Latest / The Art of Costume Podcast / I Love LA with Costume Designer, Christina Flannery - The Costume House with Spencer Williams

Transcript

I Love LA with Costume Designer, Christina Flannery - The Costume House with Spencer Williams · The Art of Costume Podcast

• 0:13
  I am so excited. Welcome back.
• 0:15
  A long time friend, a long time caller, one of our besties here
• 0:19
  at the Art of Costume podcast. Please welcome back costume
• 0:23
  designer Christina Flannery. Christina, welcome back.
• 0:27
  Hello. I'm so excited to talk to you as
• 0:30
  always. And we're not talking about the
• 0:31
  gemstones this time. It's it's a real change.
• 0:34
  I don't know how to handle that honestly.
• 0:36
  I know I agree. It's kind of weird, but I'm so
• 0:40
  excited because this show is like just as fun.
• 0:42
  I had such a good time and you've been telling me to watch
• 0:44
  it for like ever, so I'm so excited to finally do it.
• 0:48
  Yeah, yeah, hounding you. Really.
• 0:50
  Why haven't you watched it get hello knocking on your bedroom
• 0:53
  window? Are you going to watch it
• 0:54
  tonight or what? I was like, I'm sorry, I'm
• 0:58
  watching Twin Peaks. Have you ever heard of it?
• 1:00
  Yeah. Fair.
• 1:01
  Fair play. Totally fair.
• 1:03
  This brand new show. But anyways, so in our last few
• 1:10
  interviews, we've been talking about the wild world of the
• 1:12
  Righteous Gemstones, which is taking place in South Carolina,
• 1:15
  But now we're totally shifting gears to show that feels like so
• 1:20
  close to your aesthetic as well, which is I love LA, also the
• 1:26
  wild world of Los Angeles. So before we dive into the
• 1:29
  costumes, what drew you to this project and what made it such an
• 1:32
  exciting creative challenge for you?
• 1:36
  Yeah, so I actually know Emma, the one of the showrunners, and
• 1:44
  she reached out to me and was kind of like, you know, curious
• 1:47
  if I would be interested in meeting on the pilot, etcetera,
• 1:51
  etcetera. But of course, unfortunately I
• 1:52
  was doing the Righteous Gemstone.
• 1:54
  So I was devastated that I wasn't available.
• 1:59
  But you know, by the way things work out, I was able to come
• 2:03
  back and redeem and be, you know, be able to be involved in
• 2:06
  the project again. And I love Rachel.
• 2:09
  I find her to be a clever funnies, like just a unique, you
• 2:15
  know, in a way she has a Danny McBride vibe, right?
• 2:18
  So she's funny as hell, but she's like, she comes from like
• 2:21
  humble beginnings and she's cool and like, I don't know, she did.
• 2:24
  It just felt very like organic in the same world.
• 2:28
  So I got the scripts and I really wanted to do something
• 2:33
  that was different and I wanted to do something a little bit
• 2:35
  more fashion forward, a little bit more.
• 2:38
  I don't know, I guess younger in a way, like Gen.
• 2:41
  Z vibes. And I felt when I was reading
• 2:44
  it, there was like these really cool characters and living this
• 2:48
  like LA experience that felt very fresh and organic and kind
• 2:52
  of like, you know, entourage girls and secure vibes.
• 2:55
  And I was like, oh, this seems like a great project.
• 2:57
  And you know, Rachel really wanted to kind of do that.
• 3:00
  Like sex and the city mix up thing like season 1-2 where it's
• 3:04
  kind of very like DIY and punk a little bit.
• 3:06
  So it honestly, it just felt very authentical to me as a
• 3:11
  costume designer, but also I just felt like very fortunate
• 3:14
  because working, you know, finding Rachel and Emma and
• 3:18
  IEDA, it just was like such a natural progression.
• 3:21
  And it was just such a cool project that I was like, I have
• 3:23
  to do this if they'll let me. Yeah.
• 3:26
  So glad they did, and Los Angeles really feels like the
• 3:31
  heart of the show. It captures so many different
• 3:33
  corners of the city and its cultures.
• 3:36
  And there's a real affection for LA woven throughout the series
• 3:39
  that it almost made me feel like a little bit, I guess the words
• 3:43
  patriotic for a second for Lai was like, is can you actually
• 3:47
  feel that for a second? Yeah.
• 3:49
  So how did you approach representing Los Angeles through
• 3:52
  costume design? There's so many little, I guess
• 3:54
  I would say Easter eggs. Yeah, of.
• 3:56
  Los Angeles throughout the series in your costumes.
• 4:00
  Yeah, yeah. I mean, the show to me feels
• 4:03
  like Los Angeles is another character in itself, and I think
• 4:06
  that is very important. Like when you're on a project,
• 4:08
  there is more than just the actual characters at play.
• 4:12
  So with LA, you know, just like when I did this show called The
• 4:15
  Shy, I thought, you know, we got to bring in some like indie
• 4:18
  brands, emerging designers, local companies, things like
• 4:21
  that. That fell LA I took from my own
• 4:23
  experience of when I moved to LA and I think 2012 or something
• 4:28
  like that, I can't remember exactly.
• 4:29
  But the rite of passage is, you know, you go to the Trader Joe's
• 4:34
  in Silver Lake, which is absolutely terrifying, the
• 4:37
  scariest place on earth, panic attack, freaking out, losing
• 4:40
  your mind. But also that's all you can
• 4:41
  afford because you know, it's Trader Joe's and the $0.99 store
• 4:45
  RIP, which is not there anymore in Silver Lake.
