- 5 days ago
Variety Artisans Exchange will feature two exclusive conversations with this year's standout artisans behind hit shows. Moderated by Jazz Tangcay, Variety Senior Artisans Editor, this discussion will explore how innovation and collaboration among artisans lead to award-winning series.
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00:00Hi, I'm Jaz Tanke, Senior Artisans Editor at Variety, and welcome to Artisans Exchange
00:10Costume Designers. Please welcome another Simple Favour costume designer, Renee Ehrlich-Kalphus,
00:17Power Book 3 Raisin Cane and costume designer, Segei White-Robinson, Day of the Jackal costume
00:22designer, Natalie Humphreys, and 1923 costume designer, Janie Bryant. Hello and welcome.
00:30I am so excited to be here with you all and talk about your work because the range of artistry,
00:36the range of costumes, just, you know, first seasons, you know, returning seasons alone is
00:43so incredible. But Natalie, I want to start with you because Day of the Jackals, you know,
00:48Eddie Redmayne's aesthetic is so impeccable. What conversations did you have about how he would
00:56look, especially as he travels through Europe trying to go unnoticed? Take us through that.
01:03Well, all of the original conversations, both with production director and Eddie,
01:08were about wanting to pay homage to the 1973 film, the Edward Fox film, where the Jackal,
01:16one of the striking things about that film is that the assassin is this highly groomed,
01:20tailored assassin. And we wanted to take that into our contemporary Jackal. So we were really
01:25conscious of having very tailored looks. We wanted to lean into British tailoring in particular.
01:33But then also, as you say, he travels across Europe. So we wanted to mix in a blend of European
01:38labels where the Jackal would actually be buying his clothes. But then in terms of moving around,
01:44sort of undetected, and I suppose operating, we wanted to create a palette that was sort of like
01:5070s espionage. So no sort of bright pops of colour. It was lots of sort of tans, browns,
01:57and navies and greys. So straight out of the sort of espionage playbook, I guess.
02:02Yeah, I love that. And, you know, speaking of suits, you know, Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick are
02:09back in another simple favour. You know, it's been six years. But what I noticed, what I love in
02:15particular was like, you know, Renee, how you pushed Emily's look. Talk a little bit about that.
02:22Like, where are those suits now? How did you make that look more heightened, given where she is in
02:29life? One of the sort of interesting things, and actually, I think a first for me, as a veteran,
02:36as they say, costume designer, was doing a sequel, which I've never kind of done. And this came
02:42together in a very special way. And the intrigue, I think, in the first simple favour was this kind
02:51of tension between the two, Emily and Stephanie. And Emily coming back was like a chance to make her
03:01even more intimidating, more, you know, inexplicable, bigger silhouettes and change her sort of twice a
03:13scene, she was changing. So it was just a sort of very dramatic, over the top. In a lot of regards,
03:21it was about creating costumes to kind of really entertain to the movie was about entertainment.
03:29And there was a kind of a bold redo of, you know, for example, her arriving in a suit that was a prison
03:38stripe, as an ode to where she had been for the last seven years, she was in a horizontal stripe suit draped
03:46in chains. So that was one of the ways of taking the sort of gender bending, also placing her where she's come
03:54from seven years later, and, you know, psychologically placing her in a place where she
04:01creates a kind of tension with Stephanie.
04:06I love that. We're going to come back to, you know, and dive into certain looks later on. But Sige, you know, over the years,
04:13what you've done on, you know, on the show, like, you know, the 90s hip hop nostalgia, but there's also this modern
04:19perspective, like, where are you finding these outfits? I, you know, I think everybody just wants to know,
04:24what are you doing to like, you know, keep this look so modern, but also blend it with the nostalgia of it all?
04:32Definitely the challenge, right? So I source from all over the world. I love first dibs. And I also, it's been done before. I mean, we've all lived the 90s, right? So a lot of my work is just recreating what was already done.
04:46And I source, you know, fabrics from everywhere that feel like a lot of dead stock that was printed during the 90s that I rebuy. I have an amazing tailoring team that helps me recreate these looks.
05:05But yeah, I sort of just source from everywhere. And the challenge for me was finding the authentic sort of like 90s urban wear. So that was a challenge like the first season, like I can go to the rental houses in LA and they have all sort of generic suits and dresses and all that.
