Latest / The Art of Costume Podcast / Beef with Costume Designer, Helen Huang

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Beef with Costume Designer, Helen Huang · The Art of Costume Podcast

0:11
Because we talked a lot about how I knew a lot of men that
0:14
were free tshirts. And saying that, Danny probably
0:18
got a lot of tshirts from like job fairs and likes, and I
0:24
actually had a vintage Sprint tshirt.
0:26
Either way, it's perfect storytelling through cost.
0:30
It's so funny. Hello, and welcome to the Art of
0:44
Costume podcast. I am your host, Spencer
0:48
Williams, and thank you so much for joining me for another bonus
0:51
episode. What's going on?
0:53
Costume nerds, thank you for joining me today.
0:57
Of course, we're talking all about beef.
0:59
A incredible show that is currently streaming on Netflix,
1:03
featuring Ali Wong and Steven Yeun.
1:06
This is such a good show. It is so funny, so wild, so it
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has heart to it. It's stressful.
1:14
I mean, the whole time I was watching it, my anxiety was on
1:17
level 100 and the costumes are just top tier.
1:21
We're going to get into all the costumes but.
1:24
So good It's very I live in Pasadena, which is a beautiful
1:29
city in California, right next to Los Angeles, LA County.
1:33
And it's just very Pasadena Art Bomb coated.
1:36
It's just so fun and I love it. I'm so excited to get into it.
1:43
But of course, I just want to remind everyone about our
1:45
upcoming schedule and we are getting back into our regular
1:49
episodes soon as our third season gets.
1:54
Kicked off once more. In a few months, talking about
2:06
the costumes of Mamma Mia, very excited because Elizabeth will
2:11
be here once again. So next week we will be off, but
1:58
when we come back in September, September 12th, we are going to
2:02
be having our first episode. I'm so excited to be reunited
2:14
with my partner in crime as we get into the brilliant costumes
2:18
by Anne Roth. The week after we will be then
2:22
talking about Poker Face with costume designer Tracy Gigi
2:26
Field. That's September 19th.
2:29
And then of course on September 26th we will then be talking
2:33
about the Righteous gemstones. I say this a lot, but The
2:37
Righteous Gemstones is actually my favorite show right now.
2:40
I can't stop talking about it. Anyone who actually sees me
2:44
around in real life knows that I've just been talking about the
2:47
show. Nonstop it is so good.
2:50
Just a top tier comedy and the costume designer for season 3,
2:54
Christina Flannery will be here to talk about the most recent
2:57
season. So very excited for that.
3:00
Then of course, will be October and we'll be getting into our
3:03
spooky season. But we're not yet, Tony.
3:05
What those episodes are, we're keeping them close to the chest.
3:08
But all I can say is, is going to be our best spooky season
3:12
ever. It is so, so strong, The films
3:17
and shows that we picked so good.
3:19
You're going to be so excited. So with that I'm.
3:21
Very excited for you all to keep listening and supporting and we
3:27
appreciate so much. It's been a interesting year,
3:33
but we're going to just keep on going.
3:35
We have some great content coming along.
3:36
So thank you again for listening.
3:38
Now let's get into beef. I'll start off with a little
3:42
summary. Two people let a road rage
3:45
incident Burrow into their minds and slowly consume their every
3:51
thought and action. And that is beef.
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What a what a great way to put it that really all it is.
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Let's dive behind the costumes. Beef was created by Lee Sangjin,
4:04
who is also the writer, showrunner, director.
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This guy does it all. And of course we have the
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brilliant costume designer Helen Huang, who you will know for her
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work as Co costume designer on American Horror Story Roanoke,
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for which she won an Emmy and a Costume Designers Guild Award.
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She also was a costume designer on 911 Birds of Prey.
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Holiday for which we have a fantastic holiday episode on.
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I think it was season one. We talked about Holiday that
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Elizabeth really, really recommended and became one of my
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favorite holiday related episodes.
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So go watch Holiday, listen to that episode.
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Helen also designed the costumes for the Shrink Next Door and
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Station 11, and I'm so excited to say that Helen was just
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nominated. For an Emmy once again for her
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work on beef. With that being said, costume
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designer Helen Huang is here in the studio.
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We're going to take a little break and when we come back
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we'll be joined by Helen Huang. I'm so excited to.
