This year marked the 10th anniversary of “Short Term 12,” the beloved indie film that included a breakout star turn from Brie Larson. That means it’s also 10 years since Larson and costume designer Mirren Gordon-Crozier first worked together, and their decade-long collaboration has been one Gordon-Crozier looks back upon with great fondness.
“I think we both have the same perspective and point of view and also the same sense of humor, in a way – not that that helps what goes on screen, but it does matter behind the scenes,” Gordon-Crozier tells Gold Derby in an exclusive video interview as part of our Meet the Experts costume designer panel. After “Short Term 12,” Larson and Gordon-Crozier united again for “The Glass Castle” and then for Larson’s directorial debut, “The Unicorn Store.” And when Larson joined the Apple TV+ limited series “Lessons in Chemistry,” it was the Oscar-winning star who suggested Gordon-Crozier for the costumes.
“Each fitting was about five hours long, and we had plenty of them. And so just having that previous experience with her made it go smoothly,” Gordon-Crozier says. “I think it’s such a pleasure to be able to work with the same actor over and over again. You can do your best work without being nervous about their issues with let’s say, fabric or fit or little things like that. So yeah, it’s sort of a dream.”
Based on the beloved book by Bonnie Garmus, “Lessons in Chemistry” is a period piece set in the 1950s and 1960s and focused on a brilliant scientist named Elizabeth Zott (Larson), who is marginalized due to misogyny and sexism in her work and later becomes the host of a successful cooking show.
Mirren-Crozier says that the initial goal with the costumes was to make Elizabeth as uniform as possible in terms of how she tries to fit in with the men at her science institute.
“It’s a very similar color palette – dusty, muted tones, a lot of plaids, sweater vests, things the men wore as opposed to the secretaries of the science lab,” Mirren-Crozier says. “She’s also an incredible cook and uses a lot of science with her cooking, and at home she wears a lab coat, because she believes that it covers the most surface area and she doesn’t understand why people would just wear an apron.”
The lab coats, Mirren-Crozier explains, were the foundation on which Elizabeth’s television host wardrobe was based. “With that, we’re able to have a lot of fun because I think she just sort of opens up a bit and leans into being a TV show host even though it’s not necessarily her dream or end goal,” she says. “I think she started to love it and love the women that are watching it and being inspired by her.”
“Lessons in Chemistry” is a limited series, but Mirren-Crozier says they put so much work into the lab coats, that there is enough creativity left over to fuel another round of episodes. “We are grateful to explore every lab coat under the sun by the end of it, and probably could have gone on I think for another series,” she jokes.
“Lessons in Chemistry” is out now on Apple TV+.
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