If designing comfortable clothes for the 1923 cast to wear in the extreme Texas heat wasn’t enough of a challenge for Gaby Acosta, then it was having to avoid the pesky insects that tried to snack on her skin.
“What did they call them, trigger bugs? People would put a bunch of chalk on their legs to not get bit by these little insects,” says Acosta, a co-costume designer on 1923, with a laugh. “We also had to deal with a lot of snakes. I was definitely in a big cowboy hat, and tried to shield myself as much as I could to survive out there.”
It just wasn’t a scenario she was entirely prepared for — but then again, neither was a career in film and TV costume design when she first left her childhood home in Baja California, where she was raised by a single mother, to make her way in Los Angeles.
“I always loved film and TV and wanted somehow to work in it,” explains Acosta. “I grew up in Tijuana, so that career was not something that was even a thing in Mexico. It’s not something that was easily accessible.”
Here, Acosta — whose credits include 1883, Why Women Kill and Mayfair Witches — traces the roundabout way she got into the industry, which ultimately led to her first Emmy nomination this year for Outstanding Period Costumes. She shares the honor with fellow 1923 designers Janie Bryant, Jaclyn Tamizato, Kelly Chambers, and Megan Guthrie-Wedemeyer.
DEADLINE How did you get your start?
GABY ACOSTA When I came to the states and went to college, I went the fashion route via the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising. From there, I didn’t choose design as my career. I went into visual communications, which was more of the producing side. Working in that field for a few years, I realized that as much as I love clothes and fashion, how could I meld those worlds together? I worked for a production company that produced fashion shows for Vogue and LA Fashion weeks. They represented designers, so it was really more of the logistical side of fashion and how to produce fashion shows. But with that, I was able to meet producers, stylists, and designers, which opened up this whole other world to me for costume design.
DEADLINE What was your first job?
ACOSTA It was actually in commercials and music videos. My first real job in TV and film was through Kristen M. Burke [Insidious, The Conjuring], who is a costume designer I met randomly at Comic-Con. She was at a costume panel and I heard her speak. I went up to her afterwards and told her I’d been doing commercials and music videos, but I really wanted to do TV and film. I gave her my information and then two weeks later she called me to assist her during The Conjuring 2. Kristen was brave enough to hire me …. I remember that she told me they had work for only a week … but it was like, absolutely. It was a test to see if I knew what I was doing and was actually good at my job, and that I wasn’t some random person who was a fan from Comic-Con. And after day one, day two, they were like, “we want you to stay the entire show.” I really didn’t have an education about costume design until I was working in the field.
DEADLINE In the 10 years you have worked as a costume designer, have you seen other designers who look like you?
ACOSTA Unfortunately, not as many as I would like. I think that that’s one of the biggest things for me, representing my community and my culture. I know there are costume designers who are Latino. Mayes C. Rubeo [Deadpool & Wolverine] is an amazing costume designer, as is Salvador Pérez [Running Point], but I don’t personally know them. I’ve never had the opportunity to ever work under or assist or co-design or anything with any Hispanic designer. We are a small percentage. It’s something that I hope changes.
DEADLINE So what was it like working on 1923?
ACOSTA One of the biggest challenges was the elements. The heat was very extreme. A lot of the clothes were vintage wool. It was a huge challenge to make sure that everybody was comfortable and clothes weren’t getting destroyed. We worked really hard with our seamstresses and set team to make sure that everything kind of stayed in place. We would cut sleeves off, put the jackets over them, put ice packs in them, make them as light as could. And then on the flip side, when we were in Montana, it was like, how do we keep ’em warm? We’d be at -10 degrees, sometimes -14 degrees. We got electric thermals.
DEADLINE So you dug up vintage clothing?
ACOSTA We have a lot of vendors who have amazing, beautiful collections of vintage clothing. We used houses that have western costumes, but we also made so much stuff. There are pieces that are so old that they really won’t hold up in regular daily use. So we would have to recreate a lot of items, and even then we would still try to be as authentic as we could. The fabrics that we chose were vintage that made sense for the time period, but they weren’t comfortable, light, cotton, breezy things.
DEADLINE Would regular folks assume your job was easy because it was all denim and flannel, all the time?
ACOSTA I don’t think people realize what goes behind everything that we do. In 1923, there were a lot of cowboys and stunt people. There’s so much action and you have to accommodate for that. It’s not just about wearing a coat and a hat. It’s a process to make every shape differently. We wanted to make sure that everyone had their own personality, because otherwise it would look like a uniform.
DEADLINE What about dressing the wealthy folks?
ACOSTA Janie Bryant loved the fancy part. I learned so much from her on that side of things, and it was so fun to do the extremes. There were the dirty cowboys, the ranch guys, the natives, and then we had the beautiful dream sequence at the end. That was fun, getting all of these beautiful dresses that were from either vintage or were made in-house.
DEADLINE Did you have a favorite costume?
ACOSTA One of my favorite outfits was worn by Runs His Horse [played by Michael Spears]. We had such a great collaboration with our native consultant, Mo Brings Plenty. I was so proud to be a part of the storytelling of my indigenous brothers and sisters. So that costume was one of my favorites, the coat and the hat and blending the native traditional world.
DEADLINE How did you find out about your Emmy nomination?
ACOSTA My agent called me in the morning. I was working on another project at the time, and I honestly did not realize it was Emmy nomination day. When I saw his phone number come up, I was like, “oh, maybe he’s calling me for a job.” He said, “Hey, good morning Emmy nominee.” It was so surreal. I couldn’t believe it, and I still can’t. Then came the text messages from the entire team, and the outpouring of love from my hometown in Tijuana, where no one has ever been nominated for an Emmy, ever. It’s just such a big thing to be a part of right now.
The post ‘1923’ Costume Designer Gaby Acosta On Her Unique Journey From A Tijuana Childhood To Her First Emmy Nomination appeared first on Deadline.