5:34
Introduce Costume Designer. Helen Wong.
5:37
Hey, Helen. Hi.
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How are you? Good.
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I'm so excited to finally meet you.
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It's been a long while. I've, like I said, behind the
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scenes. I've been wanting to talk to you
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ever since Holiday, one of my favorite movies, like ever right
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now. So I've been dying for this
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moment because, you know, when I was making it, you know, it's
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like hard to to like. No, because you're making it
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like A Christmas Story, and those haven't been made in so
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long, you know, kind of a holiday movie.
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Right, it's. Top tier best of our generation.
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I'm saying, but today is all. About beef, which I am obsessed
6:10
with. I just binged it in a couple
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hours. Literally.
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It's a. Wild ride.
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Literally and metaphorically. So my first question, what was
6:20
your initial reaction to the story, not just as a costume
6:22
designer but as a creative? Well, I think to start off with,
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like I was looking for an Asian showrunner or director or like a
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Asian cast for a project like that.
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And then this came along. And I know Sonny the Creator's
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work because he did the second season of Dave and I love the
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second season of Dave. I thought it was like such a
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great balance between sort of humor and really grounded
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emotion, but sort of like philosophical sort of
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questioning. And it's like weird, unreal sort
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of texture to it, you know? And so if it was just like that,
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when you read the script, there's some very grounding
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elements to it and the revenge story does push it forward.
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But in in like, it's true as context.
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It's just the psych, existential questioning of our lives, you
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know? And I feel like that's very
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relevant for today. And of course, you know, like
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Sonny's writing is extremely tight.
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There's a lot of dark humor to it.
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And I just find it fascinating too, with these characters,
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these Asian American characters I like.
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I like them being kind of bad people because I feel that
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equalizes, you know, the storytelling in a way.
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You know that we get to be in a story sort of like bad and good
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and everywhere in between, so. It was such an interesting story
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and you know, kind of like you said, I feel like everyone, no
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matter who you were watching this story, was able to take
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something away from it and it kind of spoke to everyone's
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lives in a way. I mean, I I definitely was
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feeling that as was watching through the show.
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So yeah, there's like very modern feeling about sort of
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what they're going through and the questions that they are
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asking themselves. Right, So let's dive into the
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costumes. I believe like.
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You I also grown. Up in LA, around Lai, live in
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Pasadena, San Gabriel Valley. You did like San Gabriel?
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Yeah, so. So I definitely, like,
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understood what was happening here.
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This definitely reminded me of, like all the Pasadena moms
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around all the time. So I really appreciate.
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The nuance and the costume of these characters.
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There were two unique worlds very present in the series.
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That chic, artsy Los Angeles San Gabriel Valley type person and
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then also. That rifted.
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Maybe casual skater look, which we'll talk about in a little.
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Bit so let's. Start with Amy.
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Walk me through her. Upscale, sophisticated and that
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white cream color palettes well with Amy.
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I started by looking at sort of like the like different types of
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plant stores on Instagram because I feel like there's a
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component to Amy that's like very controlled, very
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knowledgeable about what she's putting out into the world in
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terms of branding her store and herself.
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And you know, I lived in Silver Lake for a very long time and I
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just like sort of know these these type of types of people
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where they would do boutique shopping and their home
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aesthetic looks a certain way and it's, it's very, very
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specific and it is upscale. But I think the, the main thing
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about like what I wanted to do with the two worlds is sort of
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like, yes, you could say Amy's world has good taste.
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Danny's world has, you know, kind of 0 taste.
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But I think it's more about like how these two people are just
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like in the world and they're both aware of themselves and
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also yet not aware of their own bubble.
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And I for me, that was like sort of the most interesting
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component about dressing her is that she is very aware of the
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taste level that she's putting out, but sort of like very
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unaware of how someone like her would look to someone like Danny
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and the bubble that she's in. And then with her design, we did
10:10
want to go and Ally's like such a dream to work with.
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She did want to look very creative and already and so we
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did go for a lot of boutique labels and we played a lot with
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like shapes because, you know, she's not afraid of sort of
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wearing things that are a little bit boxier or bigger, you know,
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so there. So there wasn't this element of
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trying to make her more form fitting.
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And then with the color palette, we really tried like, I had sort
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of like a big board. And then there was this one
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section that just had creams and whites.