05:25But it was like the polo and the guests and Tommy Hilfiger, all the things that culturally people identify with. And I think that's why people love the show.
05:37And so I was able to find a lot of urban collectors, like in LA and here in New York, that really helps me tell the story through a very authentic eye, right?
05:50And I live that generation. So that also helps me with my design.
05:55And Janie, 1923, you know, talk about how, you know, the palette and texture shifts for you in this season and where we are in, you know, in this incredible Western world.
06:11You know, I love creating period design. It's my favorite genre. I love creating a world.
06:20And with 1923, we had, I think, over 5000 extras, which was incredible just to have so many people on set all the time.
06:32And, you know, for Jacob Dutton, you know, his palette and also for Karen palette was very dark because they had like gone through emotional situations for lifestyle.
06:49So I, you know, talked with Taylor a lot, like how their palette really remained very, like in this very dark palette, you know, for Alex, you know, I loved her costume design because like in season one, her costumes were really stripped away from her.
07:11And in season two, it's kind of like the same thing. Like every moment she went through, things were just taken away from her at every moment, second.
07:21So I love that idea of being stripped away from everything that she had before.
07:28And, you know, the other thing is with, with Alex and Liz, you know, their, their palette was very pale, all whites, light blues, peaches.
07:44Very, very, very pale with their, like in, in terms of like the rest of the palettes stay, they stayed very like fresh and white and in those shades.
07:59Yeah, I love that. 5000 is insane. And, but then you, you see the show and you understand it all, but this, this is something that I'd love to hear from all of you.
08:08And Siga, you kind of touched on it a little bit. Like, what is the balance of you all, you know, sourcing costumes, going to like the costume houses versus having to create something custom for your respective projects?
08:24Well, I sort of call like 90s adjacent. And the good thing for me is that when I was filming this show, like the 90s had kind of come back. So I was able to, but I also had a lot of like period pieces.
08:38And what I would do, what helped me was I would find like the real thing from the time, right? So say, for example, like a pair of Jabot jeans. And so I would take that silhouette, right? And then I would remake it in other fabrics, right?
08:56And for different types of characters. And so that, that would help. And a lot of the things have crossed over, you know, like a catsuit, you pair it with the 90s belt, and there you go, right?
09:11But I, you know, it was definitely challenging, especially when it comes to having to have like multiples of something, trying to have like six of the same thing.
09:20But that's where my tailoring shop would come in and just make it, you know?
09:27Yeah. Natalie, what about for you?
09:31Yeah, on a contemporary show, you don't often get the pleasure of creating a lot of clothes or making a lot of clothes.
09:38But because the Jackal was so tailored, we did get to work with some brilliant tailors here in the UK that are sort of famous for working on Bond.
09:45And we wanted to give it that sort of edge.
09:47But even with Bianca's look, that was a real blend.
09:52We wanted her to be a really contemporary agent.
09:54So we wanted to blend tailoring with streetwear and make her a really agile agent.
10:02And similarly with her, it was a pleasure to also create tailoring with Lashana.
10:07But then around her family, there's a much more authentic world around Lashana,
10:13a much more textured, like West London world.
10:17So a lot of the clothes, again, there were actually like secondhand buys or stuff from my stock or from my studio,
10:24because we wanted that world to have an authenticity to it that you didn't find perhaps in the Jackals,
10:30because he's constantly shape-shifting and his look is sort of very aspirational and that sort of quiet luxury.
10:36Rene, what about you?
10:39I mean, I have to ask you about that wedding dress.
10:43Was that custom or was that, did you find that?
10:47No.
10:48What I like to do, what I like to do, and I've learned to do as much as I possibly can,
10:54is try to design and have made to order as much as I can,
11:00even as we all discuss contemporary movies and shows.
11:08Don't always suggest you can do that.
11:11I try to.
11:12And I can talk about my extras as well, dressing something like 500 to the wedding and 500 to a garden party
11:22and what I decided to have built being in Italy, which was like a whole other story.
11:27But in terms of the wedding dress, the wedding dress came about, it was a, for Emily,
11:34it's a white latex bustier, custom made, with white latex leggings and gloves and roses.
11:45And then I had the great fortune being in Rome, going to a costume shop called Tirelli's,
11:51which is like, you know, famous.
