Thursday, February 9, 2017

"Dressing for the Patriarchy in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’: Q&A with Costume Designer Ane Crabtree"

HR:
Ane Crabtree: “There were so many reds, and I just closed my eyes and began anew. For me, I was working in this industrial place that used to be a glass factory in Toronto, and the floors were concrete with this beautiful red paint left over. It was so distinct, and I was so taken by it. Honestly, it looked like blood that had seeped into the concrete, and that translates really well to the story. Then, I realized that the red was also in fire extinguishers and in cautionary, bold alarm signs throughout the factory.

“Basically, it boiled down to a lot of things, but the genesis was that I wanted it to look like lifeblood. I wanted it to be a flowing river of blood when all the women are walking together in a line through the fictitious Gilead. The idea is that these women are walking wounds. There are very few of them because there are so few women that are still fertile in the future. And so it’s an alarm. They’re wanton women.”