Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1352017
Club Ebony, and the dramatic beaded black number for her triumphant Carnegie Hall performance. "It was so great to work with him because he's such a talented dressmaker and his knowledge of the period, gowns, fabric, and everything is just so invaluable," Nieddu comments. "I was so happy to get to have his hands be a part of something in the film." Susana Vera, Nieddu's cutter, also built gowns, pants, blouses, and dresses for Holiday, as did Jose Bello at Western Costume and Rory Cunningham at Bill Hargate Costumes. And thanks to director Lee Daniels' personal ties to the fashion industry, nine pieces were built by the House of Prada. Nieddu explains the process of working with the label. "Because the Italian fashion industry shuts down for the month of August, I had a tight window to get my designs to them in order for the finished costumes to be ready for principal photography in October." Once he selected which garments Prada would build, he rushed his designs to them. "I sent them packages with my sketches, color palette, fabric choices, and reference photos of Billie. Because they were not able to build my original sketches from the ground up, they asked me to go through their online archives and find the structural elements that most closely resembled my designs." For the gold gown that Billie wears to sing, "Them There Eyes," for example, they recreated the neckline and beadwork as Nieddu had sketched them, paired with a 2017 shoulder shape and a 2011 dress silhouette that he selected Illustration by Maria Hooper Andra Day in The U.S. vs. Billie Holiday Photo: Takashi Seida