elle.in/fashion: If you haven’t stumbled upon the HeatedRivalry frenzy over the past few months, you must be living under a rock, or, at the very least, offline. Ever since the series first aired earlier last year, it has spiralled into a full-blown obsession. And now, with the show officially streaming in India on Lionsgate Play, a whole new audience is catching up, and catching feelings.
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7 comments:
The costume design in Heated Rivalry might not be something that people notice automatically because for the most part, they just wear athletic clothes and hockey uniforms (or…nothing at all…). However, because the show moves through so many years so quickly and takes place across the 2010s when fashion is rapidly changing, the costume design is actually more akin to designing for a period piece than people might think. I like how Pauley describes dealing with a low budget. Discovering as much as you can about the characters ahead of time does not just save you time, but also money, as you can plane ahead and really use your budget. I also like how she describes her choices that created contrast between Shane and Ilya, and contrast between different moments in time. To do this, Pauley had to rely on the things that we all see as symbolic of those time periods and do that within a tight budget, which I think is very impressive.
The parallels between Rose wearing a leopard pattern and Ilya wearing a leopard pattern are something I’ve never noticed, and I’ve not only seen the show twice, but I’ve also been on the internet, and therefore been exposed to every second of this show many times over. This show is so remarkable because you cannot tell that it was shot at such a low budget at all, and the only thing that really gives it away is the lack of extras. The costumes are a real standout in this regard. They ground the piece super well in its time period and give you so much information on the characters. For a show about two guys who are trying their hardest to get each other’s clothes off half the time, and also a show where they are wearing uniform jerseys or formal wear for a decent amount of time, the costuming manages to be such a huge standout. It’s subtle when it needs to be, and outrageous when it also needs to be (like the leopard print, lol).
After finishing the series, the costume design was one of the major things that stuck with me from the actual production of the TV show! It was such a masterclass in how to dress actors in a “period setting” that spans over the course of roughly 10 years. It's evident that each year was meticulously researched, as I often found myself really feeling like their outfits represented where they were in time. I had known that the show didn't have a huge budget, and it made me want to delve even further into how little money they actually had! It is so insane to me that they were able to produce the caliber of production they did with only a few locations and a bunch of screens. They were able to achieve a global phenomenon in the matter of weeks when it takes much longer with many more millions of dollars. I'm excited to see how the costume design further develops as the show comes back for more seasons with a much higher budget than last time.
I absolutely love reading articles like this. I love getting to know what is going on behind the scenes and how the designers end up with their final product, especially if it is a show that I know or have watched. Because Heated Rivalry takes place throughout multiple years and is set in modern day, I feel like this show would be challenging to design for costumes, but Hanna Puley makes it sound easy. Though this show is modern and may seem like it is just hockey uniforms or suits, the beauty of her design is within the everyday wear, where she can really show the personalities of these characters. You can definitely see in the designs that their clothing matches their personalities and really provides a contrast for Ilya and Shane, Ilya being bold and dark, Shane being light and simple/minimalistic. I enjoyed how Puley mentioned the designs for Rose and the rest of the women in the show, and the idea of portraying Rose as a big celebrity. After reading these design articles, I always have so much more appreciation and connection to that piece.
I thought that the costume design in Heated Rivalry did a really good job; the clothes that all the characters were wearing really seemed realistic. The whole show had such a low budget, and costumes were not an exception to this. I thought it was really interesting what the costume designer had to say in this article about planning ahead and being very decisive, so that if you know what you’re looking for further in advance, you can wait for sales, and search for exactly what you want. I think that sometimes this is a little bit less of an option in theater, the time frame we operate on is so fast paced, but I think that it’s a lesson that more people should pay a little bit of attention to. I also think people forget that heated rivialy is lowkey a period piece, and the way that costumes play into conveying the time in the show across the 8ish years it takes place across, is one of the most effective ways they show time.
What I like most about this article is how seriously it takes costume design. It doesn’t treat clothing as just something the characters wear, but as part of the storytelling, which I think is really important. The contrast between Shane and Ilya was interesting to me. How something as simple as a fleece versus a bold vintage shirt can immediately communicate personality without needing dialogue is cool. I also thought it was interesting that the show looks so high quality despite a low budget. It makes it clear that strong planning and understanding your characters can matter more than just having a lot of money. That idea feels really relevant, especially in creative fields like theatre and design. The way Puley talks about emotional connection to clothing also stuck with me. It’s not just about accuracy or trends, but how an outfit makes the audience feel.
all of these things in heated rivalry come together to tell us one thing — This is a period piece. when I first watched the show (the first time…) I was really hung up on the weird tacky 2016 esque outfits. But thinking back and reading this article, I realize that obviously it’s 2010s 2016 because that’s when the show is mostly set. I remember seeing critiques of Rose Landry‘s outfit in the bar scene where she’s wearing leopard print and the whole outfit looks kind of tacky and similar similarly to the scene of Iliya in the bar wearing his Hawaiian shirt. It all felt weird from an audience who doesn’t truly understand what they were going for perspective, but after reading the article, I now understand that like all of the details were intentional, especially with the costuming and coming from a place where I think about that as a theater person it’s really interesting to see that people are starting to care more about accuracy in a more recent era.
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