Tiffany White Stanton
Costume Designer
BARRY-SEASON 4
Barry, everyone’s favorite dark comedy. The final season really had two separate thematic directions within the same season. The first half of the season was centered on where the characters are stuck versus the last half of the season focused on where their decisions would lead them. At first, Sally is stuck in her collapsed life of a failed TV show and viral outburst, Noho Hank and Cousineau are stuck in hiding while Fuches and Barry are literally stuck in jail. The costumes needed to reflect the character’s emotional state in the first episode and then gradually evolve as the season progressed. As the season jumps 5 years in the future mid-season, it was important for the costumes to not be distracting but rather settle the audience into a familiarity, as if we have known what all these characters have been doing the last few years. In order to not be distracting with a sudden time jump in sci-fi costumes or trying to predict future fashion trends, I designed all of their costumes to have a classic timeless feel. All their clothes could have been worn 5 years earlier or 5 years in the future. There is nothing tying their costumes to the specific moment in time.
Let’s just be real, Barry is one of the best TV shows to Costume Design. While the characters and their circumstances are often over the top, their costumes have to walk the line between grounded and pushing the envelope. While Noho Hank’s slim trousers and tight polo’s are his signature look for his mafioso lifestlye, Barry and Fuches had to remain grounded in reality with standard issued prison wear. Working with each actor and the show runner, Bill Hader, I developed all of their costumes from the basis of reality with a wink and a nod to the absurdity of their circumstances.
One of the challenging and most fun aspects of designing season 4 is the sheer number of '“gangs” in the storyline, all of which required different looks. We had the classic Chechen gang under Noho Hank that audiences had enjoyed for three seasons. This season introduced the Korean gang with mob boss, “Bong” and the Guatamalan gang with leader Manny. The Koreans’ costume consisted of the streetwear flair of BTS meets the sharpness of Kkangpae Korean mafia, we did a lot of black leather mixed with pops of slick synthetic fabrics and colors. For the Guatemalans, we used tooled leathers and warm, earth tone fabrics and colors combined with touches of authentic Guatemalan embroidery. As the season progressed, we introduced Fuches’ collection of ex-cons and delinquents as the Raven’s crew. I liked the idea that Fuches indiscriminately collected criminals from his past to join his gang, he accepted drug dealers, bikers, meth addicts and petty thieves, all of which have individual looks. Raven’s crew squares off with the Gucci Gang with Noho Hank at the helm. Great fitting, luxury suits and capes solidified the rival gang’s look. With such a massive shoot out in the end, it was clear to the audience at all times which gang member belonged to which just based on their costumes.