11:54And I mean, Cleopatra was made out of there, all these sort of amazing, you know.
11:59And we shot in Cini Citta as well, which was the oldest studio in Rome.
12:03I think that informed a lot of things, but the skirt, which is a giant, giant silver shot satin,
12:11custom made skirt that I designed, was built with the tailors, the cutter drapers there.
12:18And it was very exciting and came together.
12:21There's also a 40 foot veil, which we had made, which, you know, took up the entire blocks.
12:29I don't know how long a 40 foot.
12:31And it was dyed and dripped in blood red and then encrusted with red crystals
12:39as to indicate sort of possible things that were going to happen.
12:45A harbinger of the story.
12:49Love that.
12:51Janie, what about you?
12:52What is your ratio of creating versus sourcing?
13:00Yeah.
13:02I mean, I just most everything for the principal cat.
13:07And we built it here at West Zoom, where I am this morning.
13:13And for the extras, we, you know, rented a lot from Burn and Motion Picture and all around town for the costumes.
13:28And we bought some things to have like a combination of all those things.
13:34Love that.
13:36Something that we don't often talk about with costume designers is accessorizing.
13:41Except, you know, we see it, you know, on all your shows.
13:44But what is, you know, what is the key to accessorizing your characters and the cast?
13:50And like, again, you're sourcing watches.
13:52You know, you're sourcing period jewelry, cost.
13:57Yeah.
13:57Talk about how costume designers work to accessorize.
14:03And, you know, and what is that balance of like, wait, I've put too many rings on this person.
14:08I've put too many chains.
14:09Like, take us into the process for that.
14:13It's really key, isn't it?
14:14And it's one of the nuances as to how we all dress every day.
14:17And I always kind of approach it with the actor in terms of I'd like to have a large selection of stuff that feels right to me based on the research that I've already shared with the director and with the artist.
14:30But it's something that actors really respond to in a fitting room and things will just feel right.
14:34And it's maybe not the thing that you instinctively thought would feel right.
14:37But it's one of the key things that I think can really help them find a character.
14:41And then often sometimes an actor will come with a great chain that is on for some of the fitting photos.
14:48And then you're like, hang on, this is really working with this.
14:51Do you mind if we share it?
14:52And, you know, but yeah, that sort of level of layering is a really delightful element of play, I think, in costume.
15:00Yeah.
15:01I've got to ask you about the Omega watches that Eddie's wearing.
15:05He's obviously a brand ambassador for the watch company.
15:09But what is what was the key to getting that right watch without making it look too James Bond?
15:17Yeah.
15:17So obviously Eddie's a brand ambassador and that was an option that was open to us.
15:22But we were really clear from the beginning that because he's in different disguises throughout, we didn't solely want to work with Omega.
15:29And they were super flexible about that.
15:31So one of the first costumes that you see him in, he's like a janitor and he's wearing a really old Casio that we scuffed up.
15:40And he wears, there's another scene where he sort of looks slightly like an architect going into a classical concert.
15:45For that, he wore a brawn.
15:47So with each character, we really thought about the watch, but we, I particularly loved, I presented Eddie with some ideas, but I really loved the rail master watch because it was created for rail workers and for people that needed high precision instruments, which as a sniper, it felt really important that he had a piece like that.
16:07But also it sort of was a nod to military practices in that it had a very matte strap.
16:13The face was black.
16:14So in terms of if he was lining up a shot, it hopefully wouldn't catch too much attention.
16:20So when he's actually trying to take a shot and is operating as a jackal, we didn't want a really flash watch.
16:26Janie, what about for you on 1923?
16:29I love jewellery.
16:30My supervisor is usually like, you're buying too much.
16:34I just love, I love, especially the 20s.
16:38I really, I collect a lot of it.
16:41And, you know, I really, I love to use for the accents and to really identify the characters.
16:52Yeah, I feel like it really gives like some grounding to the characters too.
16:58Um, I'm also kind of obsessed with watch fobs and play around with those a lot.
17:06You know, these beautiful pieces for the men are so important to use in the show.
17:13Yeah.
17:13But I really love like all the jewelry, like all the rings and the necklace rings, um, all the brooches.
17:21You know, I around with it a lot in, in the fitting room.
17:25Yeah.