• 4:47
  And then we spa, right? So like we, you have to go to,
• 4:52
  we spa Like it's just like, it's just, it's such a mind blowing
• 4:55
  place. Like when I'm here in Chicago,
• 4:57
  they'll be like, so there's this, there's this place, it's a
• 5:00
  magical Wonderland and it's a spa and it's this and it's to
• 5:02
  us. And I'm like, oh, well, we have
• 5:04
  those that like every corner in LA, like it's like it's like a
• 5:07
  rite of passage. So, you know, putting in we
• 5:09
  spot. I think, you know, we're doing
• 5:11
  the east side of LA. So you got Bob Baker's
• 5:13
  marionette. Like I think you obviously have
• 5:16
  to do jumbos. Of course, I'm queer.
• 5:17
  So, you know, maybe my experience of LA is different,
• 5:21
  but there is a lot of queers people in the show.
• 5:24
  So I think, you know, kind of playing off that and then
• 5:27
  playing off with my some of my influencer friends because, you
• 5:30
  know, it is a show about LA, but it's also a show about moving to
• 5:35
  LA and like becoming part of the LA culture.
• 5:38
  It's not necessarily everybody like, you know, we've got 1
• 5:41
  character that's from LA, which is true.
• 5:43
  And that's kind of like a Calabasas, a different, a little
• 5:46
  bit different version of LA. So yeah, I just want to preface
• 5:49
  that as well. Like, it's not like LA, It's
• 5:51
  like your experience of moving to LA as a transplant.
• 5:55
  That's what I, you know, that's kind of what I took from it.
• 5:57
  Totally. I mean, who's truly from LA,
• 5:59
  honestly? Exactly, exactly.
• 6:02
  Only the coolest people on the planet are like born and raised
• 6:04
  in LA. Like Allison Fenger, Isn't
• 6:06
  Allison Fenger from LA? Maybe.
• 6:10
  I'm obsessed with her. I'm just gonna.
• 6:11
  I'm gonna. I'm just.
• 6:13
  Every time I would see her walking down the hallway I was
• 6:15
  like God Dang it, she's. She's the man, like a grow.
• 6:19
  Grew up in LA vibes actually now, yeah.
• 6:21
  She does. Yeah, she does love it.
• 6:23
  I just think that my favorite people are, like, born and
• 6:26
  raised in LA. Yeah.
• 6:27
  That's so true. So one of the things I loved
• 6:30
  about the show also is how authentically captures the wide
• 6:33
  range of people and personal styles you encounter in Los
• 6:36
  Angeles, as you were mentioning. So each of the characters has a
• 6:40
  distinct point of view when it comes to fashion.
• 6:43
  So during prep, how did you begin developing those
• 6:46
  individual identities for each of the characters?
• 6:48
  Did it come to mood boarding? Where?
• 6:51
  Where did you begin? Yeah, mood boarding for sure.
• 6:54
  I think that's something I really try to do when I design
• 6:57
  is and I, you know, I think that you have to give autonomy and
• 7:02
  every character has to be their own love story to themselves.
• 7:07
  But also when you are dealing with a friend group, like a dog,
• 7:11
  you kind of start to look a little bit like each other.
• 7:13
  You merge. There can be overlap, you know,
• 7:17
  or you like your boyfriend and girlfriend, whoever you know
• 7:19
  you're dating. Sometimes you're like, well, we
• 7:21
  kind of look alike. Are we narcissists or?
• 7:25
  But yeah. So I think when we were carving,
• 7:29
  when I was carving out the space for them, I was just thinking
• 7:31
  about like the history and the background of like who they are.
• 7:33
  And, you know, Rachel and Emma wrote such great storylines for
• 7:37
  them. So it was really easy to kind of
• 7:40
  to dive into that, you know, with Rachel working at a like,
• 7:43
  millennial startup. We know those people, you know,
• 7:46
  we know we were around to see like Sofia Amoroso and kind of
• 7:51
  that girl boss era of the PR world, right?
• 7:56
  So like, if Rachel's working in that world, what are we going to
• 7:58
  do? We're going to kind of she's
• 8:00
  going to kind of want to gravitate towards that to be
• 8:06
  perceived and also like accepted.
• 8:09
  So I that was kind of the vibe going with her leaning into that
• 8:12
  90s like secretary cute Claire Danes, you know, Julia Stiles,
• 8:20
  Reese Witherspoon kind of vibe was the really the vibe to go
• 8:24
  for her. And then Odessa, you know, she's
• 8:27
  from New York. She's kind of been around.
• 8:29
  She's like ripping Sig stomping the yard.
• 8:33
  Like she's like, you know, a bad bitch.
• 8:35
  So going into her kind stuff, I was thinking like maybe she
• 8:38
  could have gone to like Berlin to like Bergheim to like party
• 8:42
  and like she's like going to like, you know, sweaty, hot
• 8:45
  after hours parties and I don't know.
• 8:48
  And then just like pairing it in and like bringing in Odessa as
• 8:51
  well to kind of like give her character voice.
• 8:54
  So that was her. And then Jordan is a stylist in
• 8:57
  LA, so it can kind of be like a Peacock moment at times, but
• 9:01
  then also he is trying to kind of find his way and grab it,
• 9:07
  like navigate his way through the world of like, what kind of
• 9:09
  stylist is he going to be? What's he doing?
