MORAGA — A picture’s worth a thousand words, so costume designer Whitney Anne Adams painstakingly works to ensure that every tiny detail of what actors wear on the silver screen gives audiences a visual exposition of their characters — beyond what dialogue alone can express.
That’s why Adams, who grew up in Moraga, said she labored over the different color palettes, vintage fabric styles and other elements of each costume that appeared in “The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat,” the $23 million drama that Disney-owned Searchlight Pictures released in theaters and on Hulu last month.
The film, directed by Tina Mabry, follows three best friends living in Indiana — Odette, Clarice and Barbara Jean, who are known as “The Supremes.” Based on the 2013 New York Times best-selling novel of the same name, the story weaves together how each of the three young Black women learn, struggle and grow from 1960s teens into adults in the 1990s. They are played by Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Uzo Aduba and Sanaa Lathan, respectively.
Adams pointed to an asymmetrical, 70s autumnal orange dress worn by Odette in one of the first scenes of the film, which she said was purposely crafted to look “extremely ugly” and “act as virginity insurance.” Audiences later learn that Odette’s blind grandmother sewed the outdated outfit.
Adams said she sourced vintage, earth-tone fabrics from Etsy and eBay that helped define Odette’s character’s as the grounded member of the trio, while also showcasing her fiery spirit and fierce loyalty to family and friends.
Adams said people can see — even subconsciously — how bright, joyful colors can visually solidify moments of youthful happiness, while softer, cooler palettes are paired to illustrate the characters’ trials and tribulations.
“While the audience doesn’t see so much of that thought, they can feel if it’s the right character choice, even if they can’t put their finger on why,” Adams said in an interview. “It was all those little details going into the design that make it feel like a costume that’s really a centerpiece of the (plot) in the book.”
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After the studio hired Adams in August 2022 to serve as costumer for the film — her first major period drama — the 38-year-old had only two months to complete the costumes designs that would appear in the film, which was shot in Wilmington, North Carolina.
First, Adams said she read the script to understand the world the film set out to create, then circled back to read the novel — pulling scores of visual references out of both source texts, old yearbooks, magazines, books and movies into a spreadsheet that she later pared down into “research boards” guiding how “The Supremes” should look on screen.
By piecing together all of these elements of style and historical inspiration, Adams said she tailors each costume to be unique for each actor, character, setting and plot point.
“On the page, it’s just words, and so bringing the visual element into those words — that’s where I shine and get to tell my part of the story,” Adams said. “I want to be scared, I want to be challenged. I love doing all of that work, because when you do finally explain it, everything sort of clicks.”
Adams repeated this process again and again — crafting a total of 162 principal costumes and roughly 1,000 background outfits, including 67 costumes between the six main actors who played the Supremes at different stages in their lives.
The costume designer credits growing up in Moraga for fueling her spark for hands-on creativity.
She has fond memories of taking sewing classes at the Hacienda de las Flores community center as a second-grader, stitching small quilt squares in fourth grade at Donald L Rheem Elementary School, delving into drama throughout her time at Joaquin Moraga Intermediate and loving the world of theater produced inside Campolindo High School.
“All of those things mixed together helped set a foundation, and my parents also helped support me,” she said, explaining how her mom made sure to keep Adams and her twin brother engaged and learning, in both sports and the arts. “When I gave them a PowerPoint presentation about changing my major in college three weeks in from pre-med to theater, they didn’t really bat an eye.”
Adams said her creative childhood in the Contra Costa County town of just 17,000 people, however, did not prepare her for just how much brainstorming and pivoting would be required daily in the costume design industry; she estimated that design constitutes 15% of her job on any project, in between juggling actor fittings, directing decisions, establishing costume continuity in each new scene and putting out miscellaneous logistical fires — easily logging 24,000 steps on shoot days.
“Every single day is a mini opening night, just like in the theater,” Adams said, explaining the exhausting rush of night shoots, 4 a.m. wake-up calls and 20-hour work days. “As artists, we’re always trying to do the best possible thing, but eventually you just have to stop. It’s never going to be the exact image that’s in my head, but you have to make that opening night.”
Adams, who is currently based in Richmond, Virginia, but plans to move to Los Angeles in February to be closer to her immediate family members who still live in Moraga and Oakland, has worked to help keep these film work environments rewarding and healthy off set, too.
As one of the co-chairs of the Costume Designers Guild’s Pay Equity Steering Committee, Adams has helped advocate for pay equity, respect and understanding for the craft. As she puts it: “Everyone’s naked without us.”
“The whole thing about working in film is that you get to work with other people, and you get to create together — that’s when we do our best work,” Adams said, crediting her fellow creative department heads and roughly 200 other crew members who worked to make “The Supremes” a reality. “This film was made with a lot of love and heart. Audiences can see how well we were communicating with one another, because it just feels like a beautiful picture in every scene.”