17:26What stories does that tell though, especially on a cast like as large as 1923, you've got the different families, you've got the different statuses.
17:34Like, how do you tell that story through, through, through accessorizing?
17:39Well, like for Kara, for instance, um, you know, I love the idea of her having, uh, jewelry from a different period.
17:54Um, because she's kind of like an old fashioned character, the way that she wears her hair, the style of clothes, more in the era of like the early 1900s.
18:07And so I like to accessorize her in, in, in that time period as well.
18:14So she has like a pair of earrings that are, you know, old fashioned and like the brooches that are of an early time.
18:23Um, and it really, it really, it really sets her in period and also like, she really contrasts from the other women in the show as well.
18:32Um, for, you know, for the prostitutes, you know, I love to over accessorize them, um, show that they are, um, like in a social class as well.
18:48Um, so, so, you know, there's like different kinds of jewelry for each, for each character.
18:55Sige, what about for you?
18:57I'm smiling because I, I've always loved jewelry.
19:01I'm a jewelry fanatic in my real life and I tend to buy jewelry first before I buy anything else.
19:10Um, so I think that I was very well suited to design the series because, um, from an urban standpoint,
19:16from a cultural standpoint, um, jewelry is very important, um, to us.
19:23And I, I knew cause I wore it, right?
19:27Like the hair and bone necklaces and the nameplates and the three finger rings and the nugget rings.
19:33And there's a way to tell that story, um, without making it feel like buffoonery, right?
19:42Like a joke, like a caricature, and that was what was important to me.
19:47And so for me, I sort of leaned back into like my grandparents, um, and my grandfather and his, um,
19:56his friends and how they dressed and how they wore their, their jewelry.
20:00And so when I had the opportunity to, uh, design for Wendell Pierce, I bought a bunch of like,
20:07um, like the nugget rings, um, and the nugget watches and the hair and bone bracelets.
20:13And he put the jewelry on.
20:16And as a designer, like the biggest compliment is for an actor to come in and put on what you
20:21design, whether it be the jewelry or whatever it is, and transform into that character.
20:25And that happened for me in that moment.
20:28And I, I, I loved it because he became, um, snaps, right.
20:35Um, and so, you know, it wasn't, it wasn't hard for me and no Patina too.
20:41I, I get her, uh, the nameplate of Canaan and I decided that his birthstone was my mom
20:48is a Virgo.
20:48So I, you know, I had little, uh, um, Sapp, um, Sapphires, like put into the nameplate.
20:55Um, but you know, the nineties jewelry was a huge, a huge part of our culture.
21:01Um, and so I was able to lean into that and, you know, it was never too much, right.
21:07There's a way you can do it with like just enough where it feels authentic.
21:11Um, um, and I also believe in buying real jewelry.
21:15I can, because it doesn't look, it, it, it just translates better, you know, it translates
21:22realer, um, and it's super relatable.
21:26And I think that that's why there was such a cult following to the show, not only because
21:31of the writing and the acting, but also the clothes, you know, people really, I mean, I
21:37get so many DMs about, and emails about, um, how, you know, Marvin reminds them of their
21:44uncle or so-and-so reminds them of their mother, or I had those boots, girl, you know,
21:48and I love hearing that, you know?
21:51So yeah.
21:53Well, to that, I want to, because, I mean, I was telling you just before we started recording,
21:56the finale is going to air this week and it is getting so grim, so dark.
22:00And it's like, I don't even know what's going to happen this week, but, you know, talk about
22:05how you're reflecting that grim, that dark, you know, leaning story arc through costume
22:11that Kanan, you know, and we're seeing more of this through Kanan, how are you telling
22:15that story through costume?
22:18Because that is the first thing we see before we see anything else happen on screen.
22:22So I tell it through the palette, right?
22:25So when we first met Kanan, he was this high school student trying to figure it out.
22:30And so, you know, the early 90s was very primary, right?
22:34Lots of reds and greens and stripes and all of the things.
22:38And then the later on, the arc for his character becomes very dark, right?
22:45So a lot of like black hoodies and fatigue, all that sort of starts to play.
22:52For all the characters, they all have sort of a shift, right?
22:55As the series progresses, and I tell it through the palette, through the color, for sure.
23:02Renee, what about you?
