Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1124767
Spring 2019 The Costume Designer 43 studio making dye out of rusty tin pans that she soaks in water for three weeks to get the color. Lily still doesn't totally understand it, but she has embraced it fully, and breathed life into like the true comic genius that she is. Grace [Jane Fonda] is polished, neutral, and strong. Her color palate is white to black and every- thing in between—gray, cream, beige, and solid. We do a lot of monochromatic looks on her as well and she is utterly tasteful. We only started to bring color into Grace's look toward the end of season one to begin to show how Frankie was bringing color into her life. I couldn't find the right pieces for this in the stores so I began to make her colorful print shirts. The "Grace" shirts have become an essential and a staple in her look, and I still make them new, every season. One of my best moments was when Jane put on her first look for her first day of shooting season six. She looked in the mirror and said, "Oh, hello Grace. It's been a while." It was a great moment for me because I was seeing the effect that my costume choices for her have on allowing her to embrace and to bring to life her character. Plus it was from Jane Fonda, so that felt fantastic! When I first started Grace and Frankie, I never thought about their age. I just was thinking about who they were as people. I wanted everyone to know exactly who those ladies were before they even opened their mouths. There was nothing on television prior to Grace and Frankie, which dressed characters in this age group in a relevant way, and so my work on the show has had a huge impact. In today's culture, women are no longer relegated to the rocking chair when they hit a certain age, they stay vibrant and vital well into their seventies, eighties, and beyond. WHAT DO YOU LOVE ABOUT COSTUME DESIGN? I love everything. I get to be creative and to be visu- ally stimulated and inspired every day. I am a natural storyteller and a lover of dissecting characters down to the smallest detail. In this job, I get to make artistic choices that inform character and tell a story. I love feeling fabrics, combining textures, and dreaming up the most unpredictable and impossible combina- tions of elements. I love to be unique in my choices as that is welcomed and rewarded in this creative environment. I thrive off change and difference and unpredictability and last-minute pressure. I love a challenge and I always feel challenged in this job, but thankfully, Netflix allows me the freedom to be creative. I love collaborating with other creative and talented people, especially our show co-creators Marta Kauffman and Howard Morris. I just feel lucky that I get to get up every day and do something I love so much. Frankie (Lily Tomlin), Sol (Sam Waterston), and Robert (Martin Sheen), Grace and Frankie, Netflix