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And I was telling Sunny, like, you know, always when I do
10:44
contemporary TV or film, I always try to think of like,
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what could be like a surreal element to it, you know,
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something that's kind of messes with the audience a little bit,
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you know? And so for me, having her sort
10:57
of in creams and neutrals and things that feel put together
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and curated yet relaxed juxtaposes a lot of her actions
11:07
and a lot of her emotional conflicts underneath.
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And then also it's a big contrast to how Danny, you know,
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dresses. And so he really liked the idea
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and it's what we went with. I also think there's something
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to people who wear sort of whites and creams.
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It's like there are people who are very sure of themselves,
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right? They're pretty sure they're not
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going to fill throughout the day.
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And to me that, like, psychological confidence that
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she has in her, her aesthetic, in her ways, but sort of like
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this undercurrent of being totally out of control.
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That's so interesting. Yeah, such an interesting point.
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Reason why I never wear white, you know, always.
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Black so I. Definitely understand that using
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hats and costume design isn't super popular because some
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people find it. Very difficult you.
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I feel like this is a master class in hats.
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Everyone is obsessed with this hat.
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Amy, where is in the beginning of this series?
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You have to tell me where this came from.
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I you know what, I'm pretty sure it's from Urban, but it has no
12:07
tag in it. So on the costume notes they
12:09
just wrote vintage. So I'm actually, I don't really
12:13
remember, but I am a very big, like when I get into a fitting,
12:17
I like to have all the accessories there because I feel
12:20
like accessories really sort of like can fine tune a person.
12:25
You know, the outfit could be really simple and your
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accessories could sort of direct the character in one way or
12:30
another. But I am very careful because
12:33
like you said, directors and producers, they have their own
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sort of, I guess aesthetic bias against hats.
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Some of them really hate it. And happy.
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Yeah. And and have it.
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They find it really distracting in the scene, you know and other
12:47
people like love it. And for me, when I tried it on,
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I really did feel that it was right for this character because
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also like in the beginning of the of the, the show she's in
12:57
the car so much and you just want something that sort of
13:00
speaks to who she her aesthetic sense pretty super fast.
13:05
And I also really like, like the texture of it because it's like
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this very warm knit and then you know, the flip upward is kind of
13:14
like very perky. And so it kind of has like a
13:16
warm optimism to it, which really contrasts against how she
13:21
is in that scene, which is just kind of full rage.
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And so there's this, like the hat creates sort of like this
13:28
perky softness about her that I think also with the glasses
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being sort of like a pared back and not very strong sort of in
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terms of its color way kind of signals a different person than
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what's happening on screen. And for me, I always try to like
13:44
look for those moments. And also Sunny was like, yeah,
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we have to do the hat. He is not afraid of hats, he
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That's. Good to hear, but I I think it
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really worked because if people always ask me about it and I
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heard like people are in Tiktok are like knitting this hat, it's
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like so weird. Oh, I'm sure.
14:01
Yeah, become like it's own like thing.
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The hats taking the world by storm.
14:07
I think it's just so. And like you said, you know,
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she's obviously very pissed off of the moment, but you know,
14:14
she's hiding behind his hat a little bit, trying to tell
14:17
everyone that she's, you know, smiling and soft and fuzzy, a
14:21
moment where Amy was not really feeling.
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So I actually love the Vegas scene.
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It's so fun to me. It's still very aimy, but
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there's a little bit of like a shift in her in this moment
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where you know she's not going to change who.
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She is but I. Definitely feel like she shows
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up a little bit more rock'n'roll to the Vegas panel.
14:41
Yeah. So this outfit is Proenza.
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And and you're right, like I, we didn't try to change her
14:49
silhouette as much because we still want this like artistic
14:54
point of view. And I'm very big on, like with
14:56
women, you know, in terms of their arc not altering their
15:00
appearance too much because I feel like there's too, there's
15:03
been too many sort of shows being like, you know, she feels
15:06
better. So she'll dress like a
15:07
completely nonsensical way. That's like, not her and I.
15:12
Just feel like like no one does that.
15:15
Also, it doesn't say the best about being a woman.
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You know about your personal identity.
15:20
And so I like to keep the personal identities pretty
15:22
strong. So we did keep her silhouette.
