Brown rarely had the money for food or store-bought clothing.
Costume Designer Analucia McGorty on Creating the Looks for the Groundbreaking “POSE”
Set in the Eighties and Nineties, POSE is a dance musical that juxtaposes several versions of life and society in New York: the downtown social and literary scene, the ball culture world, and the rise of the luxury Trump-era universe. So when it comes to what everyone in the show is wearing, Costume Designer Analucia McGorty—recently Emmy-nominated for Outstanding Period Costumes—has some challenging, and extremely fun, work to do.
“Palm Springs” Costume Designer Colin Wilkes Gets Existential
Palm Springs costume designer Colin Wilkes had her work cut out for her when she came aboard director Max Barbakow’s new comedy. The film—now a record-breaker for Hulu—posits a nightmare scenario for the wedding averse; nuptials set in the sun-baked California desert town that you can never leave. At least that’s the case for Nyles (Andy Samberg) and Sarah (Cristin Milioti), who find themselves reliving the wedding day over and over again.
Amy Roberts on the Subtly Changing Fashion in Season 3 of “The Crown”
The third season of The Crown, Netflix’s lavish, semi-fictionalized series about Queen Elizabeth II and her family, sees the monarch, Prince Philip and Princess Margaret entering middle age. Claire Foy hands off the role of Elizabeth to Olivia Colman, with Helena Bonham-Carter and Tobias Menzies joining the cast as her sister and husband. Kicking off in 1964 with a Soviet spy scandal ripped from the headlines and ending with the Queen’s 1977 Silver Jubilee,
#blackAF Costume Designer Michelle Cole on Re-Teaming With Kenya Barris
The creator of the hugely successful sitcom Black-ish, and its spin-offs Grown-ish and Mixed-ish, chose to step in front of the camera for #blackAF. The mockumentary series is Kenya Barris’ first project for Netflix. Based on his own life, Barris plays himself, alongside Rashida Jones as his wife Joya, in the show, which is now streaming. He’s an extremely wealthy TV showrunner with six kids,
The Boys Costume Designers Carrie Grace & Laura Jean Shannon – Part II
In part 2 of our interview with the costume designers for Amazon Prime’s anti-hero superhero series The Boys, Laura Jean Shannon and Carrie Grace talked about the mechanics as well as the artistry involved in creating the superhero costumes—and the titular Boys’ more regular-guy clothes—for the hit series. Each super-suit requires a ton of work and enough duplicates that the actors and stunt performers can keep looking good. Season 2 of The Boys will be available later this year.
Dressing The Boys‘ Wholesome Hero Starlight With Costume Designers Carrie Grace & Laura Jean Shannon
A comic book artist has the luxury of creating superhero costumes that have to meet just one standard—looking cool. But when it comes time to translate those looks to screen, the costume designer has challenges that require more than imagination and a pencil. Superhero costumes worn by actors have to look real, even in hi-def. They have to withstand action scenes and they inevitably have to be cleaned and repaired afterward. But they can’t appear too brand-new;
Costume Designers Revive Late Forties Glamour for Ryan Murphy’s Hollywood
Writer-producer Ryan Murphy and his team envision an outrageously optimistic alternative history of the movie business in 1947 via their new show Hollywood. Debuting May 1 on Netflix, the period melodrama boasts a huge ensemble headed by David Corenswet as a fresh-faced actor who works as a gigolo before getting his big break. Along the way, he meets a black screenwriter/prostitute (Jeremy Pope), the voracious wife of a studio boss (Patti LuPone),
Costumers Organize to Make 16,000 Protective Masks
Seven weeks ago, costumer Nickolaus Brown expected he’d be spending this spring in Atlanta outfitting Dwayne Johnson and Ryan Reynolds for their Netflix action flick Red Notice. Instead, he’s now hunched over a sewing machine in his Los Angeles home, making masks for hospital workers. On a recent afternoon, Brown explained, “I’ve done eight so far and I’ve got twelve more to go, so it’s going to be twenty by the end of the day.”
An Aspiring Costume Designer Contemplates Life after COVID-19
The call came in 2014. It was 6 o’clock at night, Rachel Apatoff remembers. Would she be interested in working as a costume production assistant on a little TV show called Mad Men? It would bring her a straight 10 months of work, a nice stretch of employment for anyone in the industry, not just for a costumer.
Well, sure, Apatoff told them. When did they want her to start?
How Costume Designer Jeriana San Juan Helped Shape HBO’s The Plot Against America
These are trying times. When The Wire creator David Simon and his longtime collaborator Ed Burns set out to adapt the late, legendary novelist Philip Roth’s terrifyingly prescient 2005 novel “The Plot Against America,” they were doing so in a pre-pandemic world. At first, Simon and his team were “merely” adapting a novel that seemed, with eerie clairvoyance, to peer around the bend of time into our present day. The book envisions a truculent presidential candidate rising to power on an America First platform,
Styling Teenage Romance With To All The Boys: P.S. I Still Love You Costume Designer Lorraine Carson
Costume designer Lorraine Carson has helped steer the look of the romantic comedy franchise To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You (based on Jenny Han’s novel series) for the second and third films. As the franchise’s ensemble has grown up, so too has their wardrobe. With the second film currently available on Netflix (with the third film in post-production), we spoke to Carson about realizing character growth through costume,
Costume Designer Erin Benach on Dressing Harley Quinn & Other Deviants in Birds of Prey
Played by Margot Robbie, the titular anti-hero of Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) crashes a semi into a chemical plant, breaks an antagonist’s legs, and goes on the run from the police, and all that’s just during the first half of the movie. During the course of a gleefully violent spree through Gotham, Harley parties with the city’s dissolute elite, rescues a pint-sized pickpocket and forms a vigilante lady-squad whose moment to shine is a mini-war with a couple hundred hired thugs.