• 9:11
  And I think also at being a costume designer, I can relate
• 9:13
  to Charlie very well because I go, I lived in, you know, excuse
• 9:18
  me, Charleston for nine months and I'm shopping at Dillard's at
• 9:21
  looking at like silk Eileen Fisher sets and going what the
• 9:24
  fuck? I want that.
• 9:26
  So it's like, I think when you are around like styling people
• 9:30
  or working on projects, you start like sometimes even
• 9:33
  wearing the colors like that, you're influenced by those
• 9:35
  characters. And then you'll literally go one
• 9:37
  day you literally look like one of the characters from the show.
• 9:41
  And then true. I just love truth characters so
• 9:43
  much. You know, she's really into
• 9:44
  astrology. She has this like very useful
• 9:47
  energy about her, but I also love that she like has access to
• 9:52
  her mother's stuff and also her mother.
• 9:54
  You know, Trues mother herself, you know, gave this beautiful
• 9:57
  Dolce and Gabbana rose rosary that we use so much in the
• 10:03
  project. I just I just love that
• 10:04
  relationship that, you know, true herself and her mother
• 10:08
  have. So I wanted to kind of bring
• 10:09
  that into that character as we evolved through like fittings
• 10:12
  and things like that. So that was really the vibe for
• 10:15
  for the characters and then obviously like giving them their
• 10:17
  own version of themselves throughout.
• 10:20
  Right. And you and I have talked to
• 10:22
  quite a bit before about your background working with Vintage.
• 10:25
  So I was curious how much Vintage made its way into the
• 10:28
  show. And at the same time, I've also
• 10:30
  read that you've also made it a point to highlight a number of
• 10:33
  smaller and emerging labels in the show as well.
• 10:36
  So talk to me a little bit about that process.
• 10:38
  Yeah, yeah. I cannot work on a project where
• 10:41
  I cannot bring vintage into the fitting room.
• 10:43
  It is unbearable for me. I think that vintage is just so
• 10:49
  incredible. You just it, it tells so much.
• 10:52
  There's a narrative behind vintage in itself.
• 10:54
  I also just don't think I would be hired on a project where
• 10:56
  there wasn't vintage clothing. I think they would be like,
• 10:58
  she's not the right one. You know, if it's like a
• 11:01
  extremely contemporary project that was super safe, I I think
• 11:04
  that they would say Christina is not allowed to interview for
• 11:07
  this project, and that's okay. We're all carved out for our own
• 11:10
  space. So yeah, that's fun.
• 11:12
  Rachel loves vintage. Everybody on the show loves
• 11:14
  vintage, so it's perfect. And you know, LA loves vintage.
• 11:17
  I mean, you know, we've got the Rose Bowl, we've got vintage
• 11:20
  everywhere, we've got Pickwick and all these really cool places
• 11:22
  that do markets every weekend that you can go to and and just
• 11:25
  kind of, you know, just put shit together, which is cool.
• 11:29
  And then emerging designers is something very important to me.
• 11:33
  I think always as a designer coming up, I think, you know,
• 11:38
  trying to do a little extra work to find people that are doing
• 11:43
  unique things and supporting them and giving them a voice,
• 11:46
  especially if it's a local project.
• 11:49
  I think it's just important like we can do.
• 11:52
  And you know, it's no shade to big designers.
• 11:54
  I love big designers. Who doesn't love a big designer?
• 11:56
  But I freaking love somebody in college trying to figure their
• 12:01
  shit out and I'm like, let's go. Like, what can we do?
• 12:04
  How can we support? How can we get it out there?
• 12:07
  It's just cool, man. It's just like, it's just how we
• 12:10
  should be doing. I think in any industry and any
• 12:12
  job, you should always be turning around and grabbing back
• 12:15
  to help somebody out. You know, like we can't do it
• 12:17
  without each other. And I'm not going to be here
• 12:20
  forever. So like, whoever's coming up
• 12:21
  behind me, if I can pull them forward, that's my, that's my
• 12:24
  vibe, you know? Absolutely.
• 12:25
  Yeah. So let's dive deeper into some
• 12:28
  of our core characters. And let's start with Maya, of
• 12:30
  course, played by creator Rachel Senate, the brilliant Rachel
• 12:34
  Senate. When we first meet her, she's an
• 12:36
  ambitious young executive trying to find her footing in LA while
• 12:40
  navigating the demands of her career.
• 12:42
  Over the course of the series, though, her wardrobe evolved
• 12:45
  significantly alongside her personal journey.
• 12:48
  So how did you use costume to track the evolution?
• 12:51
  Like you mentioned, she's starting in this office.
• 12:54
  It's very millennial core. She's kind of suffering in that
• 12:58
  girl boss journey that she's underneath her millennial boss.
• 13:03
  But as we'll talk about a little bit, once her new bestie, once
• 13:07
  her bestie comes to town, things kind of start to evolve once
• 13:11
  Tallulah gets to town. Yeah, yeah.
• 13:14
  It's like, you know, you can see a pivot even early on a little
• 13:18
  bit how we go from like more safer options to kind of like
• 13:20
  archival vintage and things that she's like trying to kind of,
• 13:24
  again, I think everybody on the show, but specifically Charlie
• 13:28
  and her have peacocking moments. It's just kind of like figuring
• 13:32
  out who she is and where she belongs.
