Style
THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 50 OCTOBER 30, 2019
CostumesHARRIET: GLEN WILSON/FOCUS FEATURES (4). SKETHCES: SHANE BALLARD/FOCUS FEATURES (3). TAZEWELL: JOHN LAMPARSKI/WIREIMAGE.F
or Focus Features’ biopic
of Harriet Tubman, who
freed some 300 slaves
via the Underground Railroad,
Harriet costume designer Paul
Ta z e w e l l relied heavily on pho-
tographic research (as he did for
his Tony-winning designs for
Hamilton). Fortunately, dag uerre-
otypes, an early photographic
process that offered up “haunting
images of slaves and the human-
ity that resonated from them,”
were “becoming very popular”
in 1840, according to the Emmy-
winning designer.
Played by British actress
Cynthia Erivo in the film (out
Nov. 1), Tubman journeys from
life as a Maryland plantation
slave to Philadelphia abolitionist
and freedom fighter. “We would
talk about the characters in both
general and very specific terms,”says director and co-writer Kasi
Lemmons. “We’d talk about the
fact that enslaved people often
[wear] work clothes and under-
clothes cast away or handed down
from their slave owners.”
Adds Tazewell, who created
40-plus looks for the 19th century
superheroine, both custom and
sourced from L.A.’s Western
Costume and vintage outlets:
“This was a woman who was
hugely oppressed by the family
she is owned by ... She is a shape-
shifter and takes on disguises
to do the work she needs to do.”
Erivo donned a red petticoat
as a slave (her workwear was
distressed with the color of the
plantation’s dirt), seaman’s garb
as Blackjack Harriet on a cargo
ship and Union blues while lead-
ing a troop of Buffalo Soldiers
into battle in the Civil War.fictional owner of a Philadelphia
boarding house that shelters
former slaves, played by Janelle
Monáe. “Janelle’s character is a
self-made woman. She was born
free and never experienced what
it was to be a slave,” says Tazewell.
“She is well dressed and has a
sophistication about her,” as
expressed in the character’s velvet
and silk brocade looks.
Leslie Odom Jr. (who worked
with Tazewell on Hamilton)
portrays William Still, a civil rights
activist and conductor on the
Underground Railroad, who in
real life was often clad in regal
suits. “People were much more
worldly than you would imagine,
and he was very well dressed,”
explains Tazewell. “Leslie had
no problem pulling the looks
off.” Lemmons was beyond
pleased with the overall effect
of Tazewell’s work: “When I saw
the finished [results], it was both
what we had discussed and what
he had sketched, but with such
texture, color and attention to
detail that I was blown away,” she
says, adding that “his work was
critical to the look and authentic-
ity of the film.”Lemmons “has written a
story packed with emotion and
action,” says producer Daniela
Taplin Lundberg. “Harriet was a[n]
impassioned heroine in the vein
of Joan of Arc; it was important
that the costumes reflect that.”
The level of action necessitated
making “10 different versions
of the same outfit during her
escape ... to show how it was going
to deteriorate over time,” says
Tazewell. The wear
and tear of travers-
ing dense Virginia
forests and muddy
bogs while running,
riding a horse or
climbing a cliff was created with
repeated washings, scrubbing
with sandpaper and dyeing for an
aged, worn look.
Tubman’s styles contrast with
those of Marie Buchanon, a3The ‘Shape-Shifter’ Costumes of Harriet
Freedom fighter Harriet Tubman cycles through more than 40 looks, courtesy of Paul Tazewell, including a blue Union Army uniform and a
‘Blackjack Harriet’ sailor disguise: ‘An arc from powerless slave to someone who becomes mythic was the push of the design’ By Cathy Whitlock4 Tazewell’s sketch of “Blackjack Harriet.” Says the designer: “To create an arc for Harriet as she goes from powerless slave to someone who takes
on her power and becomes mythic and heroic to the end was the push of the design.” 5 Erivo as Tubman, disguised as an African American sailor on
a cargo ship. 6 From left: Director Kasi Lemmons with castmembers Zackary Momoh, Erivo and Vanessa Bell Calloway on location in Virginia.1 Cynthia Erivo as Harriet Tubman, wearing a
blue day dress with period-appropriate corsets
and crinoline petticoats. 2 Sketch by costume
designer Paul Tazewell. Says Harriet director
Kasi Lemmons: “Paul would present very
detailed and beautiful sketches, which we could
go through together and discuss, making notes
or changes if necessary.” 3 Actor Joe Alwyn as
Gideon Brodess, son of the plantation owner in
Harriet, with Tazewell’s sketch.1 24
5 6Ta ze w e l l