'Hacks' Costume Designer Kathleen Felix-Hager | Production Value
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00:00No designers give us clothes, so no, I source from all over.
00:07I source, I do a lot of internet shopping, I do a lot of costume house pulls, we rent
00:15a lot of things.
00:16A lot of the pieces that I put on all the characters, I try to get pieces that feel
00:20unique to them and that not everyone is wearing, but it's really a combination of how I feel
00:27like people really find their clothes and people keep clothes and they reuse them and
00:31they rework them in different combinations, so that also plays into a lot of Ava's wardrobe
00:36too.
00:37She repeats a lot of things.
00:38Oh, sorry, can you hold the door?
00:44Sorry, thank you.
00:47Whoa.
00:48Whoa.
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01:00Whoa.
01:01Whoa.
01:02Whoa.
01:03Whoa.
01:04Whoa.
01:05Whoa.
01:06Whoa.
01:07I had no idea you were here!
01:08Give me a hug!
01:09Wow.
01:10Wow.
01:11Uh, well it's an honor to be in the presence of supreme street wear royalty.
01:12Uh, congrats on everything, it's been really cool to see it all.
01:13From afar, obviously.
01:14It's been a good year.
01:17How are you doing?
01:20Good!
01:21Real good, really uh, really good.
01:22So doing good, yeah.
01:23You look well.
01:25Thanks.
01:27And you look, uh, the same.
01:31That's the goal.
01:33So, um, what are you up to?
01:35I had to do a really cool party.
01:37I'm on my way right now.
01:39It's on the roof. Top.
01:41Fabulous.
01:45Oh, shoot, it's me.
01:47It's good to see you.
01:49Have fun.
01:51Okay.
01:56Um, costume design for me was a very accidental career.
02:02I had the opportunity to work on a film.
02:05It was called Waterworld.
02:07And I jumped at the chance.
02:09And I just hit the ground running.
02:11And I got such an amazing exposure to the world of costumes.
02:16And storytelling through costumes on that movie.
02:19I just was like a sponge.
02:22And absorbing that whole world.
02:24And it was magical to me.
02:26And then I fell in love with it.
02:28So that's where I started.
02:30I had done a series, Veep, with HBO.
02:34With a producer named Morgan Sackett.
02:37Who was also the producer on Hacks.
02:40And he brought me on.
02:43Introduced me to Jen and Paul Nuccia.
02:46At an initial meeting.
02:48And it worked out.
02:50Oh, here I am.
02:52When I first read the script, it was one of the best scripts I've ever read.
02:55And just the way these two women at two different points in their lives were portrayed.
03:00And in all of their sort of flaws.
03:03And messiness.
03:05And I just really saw Debra so clearly in my head.
03:09That very first pass of reading that script.
03:12And I did a bunch of mood boards.
03:14I presented them to Jen, Paul, Nuccia, our showrunners.
03:17At an initial meeting with Jean Smart about the character.
03:21And just wanted to make her vibrant and alive.
03:25And not a caricature.
03:27Not a derivative of any other female comedian we've seen.
03:30She's definitely a combination of people.
03:33But we also took influence from Sam Kinison.
03:37We incorporated a lot of visuals to create her.
03:40And I'm really proud of the collaboration between Jean and I.
03:45And Jen and Paul Nuccia of creating this character.
03:48Season one we saw her a lot in Vegas.
03:51A lot on stage doing her act.
03:53A lot of her Vegas costumes.
03:56Season two took her on the road.
03:59So she sort of stripped down a little bit.
04:01The silhouette changed slightly.
04:03She was a little bit more casual.
04:05Still in sequins but not head to toe sequins.
04:08And then season three she's going after the late night show.
04:12So she's wrestling for that part in season three.
04:17She uses her clothes as a jumping off point.
04:22For how she wants people to perceive her in the world.
04:24And I think it's a useful tool for her.
04:27You don't see it?
04:29The strawberries are with the Waterford Crystal.
04:32The cacti are with the penguins.
04:34And the corn cobs are nowhere near each other.
04:36It's chaos.
04:38She's obviously not sleeping again.
04:41I might have to sleep ambient in her cocoa van.
04:43Good morning.
04:45Hey.
04:46You look gorgeous.
04:48Your stylist is in the living room.
04:50Good.
04:51And actually while I have you.
04:52We need to go over a few things with the collection.
04:54Sure.
04:56It's not good.
04:58For the DV baseball caps.
04:59We wanted to feature one with text.
05:01The designer suggested fabulous on acid wash denim.
05:03Oh that's so tacky.
05:05Let's do chic on the leopard print hearts.
05:07Perfect.
05:08I'll see you at the office.
05:11I think as people we tend to kind of get stuck in a style that when we
05:15felt the prettiest or the most successful.
05:17So I think for Debra,
05:19that was probably the high, the heyday of her.
05:21Dan career, you know, that's when she was at her most.
05:26At her peak.
05:27And I think her style sort of stayed that way for a long time.
05:30But also we've established that Debra is a lover of clothes,
05:33a collector of clothes.
05:35She has, she has taste, you know, it's a very specific taste.
05:40But it's not tacky. It's, you know,
05:42it's elegant and he puts clothes together in a way that feel organic and.
05:49Feel good for her.
05:51And I think there's a sense of vibrancy and joy and aliveness in her,
05:56in her choices. You know, she's not hiding from the world.
05:59She's out there full force for everyone to see.
06:04Okay. You're insane.
06:06I mean, look at this.
06:07I am. That's the problem.
06:10It's gorgeous. I'm in the crinoline detailing alone.
06:13Lady, I don't know what to tell you. Okay?
