An Interview With Stacy Beverly, Costume Designer for Black-ish
EntertainmentOn ABC’s hit series Black-ish, about an extended upper-middle-class family going through typical suburban family motions with a gimlet eye towards race, characters have an incredible sense of style that sets the tone for the show. Colors are bright, styles are simultaneously nuanced and over the top, while the detailed fantasy sequences and flashbacks Black-ish is known for are pure magic.
The strong, vibrant look of the show’s characters come courtesy Costume Designer Stacy Beverly, who cut her teeth on UPN’s beloved Girlfriends (as well as The Game and All of Us) and is currently also working on her own clothing line. As Black-ish completes its successful first-season run, Jezebel spoke with Beverly about what goes into creating the show’s unique sartorial feel.
Jezebel: Tell us about transitioning from studying design to designing costumes for TV. And how do you go from an idea to a sketch to a reality?
Stacy Beverly: It was an easy transition to me. Costume design sharpened my senses as far as fashion and design go. TV and film are so much more unforgiving. Close ups, tight angles and high definition add ten pounds to everyone. Not to mention the patterns and dynamics. It forces you to consider so many more things than regular life does. You’ve got to be on it. I’ve done some scary things early in my career. I’ve learned to be more meticulous as far as fashion is concerned.
As far as bringing ideas to reality—it all starts with a concept or an idea, a need. It’s got to be stylish. And then style tends to be an extension of your personality and who you are and how you’re feeling. Only then do I start doodling and sketching. When I’ve got the basic idea down I picture the colors and shapes and then I’m off to the fabric store and start swatching. For film and television, all of it starts with the script. I read the script first. Television is much faster. We don’t have much time. There’s more shopping and fitting and rebuilding altering. For film you have more time. Television is film condensed.
Black-ish combines humor with underlying serious messages and incorporates different age groups and a mixed familial socioeconomic background. How do you go about creating something unified that clearly shows the look of the show while incorporating all of these moving parts? The bold and defined look brings to mind the elegant cartoonishness of Clueless.