Prada’s Costumes Sing in Lee Daniels’ New Billie Holiday Biopic
Andra Day sings the Blues as Billie Holiday in The United States vs. Billie Holiday. Photo courtesy of Hulu.
Fashion in film has created some of the most indelible moments in pop culture. Without careful consideration of the wardrobe, the medium is seldom as impactful. With a little help from Prada, Lee Daniels' upcoming film The United States vs. Billie Holiday, looks primed to make its mark.
The Oscar-nominated director tasked the Italian luxury brand to create some key looks for Andra Day in her role as the pioneering jazz icon, who helped usher in the civil rights movement with her music. The film’s lead costume designer Paolo Nieddu, who collaborated with Daniels on Empire, worked closely with Prada to create nine looks that captured both Holiday’s essence. Also on board is screenwriter Suzan-Lori Parks, who was the first African American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2002.
Miuccia Prada herself is no stranger to lending her skills to the silver screen, but while past collaborations have allowed a certain freedom in designing for fictional characters, ‘Billie’ is a biopic that presents its own unique challenges. How do you do justice to a historical figure, whose wardrobe is well-documented, but transmute it for the purposes of storytelling?
Unlike say, the fictional Daisy Buchanan from The Great Gatsby, whose costumes weren’t bound by historical accuracy, for ‘Billie’ pieces from Holiday’s actual wardrobe were referenced, but mixed with elements from the Prada archives for a contemporary feel. With the film set in the 1940s and 1950s, there was a wealth of inspiration mined from Miuccia’s collections, which often reference vintage garments from both decades.
One of Holiday’s best-known looks, a black and white dress broderie anglaise dress worn in 1947, was updated with a graphic bodice and lace from Spring/Summer 2012 that echoed the lines of 1950s muscle cars. With its newly added visual interest, the decorative bow on Holiday’s original was moved to the waist. Some looks were more simple, like a brocade off-the-shoulder gown worn by Holiday in 1954. With the Prada treatment, a powder blue ’50s style brocade was pulled from a Spring/Summer 2018 crop top that looked as if it could have been hacked off from an elegant evening gown.
Scroll to see the sketches and stream The United States vs. Billie Holiday on Hulu on February 26th.