23:04Talk about the accessorizing, you know, especially, yeah, on Stephanie, Emily, and the story you
23:11were telling through that.
23:12I just want to respond to that because, and then I'll talk about it happily.
23:18I think that what's so interesting and so good for us to be interviewed and talking about
23:25a process, talking about what we do, because we are ultimate influencers.
23:33People respond to the accessories.
23:37They respond to the palette, whether they know they're responding to the palette or not.
23:42They're like loving this for a reason that we've helped tell this story.
23:47And I think it's so important as designers for us to be recognized as that, you know, that's
23:53such a big contribution.
23:55And so I'm happy to talk about anything, but I just wanted to reiterate and say, I think
24:01that the level that we bring to filmmaking is incredibly important and influential.
24:10Accessories are a funny thing for me.
24:11I'm a love-hate accessory designer.
24:16And I think that, first of all, it's very much dependent on the story you're telling.
24:21I mean, more is more with my character with Emily.
24:25I mean, more is more.
24:26If I bring 10 tie bars to Blake and I say, you know, pit five, she does, why can't I wear
24:34the 10 of them?
24:35You know, or, you know, can I put, you know, so more is more for that character and it's
24:41appropriate.
24:42It's bold.
24:43It's intimidating.
24:44It's all the things the character is.
24:48In contrast, again, you know, the mom sort of defiant and maybe quiet costumes of the
24:56Anna Kendrick's character, Stephanie, is played way down.
25:01And we did very little jewelry and she was happy to be in sneakers and sweats.
25:04And that, again, helped to create this tension, the frenemy tension.
25:12But if you have a kind of a concept, a story concept whereby you're going to a wedding,
25:19you're on a destination wedding in Capri, Italy, you kind of have a chance to bring a lot
25:25of accessories, a lot of hats, a lot of garden party, purses.
25:29So we, we had a full shop.
25:33We had just a huge full shop that we took over a villa in Capri and like filled literally
25:41like a department store of shoes and accessories and jewelry bags.
25:47And it was all Italian, very bold, very bright, very colorful, very in your face.
25:55And, you know, it was appropriate to the storytelling.
25:59So I think we all just do that.
26:02I mean, I'm not speaking for everybody, but as designers, you know, we have to stay flexible
26:07and see what that character is doing at any given moment in the story we're telling.
26:14I want to come back to what you said about being influencers, because the one thing with
26:19all your shows is, you know, just the impact of, you know, you see it on Instagram, you
26:26see it on TikTok, they're obsessed with, you know, your work.
26:29What does that mean?
26:30You know, when you are creating, you know, you're in production or you're in a fitting,
26:35are you even thinking of like, okay, people are going to want this mustard coat?
26:39People are going to want to search for these.
26:42Like, how does that impact the work that you're doing ultimately?
26:49Did you want me to answer that?
26:51Go for it, Renee.
26:51Start.
26:52Okay.
26:53I think that it's, for me, research-based, character-based, and not really thinking,
27:02what is it going to be a hit?
27:04What's going to be a hit?
27:05What's going to call?
27:07I think that ultimately, no matter what story you're telling, for me, again, those characters,
27:14you want those characters to be on the screen and just above, just reach, not quite reachable,
27:24aspirational.
27:25And so, for me, it's always a little heightened, even within a reality, even within a serious
27:32storytelling, it's always like, there's a palette, there's a silhouette, there's something
27:37that's, you know, going to draw your attention.
27:40And that is basically to the design that forwards the character and allows the actor, which has
27:49been mentioned by everybody here, to kind of fulfill that character.
27:55So, not only is it important on the outside how it's interpreted, but it's incredibly important
28:00for us to give the actors this sort of skin to sort of strut their best, you know, and do
28:07their best.
28:09Absolutely.
28:10Yeah, I completely agree with that.
28:12I don't think I would ever start approaching a costume thinking, I want this to, obviously,
28:19you want an audience to respond to something.
28:20But my first relationship is with the director and with the actor.
28:24And you are wanting to provide the tools for your artist to inhabit and realize that character.
28:29And I think I'm very mindful when I'm designing, you know, René, you've already said it, but
28:38it's reference, reference, reference.
28:39And I just immerse myself in the reference process, like sort of even before my official
28:43prep starts.
