Bluebird on my shoulder

I Am Not A Hipster: Q&A with Costume Designer Joy Cretton

I Am Not A Hipster premiered last year at Sundance. It’s now playing in select theatre’s & is available on itunes. Here’s a chat I had with the costume designer. 

How did you become a costume designer?

Costume designer…I’m still not certain I’ve embraced the title since it’s always been more like play time to me. Dress-up! Digging through the wicker costume basket my mom always had for us growing up. It was like a gold mine! Filled with such strange and colorful and sparkling randomness that the possibilities were endless. With six siblings growing up, I always had a full cast to dress while my brother was always prepping us for the characters and plays we would be acting out. He has been a writer/director/DP for as long as I can remember! That clunky VHS camcorder was practically glued to his shoulder. The magic shows he made us do were the best!

What’s a typical work day like for you?

Alarm, snooze, alarm, Goodwill, more thrifting, garage sales, then the big stores(with good return policies!) for the remaining stuff and ideas. My house is always madness before locking down all the outfits for every character. So many ideas to try! Good thing I’m a little OCD, I guess.

Your job seems like it would be a lot of fun, what’s a tough part of it that people may not expect?

Organizing. My brother tends to film movies at a pretty rapid speed, so lots of scene jumps. One scene Brook was in green underwear under his black hipster jeans he wore everyday, then the next scene is a different day/same jeans/but change those undies! My mind was constantly racing, trying to stay a step ahead!

In recognition of the film’s title, whats your idea of “hipster” fashion?

Mustaches, flannels, girl tight skinnies and an I don’t care attitude? Like a lot of people went into the film expecting it to be all about that, I think I went into working on it with much of the same mindset. I am not a hipster, I thought! I like sparkles and bling and Kimora Lee Simmons! At first i googled a lot, and tried to snap some photos of the cool peeps i spotted in Los Feliz and Echo Park where my brother lives.

But I quickly learned that the community of people that worked on the film and that the film revolved around, were not all just mustaches and messy unwashed hair. They were the superhero creatives of the world! The super talented, super passionate, super people that are drawn to each other perhaps for their like minded love for creativity.

Where did you get your inspiration for the fashion in this film?

Because this film was made based around a lot of my brothers friends in San Diego, I think a lot of the fashion came from those real life people. My brother’s friend down there Kahana, owns an amazing store in san diego called “aloha Sunday” and we were lucky to get him onboard as a stylist! We got to pull so many rad pieces from his store! And as much as hipster style may look like a lot of dollar thrift store finds, it can still be expensive to pull off some of those cool looks you see! There is always a price to pay for fashion. :) As for the sisters small town outfits, that part was really fun because I got to incorporate outfits from myself and my real life sisters! Since my real sisters and I have the same names as the characters(Joy, Spring, Merrily) I naturally found myself styling the girls in styles my real life sisters wear. It was a lot of fun. I even got to put in some of our own favorite outfits into the movie! We grew up in Hawaii, which is not the most fashion conscious, so I got some inspiration from that in making sure not to make them appear too trendy or hip. Small town girls rule!

The film is called “I am not a hipster” & hipsters whether they like it or not are usually fashion conscious. Did you have to keep that in mind while dressing the characters?

Absolutely! I think you can definitely notice it the most on the character of Clarke. Kahana did some amazing work in pulling some awesome, fun outfits for him. He is such a lovable, creative hipster with his mind always on his big dreams…but if you notice, he always has just the right details to pull his outfit together as definitely thought out. But of course not too thought out, cause hipsters don’t really care about anything, right? I think the film proves that wrong.

What would be your dream gig?

I think I have already fulfilled that. Getting to work alongside my brother, and watch his stories come to life is the coolest thing I have ever done. He makes real life movie magic, and everything he touches turns to gold! He puts his heart and soul into every story he writes, every scene he directs, and in turn, I want nothing more than to make sure my costumes depict exactly what he has dreamed up in his beautifully creative mind.

What advice do you have for girls or boys who want to get into your field?

If you love it and it doesn’t feel like work, then you are meant to be there doing it! Have fun with it! I can’t get enough of thrifting, window shopping, my fashion mags, doing a quick(and hopefully somewhat discreet!) head to toe glance at everyone i walk by, I usually even fall asleep perusing the internet on cool fashion blogs. Fashion is such an exciting and broad platform, and there are so many parts to it to enjoy!

*I am not a hipster is available now on itunes & in select theatres*