A lot of times, it’s everyone else who’s trying to tell a woman how to dress, other than the woman who’s actually in her own skin and knows herself better than these other people. It’s just interesting that there’s this narrative that’s been fed to women about what they should wear and why, whether it’s to be more aesthetically sexual or whether it’s to cover up. I don’t know if that’s the same answer I would have had before MeToo. She believes in it because that’s the status quo, that’s the way things have always been. It’s the most interesting scene, where they’re trying to sell her on her new reality, which involves her sexuality, and I love that Erin Moriarty’s character just is like: “That is not me.” But also, it acknowledges that the Isadora character has to be selling something.
Isadora (Débora Demestre) is fashioning a new look for Starlight (Erin Moriarty). It’s a variation because what the comic book character wore when she wore the sexy outfit was kind of impossible to actually create. It is a costume that the character wears in the comic book.
Telling her how this is the development of her character, and how she’s owning her sexuality and stepping out, showing any skin that she wants and everything. I think it’s really interesting, watching that scene, it’s the two men sitting on the couch who are selling the story, selling the pitch to Starlight. A lot of times as a costume designer, you are promoting a fantasy, as well as a reality.
What we’ve done with the series is we’ve taken some of the aspects of the original story and brought them to light in a way that really does show the woman’s struggle in the workplace. How does her judgment reflect your judgment, and what about her character seems real to you as a costume designer?Ĭarrie Grace: When this project happened, it was right on the cusp of MeToo, when we were getting greenlit. That shows that the series really acknowledges the importance of presentation and iconography. She meets with Starlight to re-do her look and show a lot more skin. There’s a character in the show who’s almost a stand-in for you both, Isadora (played by Débora Demestre), who designs superhero costumes. In part one of their interview with The Credits, Grace and Shannon talk about constructing the look for the only member of the Seven who actually qualifies as wholesome-Starlight, played by Erin Moriarty, and how her look was shaped both behind-the-scenes and in the actual show. So, Grace and Shannon had to not only figure out a way to make the iconic looks in the comic come to life, they had to make them tell that complex, multi-layered story about heroes and anti-heroes. But in this world, they are arrogant, entitled, corporate, and careless, and it is the scruffy, bad attitude lesser-powered group known as “The Boys” who are the good guys. The “heroes” in this story are a kind of alternate version of the Justice League, known as The Seven, with equivalents of iconic superheroes like Superman, Aquaman, the Flash, and Supergirl.
The costumes often require complicated construction involving everything from hand-sewing to 3D printing.įor The Boys, with its second season coming this year to Amazon Prime, costume designers Carrie Grace and Laura Jean Shannon had an additional challenge they had not faced before. But they can’t appear too brand-new often they have to look just enough worn to seem as though they exist in the real world. They have to withstand action scenes and they inevitably have to be cleaned and repaired afterward. Superhero costumes worn by actors have to look real, even in hi-def. But when it comes time to translate those looks to screen, the costume designer has challenges that require more than imagination and a pencil. A comic book artist has the luxury of creating superhero costumes that have to meet just one standard-looking cool.