28:45And all of the references for The Jackal were very filmic, very cinematic.
28:50And although we were a long form production, we really wanted to lean into cinema on this
28:55job.
28:55So the references were things like Three Days of the Condor, the Thomas Crown Affair.
29:02Munich was actually a huge reference as well.
29:04Joanna Johnson's beautiful costumes in Munich kept coming up across production, actually.
29:08And just like we were talking about, leaning into a palette and a silhouette.
29:12So wherever we could have, you know, full length coats, you know, that sort of, I know
29:17that that's maybe a trope from the espionage sort of genre, but it works for a reason, you
29:23know, and it's fabulous.
29:24But they weren't particularly showy fabrics.
29:26They were all quite classical film colors and fabrics, I'd say.
29:33Sege?
29:34Yeah.
29:34I mean, again, you know, as René said, and as I said, it's a lot of research.
29:40But, you know, and as I said earlier, the goal for me, I never go into it thinking, you
29:45know, if this is going to be a trend or someone's going to want to redo this or whatever, whatever
29:51the question was.
29:52But I really, I mean, if I can just anything across for me, I love creating characters.
30:02And I love doing that through clothes, through costumes.
30:07And for this particular show, it was important for me that, and I've said this before, and
30:17I'm going to keep saying it, but that it was just sort of relatable and it felt real.
30:21And I was pleasantly surprised, you know, when I read all the comments, right, about how everybody
30:30feels about the costumes.
30:31And I know that I've sort of done something right, you know what I mean?
30:37But it's just about, you know, the research, research, research.
30:41Go ahead, Janie.
30:42Do you want to talk about the importance, like how, whether influencers or like people
30:49who follow you on Instagram and want to dress like the characters in 1923 impacts your work?
30:55Yeah, I think 1923, you know, it's so much about the, the sand, the, what the script is saying
31:06to me when I'm reading it and how to be all those characters to be to them to look.
31:14Um, I mean, I, I got a lot of comments on, um, Alex's dooms and also Liz's costumes, I think
31:25is amazing.
31:27I mean, I, I love it, you know, um, but I really, I really go into it thinking more about
31:34the character and having my favorite thing about my job is actors come into the fitting
31:43room and for them to turn into, like during that fitting process.
31:48Um, so that for me is like the most magical thing.
31:53And if the audience responds to that, I mean, I, I love that they, you know, comment on other
32:00costumes and, and love the things that I love.
32:04So yeah, I like hearing what they have to say about them.
32:09Yeah.
32:10I want to come back to something Renee said about, you know, costume designers being storytellers
32:15and you a hundred percent are, as it says, you know, we see costumes before a line of
32:20dialogue is spoken.
32:21We are coming up to a year, almost a year, uh, since costume designers achieved pay equity.
32:27What does that mean for all of you to have that?
32:29Because you are first on set, you are fitting at 2am in the morning, or you're working around
32:34schedules and you are the last ones home.
32:36And what does that mean to have achieved pay equity for all of you?
32:41Renee, do you want to start?
32:43I think we're underpaid.
32:47I think that, um, you know, if I could form any sort of stronger union for us, we would
32:54be paid as, as well as, uh, the, uh, personal hairdressers and makeup artists.
33:01I think that, I think we carry as department heads and entirely amazing and heavy load.
33:09I think we're maybe one of the people say this actually often your, your crew are the, one
33:16of the hardest working and we are, we're like just industrious problem solving, you know,
33:25endless problem solving and, and turning something from nothing into something beautiful, essentially.
33:31So I would like to see us further, uh, our position and be on a par with, uh, uh, production
33:40design and be on a par with, uh, the cinematography, uh, that's where I stand.
33:46Anybody want to add to that?
33:48Yeah.
33:49I think that people have this misconception.
33:51They think that this is a super glamorous job and by no stretch, this is glamorous, right?
33:57It's like, I'm up at 4am and I don't sometimes get home.
34:00And so midnight, you know, I have an eight year old son and I, I pour everything into my
34:05work, into my craft, into my crew, you know, it's having to manage 25 people and 25 personalities.
34:11It's having to manage a budget, having to manage actors and what they want, what they
34:16don't want, producers.
34:17It was like, there's an incredible amount of pressure that we have, that we have to, that
34:23we have to, to manage and we have to give a lot of grace, you know, when grace is not
34:30always given to us.
