CMU School of Drama


Wednesday, February 03, 2021

'Dickinson' Costume Designer on Loving Emily's Opera Dress & Season 2's Floral Inspirations

TV Insider: Apple TV+'sDickinson gets a lot of credit for its modern sensibility, and for the clothes that serve to keep things grounded in the world of a period drama. In Season 2, Emily Dickinson (Hailee Steinfeld) and crew step up their fashion game with the help of costume designer Jennifer Moeller, and we spoke with her about the choices she made.

2 comments:

Maureen Pace said...

I read a similar article about a different show a few weeks ago; I love reading about the costume designer’s process and perspective on projects they’ve worked on. This particular article talks about “Dickinson”, which I’ve been thinking about watching for some time now... I’m intrigued to see more of the costumes, especially the day-to-day outfits they created. Especially in pieces like this show, it is so important to do the research and find examples of what people (and the characters if they were real humans) actually wore– trying to gain that knowledge with little material to work with is another project altogether. Jennifer Moeller used Emily Dickinson’s love of nature and botany to inspire a lot of Emily’s daily attire, when other information was lacking. Drawing from a combination of understanding of the person and the period, she created the wonderful outfits in the show, showcased by this article. This was a wonderful read and I hope to watch the show sometime!

Evan Riley said...

This article was very short and brief but gave a small glimpse into what can be of inspiration to a costume designer. I found it interesting that in this piece the designer is designing the costume for a real life figure. It's much different from let's say The Crown where we have photo documentation of the exact things queen elizabeth and princess diana, a figure like Emily Dickinson does not have this kind of recognition. Seeing that the costume designer went to the original home of Emily Dickinson, just goes to show her dedication to the craft and finding all of the information she can. I believe it is important for costumers to do this research and have a full understanding of the period of which they design. Where some designers for period television and film fall short of balancing modernity and historical costume, it looks like Jennifer Moeller was able to convey accurate 1860s costumes without becoming confusing to the audience. The only thing I AM confused about is that i can't tell if she is wearing a crinoline or not. I just finished making a half scale 1860 ball gown and one of the greatest hurdles was the elliptical crinoline. After reading this article I think I might consider watching the series.