15:24
There's like Fringe on the bottom of this, and it's still
15:28
very aimy. But we did change the colorway
15:30
so it's black. And there's only if you watch
15:33
the show, there's only like like 2 episodes where she did wear
15:37
color really strongly, and it was when she was having an
15:39
affair with Paul. And of course, this is the
15:43
moment where that shift, this shift was happening.
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But after that, we did take her back into creams and whites
15:49
again, because once her life settles down, we didn't want the
15:53
jarring aspect of her, like sort of changing her life just
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because in her look, just because she sold her store.
15:58
Right, exactly. Like who would do that?
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Like you kind of mentioned. So it was.
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It was. I've always worn the same outfit
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no matter what I've gone through.
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In life so but. Let's talk about Danny a little
16:11
bit, as you mentioned earlier. And Danny kind of is like the
16:14
opposite to Amy in terms of at least costuming.
16:17
It feels, you know, very. Thrifted I I feel.
16:20
Like, I know Danny personally and what?
16:22
He chooses aware. And I do think that.
16:24
There is a little. Bit of a taste, you know.
16:26
Maybe it's not at Amy's level. So tell me about Danny's
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costumes. Um, well for Stevens.
16:33
Uh, for so Danny. Steven plays Danny and he I was
16:37
really trying to find this character like as we were doing
16:40
fittings. I went into it being like, I
16:42
know who this person is because he reminds me of, like, people I
16:48
knew growing up, like in the San Gabriel Valley and you up there,
16:52
so you'd probably understand. Now I know Danny and so and so I
16:57
went into it like being like I know this person, it's very
17:00
familiar. And you know, I did want Danny
17:03
to kind of look like he did have some taste.
17:05
So he, I did want him to feel like he belonged to some
17:08
subculture at one time or another, and that he just kind
17:11
of stopped buying clothes at the age of like 25 or 24 and then
17:15
just kept like wearing the same thing.
17:17
And if he bought something else, he would just like replace that
17:19
thing itself, you know, And he doesn't really like move forward
17:25
in terms of taste. And the other thing with Danny
17:29
is like we literally like, so Amy was like boutiques from all
17:33
around. We'd shop so much online for her
17:35
to make her look so special. And then with Steven, we just,
17:37
we did so much goodwill and and costume house, but a lot, a lot
17:43
of goodwill because we were trying to put him in the space
17:46
where it's like early aughts, so like 1999 to maybe like 2010,
17:51
sort of like put him in that. So Danny is definitely very
17:57
subtle, like he's wearing like really faded dickies.
18:00
You know, the faded under T was like a big sort of choice for
18:05
him that you know the picture that he's wearing when he's like
18:09
at the club, you didn't really get a good look at the outfit
18:13
because it's so dark. But it's like we thrifted ADK&Y
18:16
shirt for him and then he's wearing like these weird like
18:19
those really straight Calvin Klein, you know, any slacks.
18:25
And then he's also wearing square toed shoes and his belt
18:28
in the scene was like actually a structure belt that are that
18:33
sunny the creator he held on to since high school.
18:36
So he like actually lent us that belt for this thing, this scene
18:41
for authenticity. And then you know the the
18:44
picture on the side, like with the.
18:46
Because we talked a lot about how I knew a lot of men that
18:49
were free tshirts. And saying that, Danny probably
18:52
got a lot of tshirts from like job fairs and like.
18:55
And so I actually had a vintage Sprint tshirt for him that they
19:03
wouldn't let me use because I had like all the Sprint stores
19:06
in the back. And so the trouble of like
19:10
buying another tshirt and printing the Sprint logo like on
19:13
the chest because I felt like so strongly that we need to use it
19:18
for the same. It's so funny.
19:20
I didn't notice it until prepping.
19:21
And I'm like, either he used to work at a Sprint or yeah, like
19:24
you said, a job fair. Either way, it's perfect
19:27
storytelling through costume. It's.
19:29
So funny, yeah. But in many ways, like Danny, I
19:33
feel very close to Danny because I just like, I think a lot of
19:37
times, you know, there's a lot of shows where they want to show
19:40
like rich Asians, you know? And I really wanted to show like
19:44
Asian men that I knew is kind of growing up, you know, I feel
19:47
like they deserve like a character that represents them
19:49
and like a character that they could see reflected back.
