00:00I mean, just celebrating Black women on stage and the Black African experience on stage is wonderful.
00:07And you have a variety of women on stage that are sharing their lived experience, right?
00:13And so someone from Senegal, someone from Ghana, from Sierra Leone,
00:15it's just wonderful to meet these women at different stages in their lives and to see them.
00:21And then what their, like, trials and tribulations might be.
00:24And also recognize that they're just human like anyone else.
00:27Right.
00:27That they want to be loved.
00:28They want to be appreciated.
00:30They want to be successful.
00:32I find that it's very important.
00:34And I'm grateful that I have the opportunity to be able to work on a piece like this.
00:38It's very different, to be honest, from any other Broadway show that I've done.
00:56Hi, my name is Dede Aite.
00:57I'm the costume designer for Zsa Zsa Zsa's African Hair Braiding.
01:01Today, we're taking a peek into the world of costumes.
01:04Come on in.
01:05I would love to start asking you what inspired you to embark on a career in costume designing.
01:11It's been quite the journey.
01:13I actually first started just doing small productions, plays with my friends in high school, studied science, double majored with theater.
01:23And then at some point in my life felt that I needed art.
01:26And so I chose to then delve fully into designing, set design and costuming.
01:31However, I've moved more into costume design just because I love telling stories through clothes.
01:37I love how clothes make people feel.
01:38I love that people are able to use clothing as armor to communicate who they are, their past experiences.
01:45And clothing is a way to communicate a sense of self.
01:49And I find it very wonderful to use that as a tool to talk about character.
01:54So tell me, how long did it take to design these looks?
01:58I probably worked on the costumes and the creative process on these clothes for probably about two, three months.
02:07I started by just doing some research.
02:09And then Whitney White, who's the director, we meet and have conversations about character.
02:14I go back and do additional research.
02:15And then I start to put together images and a mood board before we actually transition to shopping the looks and then costume fittings with the actors.
02:23I can start with Bea, who is, and this costume is worn by Zenzi.
02:29And so she is Ghanaian, the character is Ghanaian.
02:32She's a little older compared to some of the females in the shop.
02:35And so it felt important to ground her by putting her in a more traditional costume or more traditional African garment.
02:42But then because she's lived in America for quite a while and she is quite flashy,
02:48it felt necessary to also embellish her costume with additional trim and detail work that just like push her up and liven up the energy and the patterns that we might see on her character.
02:58So Aminata in our show, which is played by Nana Mensah, she is Senegalese.
03:04And so it felt like I wanted to highlight her heritage and create separation in terms of what kind of African garment she might wear from Zenzi, who is Ghanaian.
03:13She's married, she's in love.
03:15And so wanting to just highlight where she's at in her social status, her class, and then just like her relationship with her partner.
03:22It felt worth it to highlight her by putting her in a skirt that showcased her shape, that had a pop of color, and that also leaned into the history of where she came from,
03:34coupled with a top that felt a little bit more American with some trim details just to balance her out.
03:39And so there's a conversation between her assimilation into the country, aka America, and her past being Senegal.
03:47Absolutely, absolutely.
03:49And you are Ghanaian.
03:51Yeah.
03:51So I'm curious...
03:52The best of all of rice?
03:53I can't believe you, Sam.
03:54I'm curious.
03:56I'm very curious how your background informs your approach to your creations.
04:02So I think as an artist, my lived experiences growing up in Ghana definitely informs how I see color, how I use patterns and textures.
04:10And so in my work, I'm constantly wanting to use textures and color and patterns and lines to create silhouettes that speak to character, but also, you know, are an extension of myself.
04:20And so that comes through in my work all the time. Consciously or unconsciously, I sort of can't help it.
04:25Right. That's beautiful. That is amazing. And I'm curious, do you see yourself in any of the characters? If so, which one? Or one?
04:34I can... The brilliance of Jocelyn's writing is that I can actually connect to each character. So as I sit down and think about who they are, I find pieces of myself in there.
04:45As well as an immigrant living in New York City. So in some ways, they're all like, they all tell a complete story. If I think about it, they all have parts of me in there.
04:56I'm curious, you know, the hair is obviously a very important part, almost a character in itself in this play. Did you get to see the hair looks before you started designing?
05:06Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So I mean, when it comes, the beautiful thing about working with this team is we're such a collaborative team. So Nikki and I and Whitney sit down and even before we start looking at images, we talk about character.
05:16And we all toss in ideas of like how a character might look for me as a costume designer. I'm not only considering their bodies, I'm thinking of them from head to toe. So I'm thinking of the entire silhouette, how that might shape and inform who they are and how we perceive them on stage.
05:31And so we definitely got to look at images together. And we're going back and forth as to how to like, make sure costumes bounce out the hair, hair bounce out the costumes and informs about who the character is.
05:42Thank you, Essin, for having me. I'm hoping to see you at the show in the next week.
05:46I'm hoping to see you at the show.
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