La Femme Nikita
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FF: Then I wanted to ask you about a few of the clothes in recent episodes. I think it was last Sunday’s episode there were some--I mean I love everything, but I saw very distinctive stuff. Nikita was wearing a sweater--it’s almost a sweater set, but what’s interesting is there’s like a finger loop to the sleeve that almost makes it look like a half glove.
Laurie Drew: Oh yeah, it could be, actually. Yeah we’ve got a few sweater treatments with long sleeves in a thumbhole.
FF: Yes, yes exactly.
Laurie Drew: Long sleeves are kind of interesting right now, and that wrist area is kind of interesting...
FF: Very. Now, are you doing that yourself?
Laurie Drew: Uh huh.
FF: So the sweater is not necessarily that way.
 Josie Conte, set costumer, on set (by Harry Zernike) |
Laurie Drew: Right.
FF: Oh interesting. Very interesting. And then there was a sort of cranberry red dress at the end of the show with a…I believe a gray coat over it.
Laurie Drew: Right. I think that’s Susan Lazar.
FF: Very pretty color. And I think what I really, really, really adored was in the first episode of this season, where there’s that whole action scene in Shanghai, and it’s a wonderful stunt sequence as well, and she starts out wearing like ...
Laurie Drew: The coolie outfit.
FF: ... exactly, and then out comes this sensational mission outfit.
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 Peta, above and below, in two more of Laurie's mission suits. |
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Laurie Drew: It’s sort of like the bulletproof layer that’s worn presumably under disguises.
FF: Right. I think it’s so iconic, really.
Laurie Drew: Yeah. In a way without being too cartoonish.
FF: Right.
Laurie Drew: You have to be careful.
FF: No, I think women would go out and buy that.
Laurie Drew: Oh, do you?
FF: Oh yes, I do. I actually think Nikita’s influence on dress is very powerful.
Laurie Drew: I have a feeling it is.
 (by Michael Courtney) |
FF: I went past the Gap in my neighborhood yesterday, and in a very--of course, you know things get watered down so people can understand it--but there’s a photograph of a young girl in pigtails wearing a wind breaker. But there’s something evocative of the show in it. And I thought, this is very interesting, because I think it’s emerging in some way.
Laurie Drew: Yeah. Well she’s a hero--a heroine to us in a way. Because of her strange situation, the ability to filter into places and to meet people that are very exotic, that we in our little ordinary lives could never possibly you know get to, right? Or meet.
FF: Absolutely.
Laurie Drew: And then her approach to all those people, and her function in those environments, is kind of intriguing.
FF: Definitely.
Laurie Drew: Yeah, so we watch her for that kind of…just…just the experience is kind of traveling on her coattails, right? And seeing what she’s seeing, experiencing what she’s experiencing.
FF: And I think also at the same time it’s accessible because in a sense, what she’s struggling against in the structure that she’s in, is sort of a metaphor for a lot of people’s jobs.
Laurie Drew: Exactly. We all feel kidnapped.
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FF: Screwed over and everything else.
Laurie Drew: I know. What the hell.
FF: Except this is much more glamorous.
Laurie Drew: Yeah, and a lot of it could even be of our own making. You know, such a big machine. How do we know until it’s almost too late to change it, right?
FF: Yeah, how it all works. And so that mission outfit, did you design that and make it yourselves, or was that pieced together?
Laurie Drew: We did piece it together. We designed the pants. The top we used the arms of a downhill ski underpadding garment, and then the vest is what’s called an armadillo. It’s a standard piece used by stuntmen. And we took out pieces of it, and just kept basic elements of it, and it kind of worked.
FF: It’s brilliant. When that whole sequence went by, and I saw that costume, I really just think it’s really up there with the memorable outfits on stars in movies that you love. You know it’s got that real wow power.
Laurie Drew: Amazing.
FF: I think it does have that strength. And now, just a couple of questions about last season.
 Chuck (by Harry Zernike)
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