A second skin
The new TV drama Noughts + Crosses imagines an alternative reality where Africa has colonised Europe. For costume designer Dihantus Engelbrecht, this meant sifting through fashions past to reenvision a parallel future. By Jen Nurick.
only a costume once the actor wears it,” says Dihantus Engelbrecht, speaking to Vogue from Cape Town, South Africa. “The most important thing is to get the actors to shed their personal life so that they can step into character. If she or he sends the message beautifully, then my job’s done.” Clothing for Engelbrecht is an extension of identity, and it’s in his hands to clean the slate of previous characters to make room for a new one. This approach has landed him on the sets of films starring Jennifer Lopez (The Cell) and Troye Sivan (Spud 2, Spud 3), and, now, designing the costumes for the 2020 television drama Noughts + Crosses.
Adapted for the screen by directors Julian Holmes and Koby Adom, Noughts + Crosses is based on British author Malorie Blackman’s fictional young adult series of the same name and imagines an alternative reality where Africa (Aprica) has colonised Europe (Albion). The show is a premiere acquisition for new streaming service Binge, which has released season one in Australia.
Set in a parallel modern-day London, the show brings to life a revised history diametrically opposed to the one we know. A reversed apartheid between the poverty-stricken Noughts (whites) and upper-class Crosses (Blacks) is punctuated by a forbidden romance between Sephy (played by Masali Baduza) and Callum (Jack Rowan).
In the wake of the murder of George Floyd, and the global protests it has ignited in support of Black and Indigenous Australian lives, it feels as though the world is at a tipping point, transforming understanding into action. And for Engelbrecht, who grew up amid
“A COSTUME IS
racial and homophobic discrimination in South Africa, Noughts + Crosses may offer the perspective we need to implement real change.
“A show like Noughts + Crosses succeeds in helping people to see a point of view they normally couldn’t relate to,” he says. “While shooting it, we felt it was the right time and the right place [to adapt the book for television]. Maybe it’s a good thing now with coronavirus that we’re all staying at home watching the series and looking at how beautiful [a romance blind to race] can be.” But before Noughts + Crosses arrives at that conclusion, it was up to Engelbrecht to use fashion to illustrate an unequivocal racial divide.
To differentiate between the Noughts and Crosses, Engelbrecht used colour as his starting point, building out wardrobes for each character from either extreme of the spectrum. He created mood boards for each one and discussed these with production designer Shane Bunce and the actors ahead of their fittings.
“I needed to think about the viewer’s point of view, how the message is being translated, and anything to help with that I would do,” he reflects. This meant the Noughts are typically seen wearing subdued clothes that are colour-blocked and less detailed, whereas the costumes worn by the Crosses are brightly hued, made in silk and organic fibres and heavily accessorised. Their silhouettes borrow from traditional African design, and are teamed with African-style jewellery made of oversized beads and thick gold bangles inspired by past kings and queens of Africa. “I thought this was the perfect opportunity to support local artists and designers,” Engelbrecht says. Prints, patterns, scarves and tunics, some made in
collaboration with South African label Imprint, populate the screen, stealing the audience’s attention in a clever juxtaposition with the drab, nondescript outfits worn by the Noughts. But not for long.
As both the series and Sephy and Callum’s relationship progresses, Engelbrecht, like a painter, manipulates these distinct palettes to blend both groups. He says: “I also used patterns for the Noughts, because they would have worn hand-me-downs. I just aged them and made them more fitting for that world.” Look closer and you’ll note an important interplay of style within the Noughts themselves. “With brothers Jude and Callum, they had a visual history together: Jude becomes more like Callum and Callum more like Jude,” he says. “So as one goes dark, the other one goes light. It’s a constant playfulness.”
Belgian designer Dries Van Noten, a master of mixing prints, anchored Engelbrecht’s inspirations. Then Engelbrecht cast his net wider. “It’s a lot of art and a lot of architecture [that inspires me]. For me, they go hand in hand,” he says. “Here in Africa there are a lot of buildings from the 50s and 60s with beautiful patterns. I love travelling and watching people and I love organic materials and thinking outside the box.” Frances Goodman, a mixed-media South African artist whose work has been exhibited worldwide from New York to Denmark, was a key reference during his research for the show, alongside Malian black-and-white photographer Malick Sidibé. “When one lands a futuristic challenge, one has to dig into the past,” Engelbrecht says. “Sidibé’s use of pattern-on-pattern and stylish photography made him a huge influence on Noughts + Crosses.”
Engelbrecht also credits the back and forth between himself and Bunce in helping to seamlessly integrate the costumes within the show’s mise en scène. “We had endless meetings on how the setting and rooms would look,” he says. “I would go back and pull the colour that’s in a vase, or in a carpet or a cushion, and bring that forward within my palette for the characters.”
As for the actors he most enjoyed transforming? “Masali, what a joy to work with her. She’s got the most beautiful skin. Also Bonnie Mbuli, who plays her mother, [part of the upper echelon] of the hierarchy and the wife of a rich husband and politician,” he says.
Careful to reproduce African fashion in an alternative universe, Engelbrecht notes that imagining a new aesthetic fitting of a future world was key. “I didn’t want to bring in a lot of period pieces and traditional African design because it’s Aprica, it’s a fantasy state where the story takes place,” he says. “But in the fashion industry, there is a handful of people making the rules and setting the tone and the rest follow. I hope Noughts + Crosses helps make that shift.”
Since the show aired in the UK earlier this year, Engelbrecht is confident viewers are embracing diversity in and beyond fashion. “It’s made people think; it’s helped people forget for that one hour of watching that episode who they are, what colour they are, what gender they are and realise we’ve got to stand together and move forward,” he says. “We all want to work on something that is meaningful, but we don’t always get the opportunity to do so. I loved [the message] and I want to be a part of that for the rest of my life.” Noughts + Crosses is available to stream now on Binge.