• 13:35
  And by the time we get to like some of the final episodes like
• 13:39
  7 and 8, we see a big transition, specifically in
• 13:44
  episode 8 where I wanted to kind of show that she's blown up
• 13:49
  everything around her. You know, she's going through
• 13:51
  her Saturn return, she's broken up with her boyfriend.
• 13:53
  She's like losing her job. Like her just shit is a mess.
• 13:58
  So by the time we get there, it's just like, I don't know, it
• 14:01
  was fun. It's just like, you know, we're
• 14:04
  in New York. It really just lended to having
• 14:07
  the opportunity to kind of just blow it all up, change up some
• 14:10
  of the palettes a little bit textures, make things a little
• 14:14
  bit more like, you know, so, yeah.
• 14:19
  And I don't know, give her like give her a little cuntiness that
• 14:22
  she know she wasn't cunt in the beginning.
• 14:25
  She kind of got there and it was really like a fun journey of
• 14:28
  like doing that through the show.
• 14:29
  I cannot wait for like what we're going to do for a season
• 14:32
  2. I just.
• 14:32
  Can't. I went excited and also so
• 14:35
  nervous at the same time. It was so subtle.
• 14:37
  And then just by the time you got to the end of the season, I
• 14:39
  was just like, no Maya, what's happening?
• 14:42
  I know it's. So scary.
• 14:43
  I know, I know, I know it's it's funny because I definitely we
• 14:47
  did see it coming, but we didn't see it coming.
• 14:50
  And then also like, I think like Lorraine did like such and she
• 14:53
  has these some of her episodes really just give the show like
• 14:57
  character and heart that you're kind of like not expecting
• 14:59
  because it's kind of like laughing fun, silly.
• 15:02
  And then all of a sudden you're like, Oh, Charlie's crying and
• 15:04
  that hurts my feelings. I love, I love those like little
• 15:08
  moments in the show that I, even if somebody was on set, was
• 15:11
  like, when the hell did that happen, you know?
• 15:14
  You're laughing and all of a sudden it's the credits.
• 15:16
  And now you're. Yeah.
• 15:16
  You're like, oh, OK, well, time for bed.
• 15:20
  Exactly. Exactly.
• 15:20
  Exactly. So I have to ask you, what was
• 15:23
  it like collaborating with Rachel both as the lead actress,
• 15:26
  also the creator of the series though?
• 15:28
  Rachel is God. I've just, again, I have just
• 15:32
  gotten so lucky with Danny and then going into working with
• 15:36
  Rachel. She is such a collaborative
• 15:37
  person. She's such a team player.
• 15:39
  She I remember like I think I was in like my first or second
• 15:44
  fitting with her and she like left and she was like, you know,
• 15:48
  gave me a hug and she's like, I'm gonna miss you and I'm just
• 15:50
  like a puddle. Like I'm just like, I'm still
• 15:53
  obsessed with her. She's the sweetest, kindest
• 15:55
  Angel baby on the planet. She's also, you know, she knows
• 15:58
  what she wants. She knows what she likes.
• 16:00
  She has a great eye. She's really, she just God damn
• 16:03
  people. I don't think anybody has a bad
• 16:05
  word to say about Rachel. She's really a joy to work with.
• 16:08
  She's I talk to her all the time, you know, even now, you
• 16:13
  know, we text each other like outfit ideas and things that we
• 16:15
  both like. And I feel like we're very
• 16:17
  synced up with the characters and the show in general and like
• 16:19
  what what we envisioned for the show.
• 16:22
  And I think it shows, you know, we didn't want to do, you know,
• 16:25
  every look is from the runway. Everything is polished.
• 16:28
  It wanted, we wanted to have this like DIY ragtag feel that I
• 16:33
  think the LA has and also is attainable to, you know, yeah,
• 16:38
  you can look at the show and go, OK, well, that is a little of an
• 16:41
  expensive top, but you could have got it on the real real,
• 16:43
  you know, everything you can get on the real real for the most
• 16:45
  part on the show. And the real real is like
• 16:49
  everybody's on the real real. So we wanted it to feel
• 16:51
  accessible. Most pieces I got I bought in LA
• 16:54
  at vintage shops like Bearded Beagle and and you know, what
• 16:57
  goes around comes around. So like, yeah, that was really
• 17:00
  important to both of us to make sure that we had that kind of,
• 17:04
  I, I see DIY for lack of a better word, but it's kind of
• 17:07
  like, it feels very much like lends itself to that of mixed
• 17:11
  match, you know, different types of things.
• 17:13
  And everything changes though, when Tallulah, played by Odessa
• 17:16
  Zion, comes to town. Tallulah is Maya's best friend,
• 17:20
  but also feels like Maya's foil in a way, at least in the
• 17:23
  beginning. She brings a real New York City
• 17:25
  energy right off the bat. She is chaotic, but I was also
• 17:29
  constantly blown away by her fashion choices.
• 17:32
  She just always felt I don't know, you can make your coffee
• 17:36
  table book off totally the choices I.
• 17:39
  Love that. I mean, talk to me about her
• 17:42
  looks. I mean where, where are you even
• 17:44
  finding her stuff? It's so cool.
• 17:46
  Yeah, I mean, you know, we have a great resources at the rental
• 17:51
  house in LA. I can't say enough about WB and
• 17:56
  how how incredible they have been with us through Righteous
• 18:01
  Gemstones. And I love LA and they have such
• 18:04
  a great stock of things. Sometimes I would find myself
• 18:07
  pulling stuff from the the WB that was from the Righteous
• 18:12
  Gemstones for I love LA and I'm like what the hell is going on
• 18:15
  here? But yeah, we have access there.
