Costumes and Coffee

Tune in as I chat with Costume Designer and Writer Marjorie McCown! Marjorie began her career in theatre in New York City before moving to LA to work in film and landing a job as Ruth Myers Assistant Costume Designer on "The Addams Family." She also worked on other A-list features including "Forrest Gump." If that doesn't make her cool enough, she pivoted into her passion for murder mysteries writ...

Tune in as I chat with the legendary Rhonney Greene. Rhonney is the first Black man to design shows for BET, MTV and OWN networks. He is also the costume designer so many other projects including the first season of "Harlem," Tyler Perry's "The Have and Have Nots," "Single Black Female," the second season of "The Ms. Pat Show" and now the upcoming holiday movie "A Very Merry Beauty Salon" on Lifet...

Tune in as I chat with Costume Designer Cris Araujo. We get into her love for creating costumes for futuristic worlds, her unique path from Key Costumer to Designer, her rich heritage and her love for top fashion designers like Rick Owens.  Her latest film Uglies is based on the dystopian novel by Scott Westerfeld. It is set in a future post-scarcity world in which everyone is considered an "Ugly"...

Tune in to my conversation with Costume Designer Laura Smith. Laura is behind all of the costumes in season 3 of the hit series "Industry". We get into the symbolism behind the looks plus the accessories. She shares where she was able to source such eye-catching pieces. If you're a fan of the show, you know there's a lot of nudity. So we talk about her experience working with the Intimacy Coordina...

Tune in as I chat with Costume Designer Kairo Courts about her upcoming films “Ruth & Boaz” executive produced by Devon Franklin and the soon to be titled film starring KeKe Palmer and SZA. And of course we dish on the details of her other credits, which include “The Other Black Girl”, “Turtles All The Way Down”, “Naomi”, “Raising Dion”, “Really Love” and “ATLANTA”. Kairo also speaks about the...

Tune in as I chat with Costume Designer Charlese Antoinette Jones. Charlese's latest work can be seen in the action-packed movie "The Instigators" on AppleTV, which we dive into the details of how she paid homage to the city of Boston. She is also the renowned designer behind the looks in "Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody" and "Air," the incredibly pop...

Tune in as I chat with Emmy-nominated Costume Designer Courtney Wheeler about her recent nomination for her work on "The Bear" for FX. Courtney explored the great taste of culinary professionals and how aspects of their artistry often spilled over into the wardrobe - something she was able to showcase beautifully on screen.   She also shares the challenge of having such a big cast and pl...

Tune in as I talk to Carol Case, the Emmy-nominated Costume Designer for "Fargo" on FX. We discuss Carol’s brilliant designs and how she manages to create costumes for entirely new characters each episode. Carol also shares the experience of designing costumes to withstand the frigid temperatures in North Dakota and Canada - the two places where shooting took place. She also shares great...

Tune in as I talk to Karen Serreau, the Emmy-nominated Costume Designer for "The New Look" on AppleTV. We discuss Karen's trips through the Dior archives, what she learned from working so closely with Mr. Dior's dresses and how the design house praised her team for re-creating such iconic dresses. We also discuss the challenges she faced while designing for two opposite worlds -...

Today, I'm talking to Costume Designer Christina Flannery, who is nominated for an Emmy for her contemporary designs in "The Righteous Gemstones" for HBO. We talk about how she and her team went all out this season, dressing characters in extravagant custom costumes, such as Aimee-Leigh’s watermelon pantsuit and Judy’s electric blue opera gown, as well as designer pieces including Je...

Today, I’m talking with Costume Designer Safowa Bright Bitzelberger, who is nominated for Outstanding Period Costumes For A Limited Or Anthology Series for her work on Netflix’s hit miniseries Griselda . Safowa is also the only black woman nominated this year as costume designer across all costumes categories. During our conversation, she details her journey to this very special nomination and wha...

We’re kicking off a series of conversations with this year’s Primetime Emmy nominees. Up first is Costume Designer Annie Symons who is nominated for Outstanding Costume Design for her work in Mary & George for STARZ. Ahead of the awards ceremony on Sunday, Sept. 15, I spoke with Annie about what it means to be nominated amongst her peers, and what she’s most looking forward to at this year’s r...

