Ask Me Some Questions and I’ll Tell You No Lies
The Suds AMA
There are many days when I feel like a silly little prince, sitting down and writing this newsletter, which is likely neither fair to the newsletter itself nor costume design (but infinitely fair to silly little princes). As I hope is evident in past posts and my answers below, costume design, and fashion in general, is a reflection of our world: who and what we value, what we are and what imagine ourselves to be. And I wouldn’t spend all of my time on teen shows if I didn’t think the latter is especially true in young people, who are right now imagining a freer world in support of Palestine; I hope you might take a moment, if you haven’t already, to support them and Palestine through action, whether that be a call to your local college or alma mater, a donation, or a protest.
All this is to say that life is heavy right now, and if this post feels like a case of whiplash, well, that’s where my brain is. I imagine many of yours might be, too, and so I appreciate everyone who took the time to submit the questions below. I’ll be back with new costume analysis post (and a return to the teen-soap origins of this newsletter) on Thursday, 6/6.
How did you develop your interest in fashion and, particularly, costume design?
My interest in fashion was initially, I think, an interest in fitting in: my middle school was a sea of low-cut jeans and graphic tees and Birkenstock Boston clogs, and frankly, it was easier to navigate with a certain shorthand. But, as I started reading fashion magazines and blogs, as I learned more about fashion history, I became more interested in clothing as a mode of self-expression and style. In college, I started thrifting most of my clothes, which pushed me to be more creative in my choices and less interested in brands or trends. And of course, there were TV shows that stoked my obsession, from Gossip Girl to Mad Men.
I usually pinpoint the start of my interest in costume design to Tom & Lorenzo’s Mad Style, but in truth, I think it started, unknowingly, with shows like Gossip Girl and Gilmore Girls. I remember watching DVD featurettes with Eric Daman and Brenda Maben; it only took Mad Style for me to realize that someone who wasn’t a costume designer themselves could examine costumes closely. And truly, once I turned on that costume switch in my brain, I couldn’t turn it off when I watched things.
What one book or film would you recommend for someone trying to get into fashion history?
This question is tricky, because I think the best books and films about fashion history are hyper-specific; they’re capturing a moment of change. (The Battle of Versailles is the perfect example, though full disclosure, I work for the publisher of this book.) That being said, I don’t think you can go wrong with fashion history through the lens of either Bill Cunningham or André Leon Talley. Both were perceptive observers of fashion and both have incredible memoirs (Fashion Climbing, The Chiffon Trenches) and documentaries (Bill Cunningham New York, The Gospel According to André).
Has writing Suds helped inform your other writing?
For those who don’t know (aka not this person), I also write novels. (Please, hold your applause.) I love the novel as a form because of the space it gives to explore a character and their evolution, and I think the best costume design does the same. Looking at costumes has taught me to consider unique ways to show character (and yes, sometimes that’s through what they’re wearing).
On a more practical level, publishing a newsletter has made me (slightly) less precious about my words. I am generally a slow writer and having a monthly deadline pushes me to be more decisive and less concerned with perfection.
What out-of-genre show would you most want to cover for the newsletter? (Golden Girls is off the board, of course.)
Anything is on the table! (And some of them are coming up this year.)
Honestly, the most out-of-genre idea I’ve had is Are You Being Served?, but I fear that no one will care but me.
What is your favorite way costuming has been used to depict the arc of a character? Mine is Peggy from Mad Men.
Peggy!! Mad Men is a master class in costuming arcs, and to that end, I will add Stan Rizzo. That man went from tight polo shirts to love beads in a handful of years, and yet, it felt completely true to his character and his journey from misogynist jock to pretty evolved dude.
What costume designers who you haven’t covered to this point most interest or inspire you?
I would love to cover Pat Field at some point. (I did a little, with my Gossip Girl/Sex and the City crossover post.) And I don’t think we talk enough about how Mona May was responsible for both Clueless and Romy and Michele! Really, any designer who’s created a unique style language (as Pat did with Carrie or Mona with Cher) has my interest.
I’d love to hear your thoughts about costume design in Nora Ephron movies! I know she famously hated using the color blue.
Oh, Nora! I talked a bit about her movies’ costumes and The Mindy Project in this post, but I’ll always take the opportunity to say more about her in her own right.
When looking at Ephron’s costumes and work in general, I always think of this anecdote from I’ll Have What She’s Having:
Planning the houseboat interior, [Sleepless in Seattle’s set decorator] had pictured an unruly single-dad life: Piles of unopened mail. Toys on the floor. A bike with no front tire. Nora always made the set dressers remove the clutter.
“Nora, it’s starting to look like a catalogue.”
“Yes, that’s the whole idea,” she said. “It’s like a fantasy.”
By all accounts, Ephron was a tricky person to work for: she had incredibly specific taste, and she was hard on people who could not, understandably, execute this taste to her standards. Much of her films is pure Ephron, from the jokes that feel like they could be one of her essays (don’t they know you’re supposed to have a last name?), to the New York locations she frequented. In this way, the costumes can feel like another reflection of her taste, from the simple silhouettes to the neutral color palette (yes, she did famously hate blue and love black). It’s a catalogue of the timeless wardrobe she envisioned: chic enough to attend a cocktail party, functional enough to walk the city streets.
What teen shows do you think capture real world best through costuming? That 70s Show, Veronica Mars, Freaks and Geeks, and Degrassi come to mind. . . .
I think the most important elements of realistic teen costuming are price point, practicality, repetition, and a touch of ingenuity, all of which you’ve captured with your picks! I’ll also add My So-Called Life and early-years Gilmore Girls to the mix; Rory was repeating those Alloy sweaters like it was her job.
Who do you think has had the most interesting career post–big teen book adaptation series? (HP, Twilight, Hunger Games, and maybe include those Divergent films idk.) And who do you think has had the best style?
The answer to both your questions is Kristen Stewart. I love Spencer! I love her little Oscars tux! She was good in the Twilight movies!!! I’m sure I will write about them at some point.
What do you think of the fashion of iconic reality TV? NYC Prep/Jersey Shore/Real Housewives . . .
I’m so glad you mentioned NYC Prep, the fever dream of my teenage years. For those uninitiated, it was Bravo’s answer to Gossip Girl, a look into the (frankly, not-so-scandalous) lives of real prep-school teens. The show definitely used fashion to tie its stars to Gossip Girl characters: note the Blair-like headband and pearls on overachiever Camille, the Chuck-like scarf on bad boy P.C., and the Nate-like loose necktie on floppy-haired Sebastian. Of course, none of these children were as interesting as their fictional counterparts because again, they were children. But, fashion did help create a narrative where there wasn’t one, which I think is a good summary of fashion on reality TV!
What is your favorite Vine?
Finally, a serious question.
This is may be the most millennial thing I’ve ever said, but I don’t think any TikTok of any length has made me feel the exhilaration of a perfect six-second Vine. Some of the greatest auteurs of our time were made and lost on Vine. But yeah, it’s got to be “My Boo”: flawless harmonizing, undeterred by a white man with a clipboard (metaphorically, aren’t all white people holding clipboards?).
The runner-up, of course, is “Look at All Those Chickens.”