06:15It's fugly ass. It's giving big bird.
06:18Oh, my God.
06:20You know nothing about fashion.
06:21You dress like you're about to have lunch on a steel girder.
06:23Hey, whatever. You can wear whatever you want.
06:26Yeah, I know I can and I will.
06:28You know, it's just sad that you're so wrong about this.
06:30I mean, everybody loves this dress.
06:31Damien, Marcus, my stylist, all of her assistants.
06:35Everyone on your payroll.
06:38Okay.
06:40All right. I'm going to prove you wrong.
06:46Hi.
06:47Could you please set up a bellhop?
06:50A gay one?
06:51Oh, my God.
06:53The elegant Bill Blass dress.
06:55That dress is an actual Bill Blass design from 1986 collection.
06:59I found it on the Real Real.
07:02I did a lot of embellishment to make it even uglier than the original design.
07:06We added a lot of details to that dress that didn't initially exist.
07:11But in the script, it just said Debra wears an ugly dress.
07:14The color really spoke to me because yellow can be quite a hard color to wear.
07:19And the yellow and black together was sort of reminiscent of a giant bumblebee.
07:23I just thought it was hilarious.
07:26And also it had to be something that Debra would have gravitated towards in 1986.
07:31So that was very Dynasty era with the big shoulders and the big poppy sleeves and a lot of details.
07:40So it just served the story well, I think.
07:44Even when we first see her come out in the dress, you can tell she feels kind of good in it.
07:48She's strutting around and she's doing her little catwalk poses.
07:52And she does look really pretty in that dress.
07:56So her Avis style has evolved over the seasons.
07:59I think when we first met Avis, she's a fledgling writer wannabe.
08:05She did a bad joke on Twitter and got canceled.
08:09She was new to LA at that time.
08:12So her wardrobe reflects where she is in her life at all points of the story.
08:19And when we see her in season 3, she's working with Debra again.
08:23She's helping her in her late night pursuit.
08:28So she sort of takes on a little bit more, not really Debra's style,
08:32but I think she starts to think about clothes in a way and how her appearance is perceived in the world.
08:39So she's trying to make herself a little bit more professional.
08:42She wore a lot more blazers this year.
08:45Still wore her Doc Martens, but she sort of slowly, slightly is elevating her style,
08:51which I think you do in your 20s.
08:53You're a work in progress and you keep growing.
08:57Ava has one piece that I found at a store, a vintage store here in LA.
09:02It's a Prada navy jacket that she started wearing in season 1.
09:06It's such the perfect jacket for her and we've used it so many times.
09:11It's such a go-to and things like that.
09:14And then I'll see something bright and shiny and sequin-y and I'll immediately think of Debra.
09:20Sometimes Jean will find things too and she'll send me pictures.
09:23I found this at TJ Maxx, what do you think?
09:25So we shop all over.
09:28I'm not a snob about where things come from.
09:30So high, low, whatever.
09:33If it fits the character, we try to make it work.
09:36Kayla and Meg Stalter, who plays Kayla, is just such a joy to work with
09:40and that is a really fun character for me and for her.
09:43I think she loves the clothes also.
09:46They're just so joyful and her and combinations that you wouldn't necessarily put together.
09:53But she has such a sense of confidence about herself and her body.
09:58And she's definitely a character that dresses to please herself.
10:02And I think her choices make her happy.
10:06And also in combination with hair and makeup for her, I always send Kayla's costume choices to them
10:13and then they find fun accessories and things to do with her hair
10:17and tie in her eyeliner color with what she's wearing.
10:21So that's a fun collaboration.
10:23I think the challenge this past season was just the time it took us to finish the season.
10:29We started, I think, in November of 2022.
10:32Then Jean had some health issues so we shut down.
10:37And then we popped back up for a little bit right before the writer's strike.
10:41And then the writer's strike happened.
10:43And we had two strikes.
10:45And then we didn't pick up again, I think, until November of 2023.
10:52And we didn't finish, I think, until January or early February of this year.
10:58So it took a long time for us.
11:00That was the main challenge, just the time it took.
11:03And then also to keep things consistent over all the stops and starts.
11:09Because we shoot, we cross-board, which means we shoot several episodes at the same time.
11:16So figuring out where we were and making sure the continuity made sense.
11:22And some of the actors lost weight, gained weight.
11:27It's like people's sizes fluctuated a lot last year.
11:30So that was also tricky to make sure.
11:32It visually didn't seem like it took a year and a half to make the show.
11:37So that was the biggest challenge, I think.
11:39Not just my department, for everybody.
11:41I have two favorite scenes.
11:43I have the scene where we see Deborah in her white, very high-fashion photo shoot.
11:49She's got that white bubble dress on with the black gloves.
11:52And I thought that was a good moment for her.
11:55Because her hair and makeup was very different from what we usually see.
11:58So that was a really fun collaboration between hair and makeup and myself.
12:03And then I just love the scene with Ava and Deborah in Deborah's kitchen.
12:10When Ava just realizes that Deborah could have hired her and didn't.
12:16And it's just so heartbreaking.
12:18And I thought Hannah's work was so extraordinary and beautiful in that scene.
12:22The thing about the show is it's so funny, but it's also so heartbreaking.
12:26And that scene was so amazing to me.
12:29And I thought both Jean and Hannah in that scene were magnificent.
12:36What I love most about costume design, I guess a few things.
12:40But I love working with actors.
12:43I love helping them find their character.
12:46And I also love the fact that costumes help tell the story.
12:51You know, I think that television film is such a visual medium.
12:56I love when costume design and cinematography and production design
13:01works in a way to drive the story forward.
13:05And I always get very excited to be a part of that process.