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EXCLUSIVE | Soyon An says wearable art costumes in 'Julie and the Phantoms' required a lot of engineering

The costume designer has worked with everyone from Katy Perry to Kenny Ortega, and her art takes on some interesting forms based on the needs of each project
UPDATED SEP 18, 2020
Soyon An (Backlight PR)
Soyon An (Backlight PR)

'Julie and the Phantoms' costume designer Soyon An has a whole host of projects under her belt, but what stands out the most in her extensive catalog of work are her pieces that marry wearable art with fashion-forward pieces that are somehow both high fashion and accessible all at once. MEA WorldWide (MEAWW) got the chance to speak with An about the process of putting such intricate pieces together, including the blending of fashion with engineering and the team effort it takes to launch each piece.

Looking back at your career, is there one costume you've had a hand in putting together in your career that has been your absolute favorite thus far?

That's a hard one, cause they're all so different. There's so many on 'Julie and the Phantoms' that I love, I can go on and on and about that! I did really love designing for 'Jem and the Holograms'. It was a movie directed by Jon Chu and it was based off of the eighties cartoon. I loved the direction Jon took with it, and I was able to reimagine and recreate looks from animation to live-action. All the looks that I designed and built and created for each of those characters on 'Jem' was a real treat.

Katy Perry performs onstage during 101.3 KDWB's Jingle Ball 2019 Presented by Capital One at Xcel Energy Center on December 9, 2019, in St Paul/Minneapolis, Minnesota (Getty Images)

Another one I got to do, just before Covid-19 hit, was Katy Perry's 'Jingle Ball' show. I designed the band as nutcrackers, and the background singers were Christmas presents. Their wardrobe was a box! I really loved designing that cause it was designing and building three-dimensional costumes and it was essentially wearable art. I enjoy projects that challenge me that way. I think the biggest challenge on that particular show was to try and get the Christmas tree mouth to move like a puppet. I sat with the person who was carving the foam and physically demonstrated with pieces of foam, as if I were a puppet, how I wanted it to move. But it's collaborations like that, that I really love. Almost like it's engineering. It's not just clothes or costumes, it's building something that's functional, but still cool and wearable.

Speaking of wearable art, what was it like crafting the intricate costumes on 'Julie and the Phantoms'?

The costumes required a lot of movement, so there was a lot of engineering in terms of not compromising the aesthetic for the functionality of the piece, you know? For example, I had to make sure that Caleb (portrayed by Cheyenne Jackson) was able to move in all of his three-piece suits and his tailcoats while flying around. So I had to take what was custom made from a tailor names Joshua Kane and then reconfigure it with different materials so that I could keep the same silhouette, but give Cheyenne full range of motion. Then I had to really think about design elements, like do I want a matching purple pant to go with the purple tails? Once I realized that I couldn't find stretch velvet to match the crushed velvet tails, I went with a high waisted gabardine pant that we had to custom make so that he would be able to dance and move and be able to do take after take without there being any problems. And then I was able to balance out the purple jacket with custom dance shoes that Cheyenne wore that the girls in my department hand-dyed two nights before the show. So it's all of those kinds of challenges and design choices that you have to make to make the full look complete while thinking about the functionality and making sure you're still happy with your design.

Cheyenne Jackson in 'Julie and the Phantoms' (Netflix)

It's quite a mammoth undertaking, yet you would never tell looking at the outfits themselves that they were completed so close to the finish line.

Oh my god, yes! Joshua Kane is actually in the UK. He's, he's an amazing men's tailor and I love this stuff so much that I called him to do a bespoke piece for the guys on my show. And that purple jacket didn't arrive until four days before we were filming. So I had to redo the whole jacket so that Cheyenne could move. Because even though I sent Joshua measurements, Cheyenne never got a fitting, so that was his first fitting. So we had to get everything tailored and perfectly altered to Cheyanne's body. And then I added, you know, all those Swarowski crystals on the back that design that you see in those four days. It was insane! I also told Joshua to not do a lining, because I had a specific lining that I wanted because he's supposed to be fabulous and villainous and glam and old Hollywood meets Houdini. And I knew he was never going to find the lining that I wanted. And this really was the perfect story of a fashion designer collaborating with a costume designer. He obviously knows what he likes and he's got his aesthetic. And I knew what I needed for my character and have my own aesthetic. So I got him to give me this beautiful tailoring job and then added the bells and whistles and the finishes. It's definitely a team effort, all hands on deck, and we were gluing those crystals like nobody's business! Like it was, it was like, go, go, go, just stick.

Booboo Stewart, Owen Joyner, Charlie Gillespie and Jeremy Shada react to Cheyenne Jackson's opening number in 'Julie and the Phantoms' (Netflix)

The individual pieces naturally had to reflect different cultures and era, but they also come together collectively to build an entire world through costume. How do you create an entire landscape for a show and tell stories through costumes without overpowering the performance the actors are giving?

I call it 'extracting the character's DNA'. You dive in and figure out who this person would be in real life. And I think that's the beauty of costume design. You're developing the character. And then once you know truly who that character is, then you design or style or create the look for the actor based on that character. Unless you're creating something for Lady Gaga or Katy Perry, where the costume is the main attraction, you want to tell a story through clothes without it overpowering the dialogue or the actual story. You've got your five - or sometimes six senses, and when you can marry what you see and what you hear into one experience, you truly pull somebody into the world that you've created with the cast and crew.

Do you have a dream outfit you'd love to create that you haven't had the chance to showcase just yet? Or alternatively, do you have a dream gig in mind?

That's a very interesting question because every project I've done so far I've selected because it allowed me to think outside the box. They each leaned heavily on the fashion element to help drive the story forward. So I feel like every project that I pick that I choose to do really pushes me to the next level. I'm fed as an artist by the story or direction the director or story or music gives me, and that allows me to create something new. I think that's the beauty and the excitement of this job. As for a dream role, I'd love to design for 'Game of Thrones' or 'Star Wars'. Marvel or DC is also on my list. I would have loved to have designed Wonder Woman's costume. Black Panther's was awesome too, Ruth Carter did an amazing job. There are so many textures and so much movement, and the research that goes into period pieces especially, that I would love to work with. A Great Gatsby-esque film would be amazing. Anything Baz Luhrmann does, I'd love to collaborate with him. Outside of that, I'd also love to design for a show like 'Friends'. Jennifer Aniston's character was always fashion-forward, she worked at Bloomingdale's, but then you also have a regular guy like Chandler or an actor like Joey or Ross' professor. It's a sitcom, it's feel good, it's fun, but it also set some trends.

Cheyenne Jackson in 'Julie and the Phantoms' (Netflix)

Apart from 'Julie and the Phantoms', where can fans see your work next?

I have another show coming out, that's with Kenny [Ortega] as well called 'Lake of Dreams' which was meant to open in the summer, but it got pushed back because of Covid-19. It's a free show at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas, and you get to eat and drink at Lakeside. So the show itself is on a lake. And designing for that was quite an experience. We have one costume for a mermaid, but I didn't want the traditional fins. That's too on-the-nose. So instead, I thought of something more magical and mystical and drew inspiration from sirens and sea creatures. And I got to design this dress with so many layers that reflect in the water, and the actress is actually performing underwater with this costume. It was magnificent. She really brought it to life. And going back to the question on dream costumes, this is what I mean: getting to create something like this, that's the dream. I'm already living it through every project I'm on.

Stay up-to-date with Soyon An's latest work via her Instagram.

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