Below the Line | Below the Line: Colorful collared tapered jackets over pencil and A-line skirts, accented with bows and buttons, with a pillow box hat to top it all off. That fashion ensemble has become the signature look for the women of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Season 4 premieres on Friday and finds Miriam ‘Midge’ Maisel (Rachel Brosnahan) and company sporting ’50s couture and inching into the ’60s with help from Costume Designer Donna Zakowska.
4 comments:
Firstly I think that Zakowska background is incredibly interesting. I really like unusual paths into costume design and other theatrical design careers. The fact that she started as a painter and then worked for the circus is honestly such a cool and diverse background. The way that the circus has actually helped her somehow make costumes for a show about the 1950s is just so fascinating. I’ve never seen The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, but I really want to watch it. Many of the costume articles that I have read are on movies or theatre shows, and I think it’s important to compare them to a TV show. You actually get to follow the characters over time because it is shot over years, so the characters and your designs genuinely get to work together to grow and change over time. Also just the scale of a TV show is insane, the fact that there were 9,000 extras who all have to be dressed in period accurate clothes is wild. I don’t think that I can even imagine that many costumes in a single place.
Personally, I have never seen The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, despite being recommended it many times. The person I am told this by the most is my mom, who is OBSESSED with the show. She raves about all of it but specifically likes to bring up the production's design and quality. She tells me about the large fully built historically relevant sets, which helps not only ground the show in its time period but also elevates the overall aesthetic. But even more exciting and impressive to her, and brought up the most, are the costumes. I've already sent this article to her. From the photos included, I can understand her love for this. I do not understand costume design at all. So, getting to hear about Donna Zakowska's process was especially interesting for me. It also was incredibly impressive that 95% of the costumes were designed and built. This makes sense, as finding historically accurate clothing can sometimes pose a problem, but the amount of detail and beauty this one artist was able to create astounds me.
Donna Zakowska is such an incredible costume designer, and while I haven’t seen much of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel I’ve been meaning to watch it as I find clothing from the 1950s to be so unique. I also know so many people that have worked on the sets and production design of the show and have even stumbled across numerous on-location film shoots in my own neighborhood of the Greenwich village. Recently I watched Emily in Paris with my girlfriend, and I can’t help but make a connection between the modern and extremely colorful look done by Marilyn Fitoussi seen in the show with the look of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. It is so interesting to me that Donna Zakowska has a background in circus and performance costuming, which makes a lot of sense when looking at the styles and color pallet of the show. Color pallets can make or break a show and I think in Emily in Paris it was overdone, but from what I can tell Donna Zakowska captured the look of the 1950s, while adding a distinct and powerful color pallet that highlights the personality of the various characters. Often historic shows stick to a bland color pallet of browns, blacks, and greys but the reality is the color pallets of those times were just as bright and colorful as today if not brighter.
I absolutely love The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. It is in my opinion a truly feminist show and finding out that more and more people behind the scenes are women is also such a big plus in my book. Reading Donna Zakowska's story of how she entered the industry was also very interesting. I think her story is very interesting and telling to the way her designs are. The clothes within the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel are super colorful and almost demand attention. Midge is known to never repeat outfits and clothes are a huge part of who she is and how she stands out. Something I always think of about the show is Midge's iconic sailor outfit when she does a show for the military. Through out the show Midge grows as a person to a ridiculous amount and I think her outfits reflect that change and growth. It was interesting hearing from the designer itself how intentional those choices were and how she wanted to make sure this show was as colorful as possible.
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