CDG - The Costume Designer

28 THE COSTUME DESIGNER | FALL 2021 Gangster stories are often a dark take on the American dreamfrom rags to riches to riddled with bullets. When The Sopranos premiered, the show cre- ators recognized they were part of a continuity of the mafi a genre. The cast was drawn from mobster movie veterans, and the characters did not just reference fi lms, but quoted whole mono- logues. One of the ground-breaking aspects of the series that as the show progressed, it became a purveyor of the genre itself. Furthermore, the show arrived when cable companies and premi- um channels were transitioning into production. Over the course of six seasons, the characters be- came icons in their own right, and upstart HBO would be an established media empire. Great stories have well-developed backstories. ow the history of those characters is expanded in the prequel The Many Saints of ewark. The fi lm takes place during the tumultuous pe- riod of Tony Soprano's childhood, his younger incarnation portrayed by James Gandolfi ni's son, Michael. The 1967 riots raged in the streets of ewark, and the shifting social dynamics permeated society, including the subculture of organized crime. Costume designer Amy Westcott walked into that underworld from the lofty heights of The OA and Entourage. To por- tray the lifestyles of the rich and infamous, she drew inspiration from real life. "There was so much research. Getting high school yearbooks to see what kids actually looked like was really important. One day I got a call from Alessandro ivola, 'Dickie' Moltisanti who was in a church in ewark and the priest had given him a tour of the catacombs where there was all this his- tory. was integral because he knows that area and knows what is going to y in that time period. It was awesome to work with David because he changed television as we knew it. When he would weigh in, it was like E.F. Hutton talking. Everybody would be quiet and listen to what David had to say." As a prequel, the fi lm is a period piece. Two pe- riods, really, as the story jumps from the '60s to the '70s. But the format gave Westcott a free- dom she might not have had if the fi lm were a sequel. "The fi lm is its own entity," she explains. knows what is going to y in that time period. It was awesome to work with David because he changed television as we knew it. When he would weigh in, it was like E.F. Hutton talking. Everybody would be quiet and listen to what As a prequel, the fi lm is a period piece. Two pe- riods, really, as the story jumps from the '60s to the '70s. But the format gave Westcott a free- dom she might not have had if the fi lm were a sequel. "The fi lm is its own entity," she explains. A mob m w r impecc ly tail s t, b audi ce • • s • t da• semb• • w s co s - € a m‚ ƒ „ pair … ce† t ‡ oˆ . By Gary . Foss Illustrations by: Amy Wescott

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