Costumes and Coffee

Today, I’m talking with Costume Designer Safowa Bright Bitzelberger, who is nominated for Outstanding Period Costumes For A Limited Or Anthology Series for her work on Netflix’s hit miniseries Griselda. Safowa is also the only black woman nominated this year as costume designer across all costumes categories.

During our conversation, she details her journey to this very special nomination and what it means to her.

For the show, Safowa discusses how she pulled (from the estate sales of wealthy women) hundreds of looks incorporating pieces from Escada, Yves Saint Laurent, Versace, Ralph Lauren and Dolce & Gabbana. Safowa shares that she opted for flashy designer pieces for background actors during party scenes to show the new wealthy environment Griselda was in while using simpler 80s silhouettes to emphasize Griselda’s personality and lack of interest in fashion. Safowa also shares how she was able to avoid projecting Griselda’s power through pantsuits and opting for structured dresses instead to highlight her femininity in the men’s world.

Pour up a cup!

We’re kicking off a series of conversations with this year’s Primetime Emmy nominees. Up first is Costume Designer Annie Symons who is nominated for Outstanding Costume Design for her work in Mary & George for STARZ.

Ahead of the awards ceremony on Sunday, Sept. 15, I spoke with Annie about what it means to be nominated amongst her peers, and what she’s most looking forward to at this year’s red carpet.

She shares how she started officially designing costumes for local theatre at age 14. We discuss how she brings to life the opulent aesthetics of the Jacobean era, featuring grandiose hats, ruffles, jewels, and the iconic Jacobean Ruffs often worn by Julianne Moore's character, Mary. We also chat about how this Emmy nomination highlights her exceptional attention to detail!

Ahead of the wide release of the moving drama Sing, Sing, I spoke to Costume Designer Desira Pesta about the ways that costumes help bring this story to life on screen.

We talk about how she and her ACD searched 10,000 square feet of SUNY Purchase College storage to find props and costumes from the original play that the film is based on. How the uniforms were aged to match the time each character spent in prison to personalize to their status/stories and so much more.

Pour up a cup!

Pour up a cup!

The Costume Designers Guild, IATSE Local 892, has launched its Pay Equity Now campaign, which focuses on achieving parity with their male-dominated creative department head counterparts.

To give a brief background, the Costume Designers Guild consists of professional costume designers, assistant costume designers and costume illustrators working in film, TV, commercials and other media. Its membership is 87% female, and the guild says that they are 65% lower on the IATSE pay scale than male-dominated creative department heads, according to Pay Equity Now.

Seeking to expand upon the #NakedWithoutUs campaign that the Costume Designers Guild has used for the past several years, Pay Equity Now is about education that will hopefully lead to industry-shifting change and a better quality of life for Costume Designers. Tune in as Terry A. Gordon, President of the Costume Design Guild (Local 892), discusses all of the details of the campaign and our goals going forward. Pour up a cup!

From quick changes and incredibly tight deadlines to recreating the most popular moments in news and culture, Costume Designer Tom Broecker has been doing his thing behind the scenes at SNL since 1994. His work has earned him 17 Emmy nominations and six wins, a Peabody, five PGA nominations and 10 CDGA nominations and two wins. This year, he’s up for another CDGA for his brilliant work in season 48, episode 10 of SNL featuring Aubrey Plaza as guest host.

Pour up a cup and tune in as he shares how the universe lead him to Costume Design, his fascinating design process and more.

With two big films to hit theaters over the weekend - "The Book of Clarence" and "Lift," I had to sit down for coffee with Costume Designer Antoinette Messam.

Pour up a cup and tune in as she shares her thoughts on the importance of research in costume design, relationship building with costume rental shops around the world, building a global costumes crew, her love for textiles, color theory and so much more.

Join me for coffee with Costume Designer Jen Caprio. You can currently see Jen's designs on Broadway in the hilariously funny musical "SPAMalot" and on the legendary children's show "Sesame Street".

Tune in to the latest episode of Costumes & Coffee with Costume Designer Dominique Dawson, who showcased her talent and artistry in Donald Glover's highly anticipated psychological thriller series, "Swarm."

Dominique has had an expansive career bringing her talent to projects ranging from Roberto Patino's "DMZ" to Ava Duvernay and ⁠Colin Kaepernick⁠’s "Colin In Black & White."

During our chat, Dominique shared everything from her start at NYU, why she chose costume design over directing, and how she's inspiring the next generation of designers. She also gets into her research of stan culture (which included lots of Beyonce references) and the inspiration behind looks for Dre, Marissa and Ni'Jah. Plus, she shares what it was like working with a star-studded cast including Chloe Bailey, Billie Eilish, and Nirine S. Brown.

Fans are raving over Costume Designer Helen Huang's work in Netflix's new hit series "BEEF." Join us for coffee as she breaks down the inspiration behind each character's costumes, the importance of highlighting diversity within the Asian community and the personal experiences that prepared her to successfully take on this role.

Pour up a cup!

Today, we're having coffee with "The Last of Us" Costume Designer Cynthia Summers. She shares what it's like to design a video game turned TV series, develop a post-apocalyptic world, and the collaborative process with Special FX Make Up for creating the Clickers - those infected by the zombie-ant fungus. Cynthia’s credits include designing “The L Word,” “Swan Song,” “A Series of Unfortunate Events,” “The Babysitter's Club” and more. She even dishes on “Goosebumps,” an upcoming series she’s designing for Disney.

Cynthia’s experience and ability to teach the techniques of design are top notch. Grab a cup and tune in!