19:53
And I felt a large, a large responsibility to like Danny's
19:56
costumes. Right.
19:58
It definitely was a different perspective that we don't really
20:01
see too often in film and television, and I really
20:04
appreciate it. Then on the other hand, we have
20:07
George, which I am obsessed with this man.
20:10
Specifically, his sweaters I. Love a comfy sweater?
20:15
And honestly, this is one of my favorite parts of this entire
20:18
series. I I also.
20:20
Can't help but think the sweaters kind of describe his
20:22
character. You know, George is a soft guy,
20:25
but he's also. Strong in passion, I would say,
20:29
but still maintains that sort of chic personality because he is
20:32
Amy's husband too at the same time.
20:34
So I feel like there's a level that he has to hold himself to.
20:37
So please, just walk me through George's looks.
20:40
So with George, we really did want to do an artistic
20:44
perspective because he came from our artistic family.
20:47
In fact, in the script it's like the artistic, you know, family.
20:51
And also, I really do believe that when couples get together,
20:54
there's usually sort of like a cohesive sensibility that they
20:57
both share, you know. And so we did want to put them
21:02
together in terms of that look. And for George, you know, I did
21:06
want a character where it represented.
21:09
Sort of like an Asian man's interest in fashion.
21:13
But I didn't want the fashion to be like like like suits or
21:17
anything of that, that type of thing.
21:20
Because I wanted to show sort of more like quiet wealth, you
21:24
know, like his sweater, $700.00 to $1000.
21:28
But like when you like, look at it, it doesn't really like look
21:31
at anything unless you're sort of like in the know, you know?
21:34
And so like, hey, he's not like a Tom Ford guy.
21:36
He's more like, what are the newest like?
21:38
Croc collabs, you know, and the newest, like Solomon collabs
21:43
that he could, you know, he could buy into.
21:46
And we did try to keep it in that very neutral palette with
21:49
the silhouette being really relaxed.
21:52
But yeah, like we did want him to feel a like Amy's husband but
21:56
be like he had an identity of his own.
21:59
And I'm so glad that like people.
22:01
I think you, like, really like this, you know?
22:06
Yeah, but I just wanted to show like a man who's like, like
22:10
interested in fashion, but not in the way that sort of most
22:14
show show men who are interested in fashion, you know?
22:17
Right. I mean cuz I guess.
22:20
Typically in a show, you would assume that he, like you said,
22:22
would be wearing suits all the time.
22:24
But he's like a very dedicated father, too.
22:27
He's always with his daughter, so.
22:28
Like, why would he be walking around in suits all the time?
22:31
It just wouldn't make sense. So I think it was brilliant.
22:35
I'm obsessed with it. This is who I want to be when I
22:37
grow up. And I had to fight for that
22:40
tshirt because really, Yeah, Sonny wasn't sure.
22:44
And I was like, no, you have to put that on.
22:46
It's so special and like so unique.
22:50
And he finally let me do it. But I was just like because you
22:52
know as long as also with hats like it's either like directors
22:57
or producers, they either like sort of like graphics across the
23:00
chest or they don't, you know And like sometimes with
23:03
something like this, it is a bit odd because this is it's like an
23:06
embroidery tshirt. These are graphics that are
23:08
embroidered. So it's like harder to
23:09
understand. But I like George would
23:12
definitely like pick this up. You know, he's definitely like a
23:15
decorative guy, but in a very. And then threw on like the most
23:19
beautiful sweater over it. So with this being a.
23:24
Contemporary show, I was curious as to how much of your process
23:27
with this series included, you know we've talked about a little
23:30
bit already, but sustainable thrifting and buying versus
23:34
building you would see and maybe a different type of genre show.
23:38
Well, I do sometimes with modern shows build a lot.
23:42
It just like depends on. I think building is like it
23:46
depends on the size of your budget because often times
23:49
actually building is more expensive than buying.
23:52
It takes a lot more manpower and it is it does not come cheap and
23:56
it takes a lot more like process work.
23:59
So with something like this, we did shoot fast and there was
24:02
like a budget constraint and so we did a lot of like online for.
24:07
George and Amy specifically, a lot of online boutique shopping.
24:11
In fact, a lot of the online stores were really mad at us
24:14
because so like selective and so specific.
