www.harpersbazaar.com: Perhaps the hardest task for any costume designer is to make the clothes feel invisible. What’s more challenging still is to do so using a collection of coconut bras, fur-trimmed coats, and low-rise True Religion jeans. But for an all-too-relatable portrayal of college years, rich with friendship fallouts, toxic relationships, academic stress, and family drama, crafting looks that feel as real as the emotions behind each scene is crucial. Just ask Tell Me Lies costume designer Charlotte Svenson.
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Going into this article, I have not watched the show Tell Me Lies, so I am interested how the costuming will come across outside of the context that a show would normally provide. Costume designer Charlotte Svenson says something interesting in this interview about her knowledge of y2k: she was around the age that the characters are in that time period. This gives her a unique and fairly accurate view into how the characters would actually dress. What I often hear from costume designers is that their first step in designing for any piece is research. It is interesting how that process might be reshaped when you yourself are the research. Svenson goes on to describe the costumes as sort of an echo chamber where everyone was wearing different variations of this same fashion ideal in the 2000s. This is an interesting challenge to take on: ensuring each character is distinct while still wanting them to all have similar inspirations.
I think that costume design is generally an underappreciated field, but especially in the context of more modern works and productions. Even within our own lives, the clothes that we wear are costumes that we put on, and they tell a story. It is fascinating how clothing for a more realistic show still tells a story but in a subtle way that blends in seamlessly with the production. It is especially impressive how Svenson captures individuality in a fashion period where uniformity is the norm. For me, this brought to light more about the different mediums in which one can do research. My senior year musical was a pageant show set in the 80’s, so we drew costume inspirations from taped pageant performances of the period and fashion magazines. It is cool how Svenson went online and drew inspiration from what the average, real-life person from the period was wearing.
Costume design has so much potential for conveying small details about characters and their journey’s through a visual medium. The way someone dresses can tell you a lot of different things. The fashion of various time periods is also something you have so much potential to play with as a costume designer. The time when a show takes place like this one, requires knowing exactly what types of people were wearing certain styles in order for it to make sense with their characters. I also loved the part of this article where they talked about how they were able to bring small amounts of more modern fashion to the designs as well so that the looks would feel authentic to the time the show takes place, but also felt more timeless. I think that this strategy is really effective in conveying the messages you want to through clothes, because then more of it comes across to modern audiences who maybe wouldn't have otherwise understood.
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