“Hacks” costume designer Kathleen Felix-Hager came across the script for Episode 3 of the show’s final season, and there was one line that stood out: “Deborah shows up in a dress made of playing cards.”
Since it was early in prep, Felix-Hager had time to consider what that would look like. It was through conversations with the showrunners Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs and Jen Statsky and coming up with sketches that she landed on a “Queen of Hearts”-inspired red dress. Rory Cunningham, Head of Workroom, created the dress, which was made of three pieces: a corseted strapless gown, a bolero jacket, and a skirt that hooks on. “There are all real playing cards that are stitched on that dress,” Felix-Hager explained.
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For “The Comeback,” costume designer Tom Broecker read the script for the Season 3 opener and saw that Valerie Cherish (Lisa Kudrow) would be playing Roxie Hart in “Chicago” as part of the storyline. However, the creatives didn’t have clearance to use the copyrighted outfit from the Broadway show.
Luckily for Broecker, he knew one of the stage managers of the long-running production and collaborated with them to brainstorm ideas about what would work. But he kept encountering roadblocks. The more roadblocks that came his way, the more creative Broecker got. “I went back to the original done by Patricia Zipprodt (creator of the original costumes in 1975 for Bob Fosse), and we had a version of it made for Lisa.” However, legal restrictions meant Broecker had to tweak the designs even further. He eventually found a way to turn the challenge into a positive. “We added more sparkle and that was better for the camera.”
Felix-Hager and Broecker were among the costume designers speaking about their process at HBO’s Sketch-to-Screen panel.
“Euphoria” costume designer Natasha Newman-Thomas found she needed to make multiples of Cassie’s wedding dress. In Episode 3, Cassie (Sydney Sweeney) and Nate (Jacob Elordi) finally tie the knot. But the night ends in a bloody disaster when Nate is beaten up and has his toe chopped off.
Knowing that, Newman-Thomas realized she would need more than one version of the dress. “Cassie was supposed to get really covered in blood…We knew we had to make eight of the dresses,” she explains
Budget constraints limited what she could do. Her solution was to make a variation of the dress while remaining true to Cassie’s character. “We have a longer version with a massive train for the ceremony and have her change into something shorter that would make eight [versions] of one dress much more affordable.”
Newman-Thomas wasn’t the only costume designer tasked with weddings. Every episode of the six-part limited series “Half Man” is bookended with Niall (Jamie Bell) suited up to marry Alby, but just as he’s about to say his vows, Ruben (Richard Gadd) arrives and interrupts the ceremony.
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To design Niall’s traditional Scottish wedding attire, Millar wanted to include a personal nod to Gadd, who is also the show’s creator. “It’s his clan’s tartan,” she said referring to the Gunn Tartan plaid texture used for the fabric.
In contrast, Ruben is dressed head-to-toe in black. “It cuts the atmosphere, and is a good demonstration of how costume can change a tone, can change a mood, can help really help tell and sell a story.”
“A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” costume designer Lorna Ó Ríordáin also incorporated nods to kilts in her work. At the end of Episode 3, Egg’s true identity is revealed: he’s Prince Aegon V Tagaryen. “I have a little nod to the Scottish kilt to show this is a clan family, and how deep it runs.” Textures were especially important to Ó Ríordáin when he finally wears his full Targaryen house outfit. “They had a reference to where the Targaryens may originate from — rocky, volcanic terrain — so everything was considered as being of that surface and had a very harsh aspect to it. There’s a shot of red and this molten lava design running through all of the costumes,” she added.
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For “The Gilded Age,” Kasha Walicka-Maimone expanded on the lavish style of New York. Bertha’s looks were drawn from period colors and inspired by 19th-century painters. In one scene, Bertha wears a greenish-yellow outfit. “It’s a day outfit, and we found fabric in contemporary stores,” Walicka-Maimone shared. Her team often creates up to 5,000 pieces per season, but with this one, with its organic draping was something she was attracted to. “It was resonating so much with the abstraction and bold gestures of the period.”
Meanwhile, Meghan Kasperlik’s (“Task”) custom-made all the rings for the motorcycle gang featured in the show. When it came to Jayson (Sam Keeley) the biker gang leader, his ring had an easter egg. “His ring was engraved with ‘DH,’ which was a nod to the Dark Hearts.” Kasperlik explains, “He wore that as his wedding ring, because even though he was married to a woman, he’s married to the club first.”
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