www.nylon.com: “Fashion on teen shows has a big impact on so many people,” admits Shirley Kurata, the costume designer behind the new HBO Max series Generation, which premieres on Thursday. The show follows a group of high school students from Southern California as they grapple with sexuality, identity, and relationships in an always-connected world. While some teen shows highlight fashion through an aspirational (Gossip Girl) or edgy (Euphoria) lens, Kurata, along with the co-creators 19-year-old Zelda Barnz and her father Daniel, made a point to dress Generation’s cast as realistically as possible.
5 comments:
Costumes for teen characters, specifically taking place in the present, is an interesting challenge. I know that whenever I watch a movie that takes place now and the characters are around my age, more often than not I'm finding myself leaning over to the person next to me and saying "people do not dress like that". It's either that, or it feels like absolutely no far as put in, all of the clothes are from the same store. I definitely like the idea that this costume designer decided to give each of the characters specific styles, and ones that I found to be relatively realistic to the current time. One reason I think euphoria is so successful in this, though, is that pretty much every high school movie that takes place in the 80s is not entirely realistic to a people were in the 80s, it is an exaggeration of it. People enjoy those movies so much because they are so particular, and it creates something that people can emulate in the future. Seeing the styles of a time that we lived through feels like a celebration of our style, not just an approximation.
I feel like I just have to laugh every time I see 'teenagers' in a movie or TV show, because it really makes me feel like I completely missed the mark on being a teenager. Maybe things have changed dramatically in the past 2 years, but everyone just wore t shirts and jeans to class. It's interesting that the costume designer used specific trends and styles for each of the characters, such as e girl or vsco girl, because from what I can tell, those 'identities' kind of seem to come and go pretty quickly, both from a personal style shifting or from the trends already shifting. I think it might be a little difficult to be so attached to the idea of each teen character having a style identity, especially on a TV show set where trends might come and go and be completely out the window by the time the show airs or another episode shoots.
I completely agree with Bridget's comment. I feel like movies and television can never get how teenagers dress correctly. I feel like especially now style and clothes are so fluid and the way people dress is most definitely not a monolith. It was interesting in the article how the costume designers used Tiktok and youtube to research for their show when a very specific demographic of teenagers use those platforms and so other ways people dress aren't represented. I feel like also I have realized that people dress so differently even based on what state they are from. When I went from California to Pittsburgh I noticed that clothes and fashion were very different. I also thought it was interesting that they didn't really talk to any actual teenagers when creating costumes. I feel that a much better way to research this would to go to an actual high school and talk to real teenagers (obviously this wouldn't work in pandemic times). I think that modern teenagers are probably some of the hardest people to costume and have look realistic, and I applauded those who attempt to do so as accurately as possible.
It is very interesting for me to read this kind of articles because I always feel like I am learning along with the author. Although I had stayed in the United States for four years during teenage (for high school), I did not have many chances to experience teenage fashions since we had our own school uniform and had almost zero opportunities to civvies. I think the costumes (that reflects the trend well) can sometimes work the other way as well, since in Korea, teenagers often buy the clothes that the actors wore in the movies or other TV series. I think teenagers’ costumes can be a bit different from the other age groups because I think it reflects persons’ characteristics more directly than the others, as they are less influenced by the other factors of society (such as occupation) yet. Anyway it was interesting for me to explore various teenagers’ culture via the article.
Seeing the top screenshot for this show, I can agree that this is one of the most realistic wardrobes for teenagers I have seen, as I could definitely see these outfits being worn by friends in my senior class. It should be acknowledged, however, that not everyone can afford these unique styles, and the majority of people in high school do not take the time to dress a certain way. Although these outfits may not be universally applicable, despite their attempt at realism, there still needs to be a baseline of design, and costumes still need to look good. I do not think characters could be established as strongly If they were all wearing hoodies and jeans, for example. I also think that the costumer needs to do more research into these brands they are citing, especially when it comes to the character Chester. Dollskill is known for having a racist owner, and Forever 21 is notorious fast fashion. If the character is also known to thrift and use Depop, I feel like all these messages are contradictory. Yes, someone can easily go about this in real life, but I feel like for the sake of character creation, there should be a more consistent line of sourcing for one’s clothes.
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