• 18:18
  You know, it's like, I think one thing that I try to say what the
• 18:22
  show is that it is Gen. Z, but if you look a little
• 18:27
  closer, it isn't just Gen. Z.
• 18:30
  I'm not Gen. ZI don't have TikTok.
• 18:33
  I don't really I I I don't really know what the hell how to
• 18:35
  use it very well. So there is some Gen.
• 18:38
  Z in there, but there's a lot of references from like 70s,
• 18:42
  eighties, 90s. So like for for Odessa, I was
• 18:45
  really influenced by like wet leg Amal and the sniffers, but
• 18:50
  also like Pussy Riot and Juliette Lewis and Christina
• 18:53
  Ricci and just like, you know, black snake moan and like really
• 18:57
  cool, like old, you know, dust till dawn, natural born killers.
• 19:01
  Like it's very much influenced by that more so than a modern
• 19:08
  day Tik Toker if that makes sense.
• 19:10
  Yeah, there's a little bit of an anarchy to it, honestly.
• 19:13
  Yes, yeah. If we could get an anarchy
• 19:16
  moment in there, we are going to get it, yeah.
• 19:19
  It's so good. I cannot wait to see what Tulula
• 19:22
  is wearing next season. I'm sure it's going to be crazy,
• 19:24
  but I always love it. And Speaking of New York, the
• 19:28
  season finale was a lot of fun. There is some great costume
• 19:32
  moments in that finale, though there was some also some chaotic
• 19:36
  moments in that finale that still has me very depressed, but
• 19:39
  we won't get into that. The costume swap moment was one
• 19:43
  of them, but also a great moment.
• 19:47
  Thank God, thank you for noticing.
• 19:50
  So let's talk about the costume swap moment and what that meant
• 19:53
  in terms of for you and the story and also that epic subway
• 19:57
  closer I don't think enough people are talking about.
• 20:00
  Those two looks that we got to see them in as we close the
• 20:03
  series out on the subway, I mean, those were two iconic
• 20:06
  pieces. Yeah, it really, it really was
• 20:09
  amazing. I love that you noticed.
• 20:12
  Yeah, the, the outfit swap, I think that that was the full
• 20:16
  evolution of Odessa. Excuse me, Tallulah and Maya
• 20:21
  merging. I think it really was showing
• 20:24
  like how fucking far we have gone.
• 20:26
  That's like, like, it is you're into trouble.
• 20:29
  Like it was just like, oh, hello.
• 20:32
  Here we go. At the cameras.
• 20:34
  I gotta go. It was like so funny.
• 20:38
  It's just like comical. And Rachel is just so funny.
• 20:41
  And she could make intense moments like, you know, it looks
• 20:44
  like Shiva baby. Like it's like she could make
• 20:46
  these like really intense moments.
• 20:48
  Like, OK, that was funny. It was like a like a, you know,
• 20:51
  like a hard breath, you know. So that was kind of the vibe
• 20:55
  with her. Just I feel like showing that
• 20:57
  we've really come really far from the beginning of where we
• 21:00
  are with her. And then she's completely
• 21:03
  changed and pivoted to be just like, fuck it, let's take this
• 21:06
  risk. But I think with also in doing
• 21:08
  that, you see an episode 8, there is this like moment where
• 21:12
  she goes, oh, shit, maybe I've gone too far.
• 21:15
  Like, you know, she wasn't sure about, you know, her old boss
• 21:17
  and like the relationship. I think we can all become
• 21:21
  victimized by men in power. And I think, you know, that was
• 21:25
  part of it as well. It was just such an interesting
• 21:28
  experience to watch that, to be involved with that situation and
• 21:33
  just seeing that because we've all been in those moments with
• 21:35
  whether it's by a man or like a person in a in power trip.
• 21:40
  And yeah. So I think that whole that whole
• 21:42
  outfit change really tied into that dynamic.
• 21:45
  And then as far as the finale looks, Eric Charlotte, amazing
• 21:50
  local designer in LA, she's like doing Everything Everywhere.
• 21:56
  Incredible. I've been seeing her work
• 21:57
  everywhere. I think I was having a panic
• 22:00
  attack because I was afraid that that outfit was going to be out
• 22:03
  before the show came out. Because, you know, with TV, you
• 22:05
  don't have the luxury of like putting somebody in it.
• 22:08
  And then like, do you see it that night at the premiere of
• 22:10
  something? You literally put it in and then
• 22:11
  like 6 months later or four months later specifically for
• 22:14
  that show, you're just like, oh gosh, anytime I would see
• 22:17
  something I'd be like, Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my God, we're
• 22:19
  in trouble. But so, yeah, so that was that.
• 22:22
  Now for the for Rachel's dress, it, you know, I really love this
• 22:28
  Chanel dress that I found from what goes around comes around.
• 22:30
  I felt, Oh my God, this is the dress.
• 22:31
  It was so incredible. But then we put that dress on
• 22:35
  her and it was just like, my God.
• 22:39
  Like it fit her like a glove. It looked incredible.
• 22:44
  It felt so out of character, but also so accessible to like
• 22:48
  something that Charlie could have grabbed and been like, I
• 22:50
  mean, maybe, you know, and then my girls, my hair and makeup
• 22:55
  girls, like just brought it, you know, like Michelle and Ally,
• 22:58
  like it's like that. Her hair and the makeup was so
• 23:02
  good on Rachel. I was just so I love them girls
• 23:05
  and I love working with them and I love just like creating with
• 23:07
  them, but it was not possible without them.
