Fashion has long been a tool in the art of cinematography, with costumes often becoming an additional character (see: Girlfriends, Waiting To Exhale, and even Black Panther). And if we examine the archetype of a powerful Black femme character like Vivian Banks, Olivia Pope, Annalise Keating, or Molly Carter, their dress plays vital roles in the character development. It’s often the wardrobing that breaks the fifth wall and allows the viewer to connect with the character. In that same pantheon of strong Black femme leads in Louboutins and power suits, there’s been a new main character to add; Jax Stewart. Jax of Onyx Collective’s original series, Reasonable Doubt, is every bit as nuanced as emotionally layered and as chic as can be. Jax, played by Emayatzy Corinealdi, is a high-powered private defense attorney navigating high-profile clients and the realities of marriage, motherhood, and friendship.
And who is the person responsible for Jax’s impeccable wardrobe of Fe Noel, Bottega, and vintage goodies? That would be Derica Cole Washington. Derica is a celebrated costume designer of projects like Zola and Twenties whose work is heavily influenced by her background in art history. Her wardrobing is inciteful, well-researched, and transports the viewer fuller into the cinematic universe.
Ahead of the finale episode this Tuesday, 11/15, ESSENCE chats with costume designer Derica Cole Washington about the process of wardrobing main character Jax Stewart, spotlighting Black designers, and the art of power dressing.
ESSENCE: How did you ideate how to best sartorially represent Jax?
Derica: When I first put together my boards for her and came up with the creative direction for the character, I broke them down into different subsets of her life. So, understanding that this is a woman who has a full complete range. She’s a wife, she’s a mother, she’s a named partner of a law firm, and just understanding what that trajectory is, and then also understanding what we’re going to get into the backstory. Learning that she’s come from being a public defender, which is someone that, you know, works for the government, an essentially appointed attorney as opposed to being in the private sector. Just knowing that I had to piece together this character and we have to instantly understand who she is and how she puts herself together. Knowing that our story takes place, in at least that pilot episode, we were meeting her not as an attorney but just like her waking up, then seeing her jogging, going to church with her family, and then 15 minutes later, we finally see her as an attorney.
That’s a large brief for just one episode.
Kind of. It was an interesting transition for us visually to do because it would have been different if we met her first as a lawyer as opposed to meeting her waking up in a more intimate setting. So okay, what’s the punch line of her look? And I think for me, I chose to play a lot with palettes, silhouettes, and textures. A lot of her color palette on the show is black and white creams, like neutrals, but it’s really about the stark contrast because she’s going in and out of these different worlds. When we first meet her, even in the pilot, she wakes up, you know, she has her headscarf on and her pajamas, then she’s jogging she has on her running wearing she has on her Lululemon something, and then, bam, we’re right there. She’s in this stark black-and-white kind of carwash-style dress that I found at a vintage shop. I just added a like blue belt to it just to like break it up, so it’s not just plain black and white. And I think I had her with Bottega Jodi bag and Stuart Weitzman shoes, and we hit it right there. I needed something that showed that she was, like, high powered and strong, but also this person who’s dealing with so many conflicts. And I think for me, when I think of black and white, I think of a person who’s battling, you know, there’s this side, there’s like the good and evil of the kind of like personalities. So that’s kind of like where I initially started. I started with that, building boards, and then going in that direction, the first time we see her, she’s in like a cage off-shoulder top.
One of the many facets I really appreciated about the wardrobing was the distinct take on power suiting.
I said, “we’re thinking power shoulders.” It’s the same idea as like when we had the 80s big shoulder, but she has strong shoulders, so let’s show that as a part of her strength in her character rather than just like, you know, big bulky suits. It’s still a structured look. I didn’t look at it as revealing, I looked at it as this is a strong woman who’s in charge of her sensuality, but she’s also commanding the attention in these boardrooms. It’s nice that it was cream, but then you also have like this Python leather Rochas archive scarf that I found. I did a belt with it as well, just because I did a lot of belting on her throughout the season because it’s really about tying something together in the middle. It’s like this person that’s strained between all these different worlds and going in that direction, the first time we see her she’s in like a cage off shoulder top, I really wanted to venture away from like the traditional kind of like suiting, like, basic kind of lawyer looks because we’ve seen that point. We’ve seen that on so many shows. I wanted to challenge the notion of blazers as the only conveyors of power.
How did you balance conceptualizing more high-end looks alongside Black-owned brands and vintage finds?
A lot of that was, again, thinking about who this woman is, she’s a Black woman from LA, coming from being a public defender to then being a partner at a private law firm. She’s making money, and she indulges, just like, so many people do. She can afford that. So I think there’s this idea of showing somebody who can indulge but also understands balance. Like, I can go to Zara too, and go get myself a $42 skirt and pair it with my Louboutins and Tom Ford jacket. It’s about somebody who understands style understands, fit, and understands taste — all of those together kind of put together who she is. And I feel like that is what identifies with so many other women because I see women who, it’s the high low, you have to learn how to create balance. And this is a person like Jax, who’s struggling with balance in her life, but somehow she understands the benefit of self-presentation. And I think most black women understand that.
That’s, in part, what makes her so relatable.
Exactly, it’s relatable to so many Black women that I know. And even when it comes to Black designers, I think most women, yeah, of course, they want to wear their Bottega or Valentino and all that, but I think that they have their go-to brands that are elevated, kind of like basics and essentials. I think of Fe Noel and Hanifa. Those are brands that immediately come to mind for me that I’m like, “This person makes sense with that.” Even thinking about Brandon Blackwood bags and certain elements that you buy into and it becomes a staple. Even having a Telfar, it’s like an essential part of just the experience of the culture right now and being on the pulse of that.
“The biggest thing that I do as a costume designer is, tell stories without saying anything” — Derica
The way you formulated her [Jax] friend group with their own distinct aesthetics instantly brought to mind Girlfriends. Was that intentional?
Girlfriends was such a big part of my upbringing, And just thinking about Joan Clayton, she was a lawyer on the partner track. Even when you think about Joan, you didn’t see her in the most traditional looks either as a lawyer, and that’s what I loved about her character and just like her friendship groups. With reasonable doubt, I definitely wanted to have them each have their own aesthetic.
What advice do you have for aspiring costume designers?
Definitely read your script to better understand the characters and their personalities. And then the biggest, most important thing is to also understand the body. I think that regardless of how many ideas I have creating a vision or visual board, or through Pinterest, or whatever kind of concepts I’m presenting in my costume meetings, it’s really about understanding the body.
Reasonable Doubt is now available for streaming exclusively on Hulu.
