STF: Are you creating most of the pieces we see from scratch, or do you do a ton of vintage shopping?
AC: I think every designer dreams of being able to make everything. It's certainly my wish for the show. But yes, we do have a load of vintage as well, and we constantly pluck from this giant pile.
STF: Where does most of it come from?
AC: From eBay, from costume houses, and best of all, from grandmothers. There are people who work on the show who have donated family items, who say 'here, this was my grandmother's, she was so stylish and I really want you guys to have it.' So there's real history behind the pieces. We've been amassing things per character.
STF: Who has been the most fascinating character to dress on the show so far?
AC: Dressing JFK was just, wow. We dressed two different people for two different scenes, where he doesn't have any speaking lines. We wanted to make him more ominous, so the look was incredibly important. It's a complete plot point to a story we are just finishing up now, where he gave this very famous speech in Berlin. I had three good photos of the suit he wore during the speech, and I went through tons and tons of vintage suits. I found the perfect one, and I said to casting, 'Who do you got?'
STF: So they literally found a guy to play him who could fit into the suit?
CA: Yup. I found the best suit I could and then we worked backwards.
STF: The 60s are having a moment in fashion again--the whole return to ladylike style and fuller skirts and a more polished look. Do you let it influence what you do on set, or are you strict in adhering to historical accuracy?
AC: I like to keep the integrity of using real pieces, or things that are taken from real pieces or re-done. I really do try to stay within the period--that's my goal and my intent. Although I'm very inspired by whats happening right now, especially with labels like Pringle of Scotland or Burberry or Jil Sander--all of the collections that just came out are so inspiring. i think you have to stay focused for sure and true to the period, but you have to open your blinders to the side and say 'life influences art.' There are so many parallels in our script with the past and what's happening right now, that I like to keep an open eye to fashion and style.
STF: There have been inevitable comparisons between Pan Am and Mad Men. I have to ask, do you watch? And do the costumes inspire you?
AC: I've never watched Mad Men, but its not because of the show, it's because I never watch TV. But I do know Janie Bryant, I've known her for a thousand years and I think shes a gem and she's brilliant at what she does. The thing is, I'm using the same reference points, like Grace Kelly from a Hitchcock film. Other than that, I just think hmmm, that show has had a heck of a lot of success, I hope ours does too! My inspiration comes more from people that I knew back in that time. My mother had an impeccable wardrobe--she had everything made in Hong Kong. My aunt who worked as a stewardess was so glamorous. I look at Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn films. They're just classic and so inspiring and out of this world. I also have a full set of LIFE Magazines from January to December 1963. I want the show to be absolutely fashionable because it can be. I want to make sure that we're really, really clearly in the moment of 1963. I'm sort of taken aback by how much im enamored of it. It's the whole mystique factor. There was something more intriguing and interesting about that whole time.