• 23:10
  And it was just great, you know, and we had to think everything
• 23:13
  that people forget about film is again, it's not as easy and
• 23:17
  there's no shade, but you know, Odessa had to have a back tattoo
• 23:20
  that said like nightmare before or whatever the and it was
• 23:23
  bleeding and it had to be cinched down.
• 23:25
  So it like that played into the character.
• 23:27
  So like that had to be a part of like what the costume was, but
• 23:29
  then a costume earlier I had to make sure like it didn't.
• 23:32
  It was just like so many gags. There's a lot of gags, bags just
• 23:35
  in general in costume design that we don't think about when
• 23:39
  you need multiples or, you know, you have to do breakaway.
• 23:42
  You know, breakaway is like if somebody says they do a
• 23:43
  breakaway off and I'm like, again, I don't know if Christina
• 23:46
  is the person for the job because it's just so hard to do
• 23:50
  shit like that. But yeah.
• 23:52
  So that had to take to be a part of it.
• 23:54
  And I think it's great. I think it looked so cool, so
• 23:56
  interesting, so unique. And the Vivian Westwood shoes
• 24:00
  are just like her. Those are her hero shoes for the
• 24:03
  whole show. And the poor thing had to wear
• 24:05
  them. And I'm I'm sure she felt like
• 24:07
  Cinderella, like the shoes were painful as hell to run around
• 24:11
  this whole season in those things.
• 24:12
  But she was a trooper. It was a fun little Sex in the
• 24:15
  City running down the street moment.
• 24:16
  It was really cool. It really was, yeah.
• 24:20
  Well, let's talk about Aulani for a bit.
• 24:22
  She actually comes from wealth, so her budget perhaps is a
• 24:25
  little bit bigger than say, the others.
• 24:28
  She reminded me of maybe a modern day Cher Horowitz.
• 24:31
  They all fell effortless for her.
• 24:33
  So talk to me about the approach to her character.
• 24:36
  You know, maybe like you said earlier, she could borrow stuff
• 24:38
  from her mom if she wanted to. Absolutely.
• 24:41
  And that was kind of the goal with her as well as like
• 24:44
  bringing in a little piece here and there, whether it's a piece
• 24:47
  of jewelry, whether it's a bag. Like she had this really
• 24:50
  beautiful JPG bag that we were just gagging over and it's in a
• 24:53
  box somewhere. And I am bringing it back for
• 24:54
  Season 2 because it did not get enough airtime.
• 24:58
  But I mean, come on, She's a supermodel.
• 25:00
  She's gorgeous. She looks she looks good in
• 25:02
  everything. And yeah, it was really fun too.
• 25:07
  I felt like there was a lot of influence of the temperature and
• 25:11
  weather of LA on her, on her wardrobe.
• 25:15
  You know, it's like we put her in a lot of like bralettes and
• 25:17
  things like that. And I feel like that is
• 25:19
  something about LA. It's like 110° sometimes during
• 25:23
  the day, and then like at night it's like, whoa, what could use
• 25:25
  a jacket? So we definitely played on that
• 25:27
  with her. One of my favorite looks for her
• 25:31
  was the one when she gets those tabby shoes and she asked for
• 25:34
  the foot mirror. And I still to this day think
• 25:37
  that is the funniest line of the whole show.
• 25:40
  Just like, I'm gonna go look for the foot mirror.
• 25:43
  Was sleeping. So yeah.
• 25:46
  So like obviously, you know, she can have a tabby, but that
• 25:49
  outfit I really loved. Again, I loved her hair.
• 25:51
  She looked gorgeous. She was wearing that little, I
• 25:53
  think this I can't remember the brand of the designer, but it
• 25:56
  just was incredible. And then I really also loved her
• 26:00
  episode 4 party look where she got to go meet her like soulmate
• 26:04
  Elijah Wood. I think that was another one
• 26:07
  where you like come in and you're wearing a jacket cuz it's
• 26:09
  kind of brisk cuz you're up in like the mountains of like, you
• 26:11
  know, Malibu or whatever. It gets kind of cold over there.
• 26:15
  And then she kind of like comes undone and she's in her, you
• 26:18
  know, bralette and then or her triangle bra.
• 26:20
  And then she's in her robe with Rachel.
• 26:23
  And we like, you know, embroidered Elijah Woods
• 26:26
  initials in it, which I think Rachel actually was like, I must
• 26:30
  have this for the rest of my life.
• 26:33
  So do you have that? But yeah, I mean, I think that
• 26:36
  she does. Aulani has more of the archival
• 26:39
  higher end pieces. We did a lot more like I think
• 26:44
  matching, you know, looks with her.
• 26:46
  I wanted her to feel cohesive and clean and just polished and
• 26:50
  like refined in a way that felt natural and not as mixed match
• 26:55
  as like say Odessa. There's definitely like a stark
• 26:57
  difference between the two of them.
• 26:58
  And like Charlie Odessa and then True is just she's just been
• 27:03
  there for a very long time and she just knows how to emulate
• 27:06
  this like chicness. And I think she does a fantastic
• 27:09
  job doing that. Yeah, absolutely.
• 27:13
  If there is one character, I feel like in any show that would
• 27:17
  be so difficult to dress, at least from my point of view,
• 27:21
  would be a stylist. So when it comes to Charlie, to
• 27:24
  me, on paper, that would sound like such a challenge to me.
