Monday, November 15, 2021
In "Passing," Costume Designer Marci Rodgers Avoids Clichéd Flapper Fashion and Draws From Her Chicago Roots
Fashionista: Adapted from the 1929 Nella Larsen novella, "Passing" tells the story of Irene and Clare, two childhood friends who reconnect after years apart and become increasingly involved in one another's lives — and insecurities. Both are white-passing women of African descent, yet Irene (played by Tessa Thompson) embraces her African-American identity and marries a Black doctor; Clare (played by Ruth Negga), on the other hand, chooses to cross the color line and marries a racist, wealthy white man and lives as a white woman.
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The costume designer for the film Passing, based off of the 1929 novel of the same name, seems to have really put in her work. Rather than drawing solely upon tropes and caricatures of fashion and outfits of the era, she did a lot of research and worked to understand the two main characters of the film in order to clothe them appropriately. Costumes aren’t just about looking good or being historically accurate: they also tell us very important things about the character who is wearing them. The costume designer, Marci Rogers, decided to use more “lighter/ethereal colors for Claire and more conservative/darker colors for Irene”, the two main characters, in order to tell us things about who they are as people. She also had to work within the film’s constraints of being in black and white, which heavily affects how the costumes were designed. All in all, it seems like she did a pretty good job.
I think what Marci Rodgers is doing with the costumes of this film is beautiful. She takes such care in her work and pays attention to every detail. The film is shot in black and white and she paid so much attention to color, and the contrast in color between the two main characters. Something she does that is so important is straying away from the stereotypical flapper fashion of the 1920s. The way that style gets stereotypical is because that is how most films and TV shows set in that time have their characters portrayed. Rodgers approach to honest costume design I think can help that perception of what people wore in the 1920s, and the audience can see the characters at that time as real people which is her goal. I think that is important because when the audience sees the characters as real people, it is easier for them to consider the themes of the movie as real and apply them to their own lives.
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