24:18
We also shopped them a lot at Mohawk General in Silver Lake.
24:21
Of course, men's, like a lot of George's wardrobe kind, came
24:26
from there, and also from Mr. Porter.
24:28
And Amy's sort of came from like Farfetch and Essence and all
24:31
those companies, but for their world.
24:34
We did do a lot of like online shopping.
24:37
I also prefer sometimes online shopping because I just feel
24:40
like the stores sometimes for contemporary shows don't have
24:43
enough of what you need to do, like a full character.
24:47
So it is a harder process because then you spend a lot of
24:50
your time doing online returns, you know and.
24:54
Who loves that? And who loves that?
24:55
But I think it creates a better identity because there's so much
25:00
more resources, you know, online.
25:02
And then I do love, whenever I can, using vintage like Amy,
25:06
actually, for her, a lot of what she wore at the house.
25:09
You know, her sweatshirts and tshirts, those are all from
25:12
vintage. Our vintage vendors in LA that
25:14
we use a lot, all the time for like vintage tshirts and things
25:17
like that. And obviously if it's someone
25:20
like Danny who needs to look like some like something that's
25:25
not like current, we I do tend to shop a lot of like goodwill
25:29
and things just because there's never anything new that could
25:32
compare to things that are organically older, you know,
25:35
because the color ways. Just the cuts.
25:38
Like they don't exist anymore unless you, like, remake them.
25:41
Interesting. Fumi was an instant style icon
25:45
in my eyes. I was obsessed.
25:47
With her the moment I laid eyes on her.
25:49
You must. Have had just so much fun
25:51
crafting these looks, I imagine. Yeah, I mean like, um they the
25:56
brief was that they wanted her to like we did try to go for a
25:59
re calico Boo like look. And you know, I told Sonny that
26:04
if we were to do her character, we would go for it because I
26:07
don't really like watered down versions of that type of
26:11
aesthetic just because I think it would like ruins the
26:13
aesthetic, you know, So we did in the beginning pull a lot of
26:17
and we use real, real a lot actually, if you talk about
26:20
sustainability actually on the show a lot.
26:24
And it's just to find like sort of like one-of-a-kind vintage at
26:28
a good price. And to just like make the thing
26:31
more unique. And so we did shop a lot of
26:33
Comte Garsan and things like that off the real rail, but it
26:36
did feel a little bit too harsh. And so we had to pivot to sort
26:41
of like more easy. And there's this great store in
26:44
LA called Replica, which we I use a lot and they had luckily
26:49
had a lot of vintage 1980s easy Miyaki.
26:54
And so we use a lot of that which is like softer in
26:58
textiles, but. Shape.
26:59
And then the picture on the bottom, she's wearing pleats,
27:01
please, which I feel like. I mean if you ever own pleats,
27:05
please. It's like amazing because idea
27:07
that you just Bob your clothes and then they just be perfect
27:11
every time. And I, which I thought like, and
27:15
then all her rings and stuff like came from Palace, which is
27:19
a costume house in LA because I really didn't imagine her being
27:22
like this person who who likes gold or silver, like she would
27:26
wear resin. And things like that, like
27:29
things that feel a little bit more like it's a little art
27:32
piece, you know? Right.
27:33
I'm. I'm obsessed.
27:34
I think for everyone listening, you pranking with them a big
27:37
shopping list after they're done listening.
27:40
But I am a big fan of breakdown and costumes and it was so much
27:45
fun watching, you know? All these fun, colorful pieces.
27:49
And then in the last episode, it's almost like everything
27:51
falls apart at our. Cast really goes through some
27:55
things. So how did this episode?
27:58
Come together with breaking down all these looks.
28:00
It was hard. We didn't have a lot of time.
28:04
I think for Amy and Danny that each had seven multiples that
28:10
would do in different stages and we had to go through it with
28:14
Sunny to sort of like break it down.
28:17
But even like the process of finding their costume,
28:20
especially Amy's costume in this was hard because.
28:25
We wanted a consume that could do a lot.
28:27
And so when I found this Tori Bridge blouse, it actually had
28:31
all the components where she could be at Jordan's house and
28:33
she could be like really put together and buttoned because of
28:36
the way it was like tied. And then when she gets to this,
28:39
the wilderness, like everything sort of can untie and like.
