Jennifer Bryan was on set in Albuquerque when she heard that the third season of the Genius anthology series was going to be based on Aretha Franklin.
A light bulb went off in my head and I remember saying, 'Oh my God, I want to do this,’” recalls the costume designer. “It was very weird because it was almost like I said it and that was it, even though I had no control over whether I was going to be honored with the project or not.” Bryan even began sketching a navy velvet and silk gown, with iridescent feathers around the bust before she got the job (her personal favorite, which she found a home for in the show).
“I had grown up with her music in Jamaica and had followed her style, which was just way beyond anyone else’s, in terms of what entertainers did back then,” says Bryan.
After hitting it off with showrunner Suzan-Lori Parks and director/executive producer Anthony Hemingway, Bryan began mapping out how to transform Cynthia Erivo into the iconic singer, and felt that the best place to start was at the beginning.
Bryan looked to “Little Re,” played by Shaian Jordan and added little flares to her outfits to foreshadow the independence in style Aretha would have as an adult.
COSTUME DESIGNER JENNIFER BRYAN TALKS TRANSFORMING CYNTHIA ERIVO INTO A LEGENDARY ICON ACROSS ALL AGES
When transforming Erivo, Bryan sourced “a treasure trove of 1960s and 1970s foundation”—Maidenform bras, girdles and longline bras from the time. “You have to use that foundation to make the design or source dresses of the period,” says Bryan.
Replicating the green paisley kaftan that Franklin so famously wore at the New Temple Missionary Baptist church performance was the biggest challenge: “I searched every nook and cranny, turned every rock and stone in the fabric world but I couldn’t find anything that even came close.”
In the end, she was able to find a printer to make the fabric, which resulted in the beautiful, swishy number Cynthia wears on the second day of the performance.
Dressing someone as iconic as Franklin comes with a unique set of pressures, says Bryan. “You are charged with a standard that already exists, as opposed to making or creating your own standard.”
DRESSING AN ICON
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“Steve has a direct conversation with the camera. He could see what I couldn’t see.”