• 27:27
  But I feel like you really nailed it because, I mean, how
• 27:30
  do you dress as stylists when they have, like, endless
• 27:32
  possibilities of how they would dress themselves?
• 27:35
  But. But I guess to me, one of the
• 27:38
  through lines, though, was his affinity for screen printing,
• 27:41
  though. Yeah.
• 27:43
  So how did you define his personal style and what details
• 27:46
  are important in making him feel authentic to that world?
• 27:50
  Yeah, I mean, again, he had some gags as well.
• 27:53
  And like he has moments where we're like, you know, again, he
• 27:57
  like up until I think episode 6, he's kind of peacocking and
• 28:03
  trying to figure out who he is and he's going through this shit
• 28:05
  with Mimi Rush. So like, you know, we're doing
• 28:07
  like pieces that he could have got for Mimi Rush, which is kind
• 28:10
  of like that like sci-fi feel of like that acne jacket that he
• 28:13
  wore. He actually wear this really
• 28:14
  incredible acne outfit that he actually stripped down and to
• 28:17
  what umm, bright red Tom Ford little tiny underwear right
• 28:22
  outside of the eagle, I believe. So you know, it's with with
• 28:27
  Jordan, he already has his own personal vibe and style.
• 28:34
  So he kind of had some ideas of like the screen printed shirts
• 28:37
  he wanted to do. He felt, you know, he came up
• 28:40
  with a couple of them and we we tried them on different styles.
• 28:43
  It's hard because, you know, as being a millennial, I struggle
• 28:48
  with V nex I it has happened to me.
• 28:51
  I really have a hard time with the V-neck, but I've realized
• 28:54
  and recognized not everything is for me.
• 28:57
  So we definitely brought AV neck bag for him and, you know, it
• 29:01
  looked great. And yeah, he has his own like,
• 29:05
  like I said, Jordan likes to bring his own, his own vibe
• 29:08
  into. I think that's really important
• 29:09
  when you're working with actors that they're playing this
• 29:12
  character as well. So you got to kind of work with
• 29:15
  them, you know, with the 2 pink cigarettes.
• 29:18
  And then he had like the d ^2 money, you know, and then the
• 29:22
  hats, we would cut the tips off the hats to kind of give him
• 29:25
  this like weird unique style. But yeah, he, you know, the ERL
• 29:29
  jacket was a great jacket for the peacocking moment at the
• 29:33
  party. I love ERL, also a brand from
• 29:37
  Venice. They're just incredible and
• 29:41
  mixing and matching again, like stuff that he would have gotten.
• 29:46
  Oh, oops. I ordered that in a size large,
• 29:49
  you know, from a designer. And then he ends up pocketing
• 29:52
  it. I can't speak for stylus, but I
• 29:55
  would imagine that might happen a time or two.
• 29:59
  I'm not mad at it. I'd probably do the same thing.
• 30:02
  But yeah. And we do have, you know, he has
• 30:04
  a beautiful suit that he wears to the funeral that we actually
• 30:08
  mixed a match. It was a really lovely YSL
• 30:11
  blazer with a vintage trouser. And I think he was wearing like
• 30:15
  Ferragamo. It's just like, again, it's
• 30:19
  there is somewhat of a cohesiveness to his wardrobe,
• 30:21
  but there's a bit of chaos, which makes sense with like you
• 30:25
  know what he's going through and also what he has access to.
• 30:30
  Right. I think I said this to you when
• 30:32
  we talked about gemstones too. I think we have both have a love
• 30:34
  for this but I love funeral scenes and like any show and the
• 30:39
  you nail the funeral scene in this.
• 30:41
  Show. Oh my God, I forgot.
• 30:43
  You're totally right. 2 crazy funeral scenes OK yeah.
• 30:48
  I fucking love. Fair plays.
• 30:50
  And there's so you do like this one was so bombed too.
• 30:53
  My God. That's so funny.
• 30:55
  What am I doing? I keep doing it.
• 30:58
  You. Oh my God.
• 30:58
  Funeral scenes. Christina.
• 31:01
  Thank you. OK, so another thing, one of my
• 31:07
  my last question, knowing you now over these past few years
• 31:11
  and all the characters you've dressed, I cannot think of a
• 31:15
  character that more represents Christina Flannery than Mimi
• 31:20
  Rush this character. Oh my God.
• 31:23
  Screams Christina Flannery, the alien pop star, so much.
• 31:28
  When I saw her, I immediately was like, Oh my God, just tell
• 31:34
  me where you were going with Mimi Rush.
• 31:36
  Like what Inspirations? What just.
• 31:39
  Where was I going? I was going to Mars.
• 31:42
  I. Was going to Jupiter I was like
• 31:45
  oh you wanted to an alien pop star do you?
• 31:49
  And I'm like OK wait just imagine this imagine how many
• 31:52
  racks of clothing she had for the full 3 looks that she wore
• 31:57
  the whole show. One of them she was sitting down
• 31:59
  at, she got an illustration. She got like I was say 8 racks
• 32:03
  of clothing in there. I pulled from like indie
• 32:07
  designers in Korea. I pulled from like the sci-fi
• 32:10
  section in the rental house. Like it was insane the amount of
• 32:13
  stuff I had pulled for her. Like I'm telling you, like 8
• 32:16
  racks of clothing. I love sci-fi.