28:44
Look like she's been through the ringer.
28:46
And even if you look at in that picture, her collar's not on it
28:49
anymore because it's a detachable collar.
28:52
So like, at one point during the script, her collar came off and
28:55
she was using it like when she had food poisoning to like, wipe
28:58
her brow like that. So like we didn't want to give
29:01
them pieces of clothes, you know, like Danny's wearing that
29:04
specific hoodie. Because I I had to research like
29:07
how you would make a sling. It was like the most like
29:12
easiest way to like what Garmin is like the easiest.
29:15
And so we had to sort of like research all that before putting
29:18
those outfits together and then. You had to be like, oh, so she
29:22
falls down a Cliff, you know, even to the point where Sonny
29:25
was like, yeah, I think they pooped on their pants.
29:27
And I was like I. You're like please no.
29:32
But we did put it in there. It's you know you probably can't
29:34
tell. But those are those are sort of
29:36
the glamorous parts of costume design.
29:40
I'm obsessed. It's so good.
29:43
So. This was a very intimate series.
29:45
I imagine there must have been a lot of collaboration between
29:48
you, Allie and Steven especially.
29:50
Yeah, it was. I mean, like, I felt like
29:53
everyone wanted to come in and they wanted to sort of
29:57
transform. And I was very lucky with them
30:00
because, you know, obviously I said it before.
30:02
Like Ally's kind of a dream to work with.
30:04
She'll put on any. She's very interesting.
30:07
Of the costume designer in the process, which is, which is like
30:12
it's amazing when you get actors that come in that open and with
30:15
Steven, he also was like in the process trying to.
30:20
You know, was very open to trying everything on.
30:23
I think it took Steven a little bit longer to find his
30:25
character. I think mostly because like it's
30:27
hard with subtle costumes, you know, because Amy's like kind of
30:31
like fashiony and so it's almost at times it's easier to find
30:35
those type of costumes than something as pared back as
30:38
Danny. Meaning like he only he only
30:41
probably had like 4 tshirts, you know, like he had like a club
30:44
like literally the size of like. Here you.
30:49
Go. But to get to that half a rack
30:50
of things, you have to try on everything.
30:52
Like a lot we had on, we had like 3-4 racks of clothes
30:57
through three fittings that we had him try on just to see what
31:01
kind of organically feels more like his character, you know?
31:06
But a lot of times the more subtle work is, the more pared
31:09
back stuff. Right, definitely.
31:12
Well, Helen, I mean, everyone is obsessed with this show.
31:14
Me being one of those people, it was so much fun.
31:17
I loved it and the costumes are brilliant.
31:20
I'm probably gonna go and find a Sprint tshirt after this.
31:23
My final question to you, what did this project mean to you?
31:27
I mean, it meant quite a lot to me.
31:29
It's one of the more personal projects that I have done.
31:34
I think, you know, since I started my career, I've dressed
31:38
Asians as like day players on TV shows.
31:41
And you can never give them a full story just because they're
31:44
there to serve the main story. And so you usually have to dress
31:47
them like, like as a teacher or as a mom, like they have to have
31:50
a really quick read. It was something like this.
31:54
As diverse as the type of Asians that they had on the show was
31:58
sort of different economic backgrounds and different
32:00
interests and different perspectives.
32:02
I thought that was very fun, right?
32:05
To sort of break down the the thought that we are like a
32:08
monolith to show that there are barriers.
32:11
Sort of like, and there are are different experiences in the
32:14
Asian American community. And these characters sort of
32:17
represent like what they go through and sort of like the
32:19
mistrust and misunderstanding. So it was a real privilege to
32:24
get to do that, you know. And I was very excited as soon
32:26
as I read it because I was like, Oh my God, I'm going to actually
32:29
get to do. This, you know, Yeah.
32:33
So I can really fulfill something that I felt like I
32:36
really had something to say. Especially because you're on the
32:39
sidelines and you know you're not only involved in different
32:42
projects, but you're watching different projects and you just
32:44
feel like this need to like really want to tell a particular
32:49
story. And this was my opportunity to
32:51
do it, the costume. Designer Helen Huang.
32:53
I am obsessed with the show and I'm so happy I finally got to
32:57
meet you. Thank you so much for joining
32:58
us. The Art of Costume Blogcast is
33:06
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33:11
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