With inspirations ranging from 'Gone With the Wind 'to Angela Davis, 'P-Valley' costume designer Rita McGhee brings flair to the fashions of pole-dancing characters in the summer hit
"A long time ago I took a pole dancing class, and I was dizzy just walking around the pole," says Rita McGhee. 15 years later, the Emmy-nominated costume designer is the person responsible for dressing all the pole dancer characters in Starz’ summer hit,This latest work from Olivier Award-winning playwright Katori Hall, based on her play, follows the lives of several people who work at a strip club in a fictional Mississippi town.
The show’s breakout character, Uncle Clifford, a non-binary boss who uses she/her pronouns, sports some of the show’s most memorable outfits, despite not being one of the dancers."We were inspired by everything," says assistant costume designer Alita Bailey. Clifford’s looks drew inspiration from everything, Frida Kahlo toto actor Nicco Annan’s mother and grandmother.
McGhee, who has been a costume designer since the early 1990s, was nominated for an Emmy in 2015 for her work onBecause the show follows the lives of the club employees, there are a number of casual, street outfits worn during the day, but that doesn’t mean they are any less extravagant. For instance, Shannon Thornton’s character Miss Mississippi bails Mercedes out of jail wearing a pink latex suit.
“It's all about them being safe and secure and comfortable because their bodies are moving,” Bailey says of working with dancers. “When Mercedes is in the patent red leather boots and she does the drop, the leather was too slippery, so I had to break the boots, pick different fabrics, make slits and test it out.
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