• 32:20
  I will do a sci-fi project if I have to just put a sci-fi person
• 32:23
  in every damn show until somebody gives me my damn sci-fi
• 32:27
  TV show or movie. It will happen eventually.
• 32:30
  It'll be, you know, God forbid years down the road.
• 32:34
  But yeah, it's, it is me. And thank you for noticing that.
• 32:37
  I I love, I loved that character.
• 32:40
  That was my favorite character. I really wish that we had more
• 32:43
  airtime with her. I did this really fun
• 32:45
  illustration of her costume and she never got up from the chair,
• 32:51
  which was devastating for me. I mean, you saw like her best
• 32:54
  look. She was like from here up.
• 32:56
  But again, hair and makeup like come on, like with the bleached
• 33:00
  eyebrows and the mullet and it was like I was just floored by
• 33:05
  us coming together. And I think that day on set when
• 33:08
  we first met her, it was like Rachel had gotten us like a
• 33:11
  pickle like pop up. So we had like 500 Pickles on
• 33:14
  set that day, which honestly was the best day of my life.
• 33:18
  But yeah, it was so fun. It's it's such a great
• 33:21
  character. I I can't speak, you know, I
• 33:25
  just, it was just fun. And also working with like IO,
• 33:27
  who's like an icon, like literally one of the greatest
• 33:29
  actresses like out there, you know, so it was fun.
• 33:33
  And I'm hoping to God they bring her back.
• 33:38
  She was absolutely hilarious. Her character was so funny and
• 33:44
  had so much depth and just so like posh.
• 33:46
  Oh my God. Yeah.
• 33:47
  I'm like, is she? Why can't she get nominated for
• 33:50
  a guest appearance on the show? Because our who's doing it like
• 33:54
  that? Who literally people still to
• 33:56
  this day go wait, that was IO. And I'm like, I know, dude.
• 34:00
  Like, you don't. You cannot tell it's her at all.
• 34:02
  And I think it was such a huge fun transformation.
• 34:06
  And honestly if IO wants to do like a Mimi Rush like alter ego
• 34:11
  pop star album, I hope she calls me she.
• 34:14
  Would have to. It was so funny when she like
• 34:17
  disappeared for most of the season.
• 34:18
  I was like, man, I really hope she comes back.
• 34:20
  And that one seemed toward the end, I was like, oh.
• 34:24
  My God, Oh my God, limping in with that broken leg with the
• 34:28
  Martine Rose and that crazy ass boot looking absolutely insane.
• 34:33
  I also look at you like blew the cigarette smoke into Charlie's
• 34:36
  face and was like, oh, you're just gay or something.
• 34:41
  Second favorite line of the whole show.
• 34:43
  Oh my God, was those two were so in the his head all blown out
• 34:47
  from the from the Turkish whatever, you know, the plugs or
• 34:51
  whatever. So funny.
• 34:52
  Oh God, so good. Perfect.
• 34:55
  All right. Well, looking back on I Love LA,
• 34:57
  what are you most proud of from a costume design perspective,
• 35:00
  and what do you hope audiences take away from a visual world
• 35:03
  you created? I think the thing I'm most proud
• 35:07
  of is that my daughter watches the show and loves the costumes.
• 35:11
  And I think that is a big win for me, like personally.
• 35:15
  And I love the feedback of, you know, the Gen.
• 35:20
  Z people and my peers that really love the show and like
• 35:24
  see what we were doing there. And I'm so grateful for that.
• 35:27
  I can't be like, I mean, it's just like such a being somebody
• 35:30
  that has an opportunity to put things out there for a lot of
• 35:34
  people to see and people embracing it is like breaks my
• 35:37
  heart. I'm like, oh, I'm so happy.
• 35:39
  I've just not breaks my heart, but you know what I mean?
• 35:42
  But it's just, it's cool so well, it doesn't break my heart.
• 35:46
  It breaks my heart and open because it's so full of love.
• 35:49
  Yeah, there you go. And with.
• 35:52
  That nailed it. Costume designer Christina
• 35:54
  Flannery, thank you so much for joining me.
• 35:56
  I love this show, I love LA, was so much fun.
• 36:00
  I'm so excited for season 2 and I'm so excited for you to get
• 36:04
  that sci-fi TV show or film one day.
• 36:06
  So one day we could talk about it 'cause it's gonna happen one
• 36:08
  day. Because I'm always excited to
• 36:11
  see what you're doing next after I Love LA, Righteous Gemstones
• 36:14
  Season 2 of I Love LA. I'm just excited to see whatever
• 36:17
  you're doing next because it's game better and better every
• 36:19
  single time so. Thank you to.
• 36:21
  See what's next? And I love talking to you and I
• 36:23
  love you, so it's been fun so. I love you too.
• 36:27
  Can't wait. Thanks for talking to me.
• 36:29
  All right, I'll see you around soon.
• 36:31
  The Costume House with Spencer Williams is a production of The
• 36:34
  Art of Costume. This episode was hosted,
• 36:36
  produced, and edited by Spencer Williams.
• 36:38
  To discover more conversations with the designer shaping film,
• 36:41
  television, and theater, visit theartofcostume.com or follow us
• 36:46
  on social media at The Art of Costume.
• 36:48
  And don't forget to connect with me on Instagram at Host Spencer.
• 36:51
  If you enjoyed this conversation, be sure to follow
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  and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts or watch on
• 36:57
  YouTube and stay tuned for more episodes celebrating the
• 36:59
  designers shaping today's most captivating films, television
• 37:03
  series, and stage plays.