34:31Right.
34:32And I don't think that people really understand what that is.
34:34I think that people think that, oh, because they can dress, because they, they know the
34:38trends, they can be a costume designer.
34:40Well, that's not really what this is about.
34:42Do you know what I mean?
34:43And so I agree.
34:46We don't, we don't make enough.
34:48I just feel, Sege, that, that, that is so true.
34:54And I think that if you spent, if there was this behind the scenes, you know, we're trying
34:59to do behind the scenes by talking about what we're putting on the screen, which is of
35:03course, brilliant.
35:04And I love that we're doing this, but a minute or a day behind the scenes of what a designer
35:10and a design team and a department, I think it would educate because it is an enormous
35:16undertaking essentially with the kind of responsibilities of a full out department head, which is expected
35:26of us, such as Sege says, which is dealing with the, you know, the director, you start with the director, you have producers, everybody wants something, then you're the first line of fire
35:38and you're the first, you're going to tell you.
35:40You're the first and you're going, well, here's the character.
35:43I'm going to tell you what it is.
35:45Look at this.
35:46Look at this.
35:47you are so instrumental, you're instrumental in getting them on camera by a friend. If they're
35:55not happy and what, you know, so, so many things can go wrong. And I don't know how you should
36:03light on that. But yeah, I'm glad you asked that question. Also, what's actually really important
36:09about our role is that we're often one of the first people to meet an actor. And sometimes now
36:14you can be given so little time that you meet an actor, they fly in the day before they
36:18shoot. So that becomes a really highly pressured situation. And as you say, you've already
36:24potentially been shooting for a while, you've created a world, but you also want to give
36:28the artist time to find the character themselves. But with limited time, you know, it's an extremely
36:35difficult situation. But also you still, yeah, want to allow that artist time to find it and
36:40play and bring something authentic to the screen.
36:45Yeah. And also everybody comes, everybody comes first, right? It's like, you have to be very
36:51gingerly, you have your actor, they're tired, you have to sort of like, manage all these sort
36:56of like, personalities and issues. You know what I mean? Because you want them to wear the
37:01clothes, right? So it's like trying to figure out that balance, you know, you offer, I have,
37:06often have flowers and food and whatever you need, you know, help this process along, you
37:13know, because you're all there. Go ahead.
37:17No, I think what you're saying, just in keeping with what you're saying, we are like, you know,
37:22therapists as well.
37:24In that way of like, it's a very intimate experience to have somebody come in a dressing
37:32room, literally take off their clothes and put on some other clothes. And remember, acting is a very
37:38delicate thing as well. So you're, you want to obviously help, you know, create a safe space for
37:48somebody to act. And you're help, you're doing that with costumes. You're doing that by talking
37:53about the character, which obviously, you've talked to the directors, and you've talked to
37:57everybody, you know, where you're coming from, you've got mood boards, you've got visual ways
38:03to show things. You're referencing old movies, you're referencing contemporary things, you're
38:09referencing your uncle, everybody, all of it. And it's important. Yeah. And I think there's
38:17a, there's a way in which you learn through doing each movie, which is always new, how
38:24to kind of handle everything. It's always a surprise to me. If I, if I can produce something
38:30literally and get it done and get them dressed, not naked, it's brilliant.
38:35Yes, I agree.
38:37I love that. Natalie, I'm going to ask you, I have to ask you this question because everybody
38:42wants to know, where did you get the mustard coat from? How did you find that perfect mustard
38:47coat? Which do you, the suede on Eddie Redmayne?
38:51On Eddie, yeah.
38:53Oh, the suede jacket. That's from a British Savile Row company called Drake's. We actually
39:00tried, I guess, probably every type of suede jacket in the UK and the US. And also looked
39:06at European ones, looked at Brioni, looked at Laura Piana, like, but there was something
39:11that felt very British about that suede jacket. And again, it was very much an homage to like
39:17Steve McQueen, the sort of cream jeans with the classic kind of suede jacket and the chukka
39:23boot was straight up, 70s Steve McQueen.
39:27I just want to say thank you so much for that incredible conversation and insight into your
39:32work. It has been so fascinating to learn from you all. And thank you so much for joining
39:37this Artisans Exchange Costume Designers.
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