Ahead of the wide release of the moving drama Sing, Sing , I spoke to Costume Designer Desira Pesta about the ways that costumes help bring this story to life on screen. We talk about how she and her ACD searched 10,000 square feet of SUNY Purchase College storage to find props and costumes from the original play that the film is based on. How the uniforms were aged to match the time each characte...

The Costume Designers Guild, IATSE Local 892, has launched its Pay Equity Now campaign, which focuses on achieving parity with their male-dominated creative department head counterparts. To give a brief background, the Costume Designers Guild consists of professional costume designers, assistant costume designers and costume illustrators working in film, TV, commercials and other media. Its member...

From quick changes and incredibly tight deadlines to recreating the most popular moments in news and culture, Costume Designer Tom Broecker has been doing his thing behind the scenes at SNL since 1994. His work has earned him 17 Emmy nominations and six wins, a Peabody, five PGA nominations and 10 CDGA nominations and two wins. This year, he’s up for another CDGA for his brilliant work in season 4...

With two big films to hit theaters over the weekend - "The Book of Clarence" and "Lift," I had to sit down for coffee with Costume Designer Antoinette Messam. Pour up a cup and tune in as she shares her thoughts on the importance of research in costume design, relationship building with costume rental shops around the world, building a global costumes crew, her love for textile...

Join me for coffee with Costume Designer Jen Caprio. You can currently see Jen's designs on Broadway in the hilariously funny musical "SPAMalot" and on the legendary children's show "Sesame Street".

Tune in to the latest episode of Costumes & Coffee with Costume Designer Dominique Dawson, who showcased her talent and artistry in Donald Glover's highly anticipated psychological thriller series, "Swarm." Dominique has had an expansive career bringing her talent to projects ranging from Roberto Patino's "DMZ" to Ava Duvernay and  ⁠Colin Kaepernick⁠ ’s "Colin...

Fans are raving over Costume Designer Helen Huang's work in Netflix's new hit series "BEEF." Join us for coffee as she breaks down the inspiration behind each character's costumes, the importance of highlighting diversity within the Asian community and the personal experiences that prepared her to successfully take on this role. Pour up a cup!

Today, we're having coffee with "The Last of Us" Costume Designer Cynthia Summers. She shares what it's like to design a video game turned TV series, develop a post-apocalyptic world, and the collaborative process with Special FX Make Up for creating the Clickers - those infected by the zombie-ant fungus. Cynthia’s credits include designing “The L Word,” “Swan Song,” “A Series of...

Join me today for coffee with "Abbott Elementary" Costume Designer Susan Michalek. Picture this. You've gathered all of the clothing and accessories for an upcoming fitting. Instead of placing things on the rack, you place everything in a pile and the actor selects the pieces he or she loves the most to fit. Once pieces are selected, you collaborate with the talent to put together al...

Today, I’m talking to CDGA nominee Natasha Newman-Thomas. You’ve seen her work in Childish Gambino’s “This Is America” music video and the recent Von Dutch documentary on Hulu. We get into the details of her award-nominated work in Yeah, Yeah, Yeah’s “Spitting Off the Edge of the World” video, and how she brought back the fun of iconic rock star energy with the designs and styling. She also shares...

Today, we’re having coffee with Carrie Cramer.  Carrie is an artist and Costume Designer who has worked on a number of projects. And today we’re highlighting the fact that she is a CDGA nominee for her work alongside Jason Rembert for Lizzo’s "Watch Out For The Big Grrrls". We discuss her experience in reality TV (We all remember MTV’s “Singled Out” right?), her passion for creating ceramics...

BEL-AIR is back tonight for an incredibly stylish second season, and we’re talking to artist behind the looks! Tune in to the latest episode as I have coffee with Costume Designer QueenSylvia Akuchie. QueenSylvia takes us on her journey from law school to costume design, and her start as Tyler Perry’s right hand in Costumes & Wardrobe. She also gives us impeccable insight into the careful thou...

Tune in to the latest episode of the podcast as I chat with Costume Designer Deirdra Govan. Deirdra shares the insight behind the costumes for Harlem season 2 - the inspiration behind each of the ladies’ unique style, and the conscious effort she made to avoid “window dressing” the guys. As a member of Local 892 and the vice president of Local 829, Deirdra shares insight into some of the most pres...