Good morning cool kids,

Whilst I usually like to steer away from the topical in Fem Fri, I am as excited as anyone about the return of Succession. Something else I like is interviews with costume designers. Let's have loads of those today, starting with this absolute classic of the genre: an interview with Succession's costume designer Michelle Matland that is more or less entirely about Shiv Roy's high waisted trousers. The difference between the title of this article and the URL gets me every time:

Shiv’s pants are more thoughtful, capable, and sexually well-adjusted than any of Logan Roy’s children. Their high waists, wide legs, and perfect tailoring demand attention and respect and intentionally so; according to the show’s head costume designer, Michelle Matland, the look is meant to signify her desire “to be seen as an equal in the board room.” Indeed, these are pants that could single-handedly orchestrate a hostile company takeover or convince you of the merits of a media monopoly.

https://www.thecut.com/2019/09/shiv-roy-pants-step-on-me-please.html

Loads of amazing stuff in this interview with Katie Irish, who was the costume designer on another of my all time favourite shows, The Americans. The pull quotes here are about maternity wear because w o w I did not know what maternity wear looked like in the 1980s, but there's also really interesting stuff on how to get enough vintage footwear for crowd scenes and, ones again, high waisted trousers:

“Do you know what maternity fashion looked like in the ‘80s? Because it does not look like what it does today. It is not stylish in the least. I will make it as stylish as humanly possible.” […] Even style icon Princess Diana had her work cut out for her in making these clothes look good and she was one of the inspiration points for Alice’s entire look with Irish referencing this particular moment saying, “God bless this woman she is trying and she looks as stylish as fashion is going to allow her at this moment, but it is still not great.”

https://observer.com/2017/03/the-americans-costume-designer-interview-season-5/

I can't find an interview but here is a great, long article about the life and work of Eiko Ishioka, who was the costume designer for Coppola's Dracula as well as a graphic designer who really changed the way women were portrayed in adverts:

Ishioka’s campaigns were a clarion call for Japanese women at the time. With tag lines like “Girls Be Ambitious!,” “Women! Turn Off Your TV Sets! Women! Close Your Magazines!” and “Don’t Stare at the Nude; Be Naked,” her defiantly anti-product ads asked women to reconsider the prevalent culture and challenge their existing perceptions. “Through Parco’s advertisements, Ishioka conveyed the message that fashion is a means to live with independence,”

https://eyeondesign.aiga.org/the-rebellious-and-revolutionary-work-of-designer-eiko-ishioka/

Love,

Alex.