WATCH: Behind The Scenes With Jaja's African Hair Braiding Costume Designer, Dede Ayite

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Ayite walks ESSENCE through the key costumes in the play, and the inspiration behind them.

Transcript

00:00 I mean, just celebrating Black women on stage

00:03 and the Black African experience on stage is wonderful.

00:06 And you have a variety of women on stage

00:10 that are sharing their lived experience, right?

00:12 And so someone from Senegal, someone from Ghana,

00:14 from Sierra Leone, it's just wonderful

00:16 to meet these women at different stages in their lives

00:19 and to see them and what their trials

00:23 and tribulations might be.

00:24 And to also recognize that they're just human

00:25 like anyone else, that they want to be loved,

00:28 they want to be appreciated, they want to be successful.

00:32 I find that it's very important.

00:34 And I'm grateful that I have the opportunity

00:36 to be able to work on a piece like this,

00:38 which is very different, to be honest,

00:39 from any other Broadway show that I've done.

00:41 (upbeat music)

00:43 (audience cheering)

00:55 - Hi, my name is Dede Aite.

00:57 I'm the costume designer for Zaja's African Hair Braiding.

01:00 Today, we're taking a peek into the world of costumes.

01:04 Come on in.

01:05 - I would love to start asking you

01:07 what inspired you to embark on a career

01:10 in costume designing?

01:12 - It's been quite the journey.

01:13 I actually first started just doing small productions,

01:18 plays with my friends in high school,

01:20 studied science, double majored with theater.

01:22 And then at some point in my life,

01:24 I felt that I needed art.

01:26 And so chose to then delve fully into designing,

01:29 set design and costuming.

01:31 However, I've moved more into costume design

01:34 just because I love telling stories through clothes.

01:36 I love how clothes make people feel.

01:38 I love that people are able to use clothing as armor

01:42 to communicate who they are, their past experiences.

01:45 And clothing is a way to communicate a sense of self.

01:49 And I find it very wonderful to use that as a tool

01:53 to talk about character.

01:54 - So tell me, how long did it take to design this look?

01:58 - I probably worked on the costumes

02:01 and the creative process on these clothes

02:03 for probably about two, three months.

02:07 I started by just doing some research

02:09 and then Whitney White, who's the director,

02:11 we meet and have conversations about character.

02:14 I go back and do additional research

02:15 and then I start to put together images and a mood board

02:19 before we actually transition to shopping the looks

02:21 and then costume fittings with the actors.

02:23 I can start with Bea,

02:26 who is, and this costume is worn by Zenzie.

02:29 And so she is Ghanian, the character's Ghanian.

02:32 She's a little older compared to some of the females

02:34 in the shop.

02:35 And so it felt important to ground her

02:37 by putting her in a more traditional costume

02:40 or more traditional African garment.

02:42 But then because she's lived in America for quite a while

02:45 and she is quite flashy,

02:48 it felt necessary to also embellish her costume

02:50 with additional trim and detail work

02:53 that just like push her up and liven up the energy

02:56 and the patterns that we might see on her character.

02:58 So Aminata in our show, which is played by Nana Mensah,

03:02 she is Senegalese.

03:04 And so it felt like I wanted to highlight her heritage

03:07 and create separation in terms of what kind of African

03:09 garment she might wear from Zenzie, who was Ghanian.

03:12 She's married, she's in love.

03:15 And so wanting to just highlight where she's at

03:17 in her social status, her class,

03:19 and then just like her relationship with her partner,

03:22 it felt worth it to highlight her by putting her in a skirt

03:26 that showcased her shape, that had a pop of color,

03:30 and that also leaned into the history of where she came from

03:33 coupled with a top that felt a little bit more American

03:37 with some trim details, just to balance her out.

03:39 And so there's a conversation between her assimilation

03:41 into the country, aka America,

03:44 and her past being Senegal.

03:47 - Absolutely, absolutely.

03:48 And you are Ghanian.

03:50 - Yeah.

03:51 - So I'm curious.

03:52 - The best of all fries.

03:53 - In Ghana?

03:54 (laughing)

03:55 - Period.

03:55 (laughing)

03:56 I'm very curious how your background informs your approach

04:00 to your creations.

04:02 - So I think as an artist, my lived experiences growing up

04:05 in Ghana definitely informs how I see color,

04:08 how I use patterns and textures.

04:10 And so in my work, I'm constantly wanting to use textures

04:13 and color and patterns and lines to create silhouettes

04:16 that speak to character, but also, you know,

04:19 are an extension of myself.

04:20 And so that comes through in my work all the time.

04:23 Consciously or unconsciously, I sort of get held back.

04:25 - Right.

04:26 That's beautiful.

04:27 That is amazing.

04:28 And I'm curious, do you see yourself

04:29 in any of the characters?

04:31 If so, which one or when?

04:34 - The brilliance of Jocelyn's writing

04:38 is that I can actually connect to each character.

04:40 So as I sit down and think about who they are,

04:42 I find pieces of myself in there,

04:44 as well as an immigrant living in New York City.

04:48 So in some ways, they're all like,

04:51 they all tell a complete story.

04:53 If I think about it, they all have parts of me in there.

04:56 - I'm curious, you know, the hair is obviously

04:58 a very important part,

05:00 almost a character in itself in this play.

05:02 Did you get to see the hair looks

05:04 before you started designing?

05:05 - Okay, yeah, yeah.

05:07 So I mean, when it comes,

05:08 the beautiful thing about working with this team

05:10 is we're such a collaborative team.

05:12 So Nikki and I and Whitney sit down

05:14 and before we start looking at images,

05:15 we talk about character.

05:17 And we all toss in ideas of like how a character might look.

05:20 For me as a costume designer,

05:21 I'm not only considering their bodies,

05:24 I'm thinking of them from head to toe.

05:25 So I'm thinking of the entire silhouette,

05:27 how that might shape and inform who they are

05:29 and how we perceive them on stage.

05:31 And so we definitely got to look at images together

05:34 and we're going back and forth as to how to like,

05:36 make sure costumes balances out the hair,

05:38 hair balances out the costumes

05:39 and informs about who the character is.

05:42 - Thank you, Essence, for having me.

05:43 I'm hoping to see you at the show in the next week.

05:46 (upbeat music)

05:48 (upbeat music)

05:51 (upbeat music)

05:54 (upbeat music)

05:56 (upbeat music)

05:59 (upbeat music)

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