THE FABRIC OF REALITY
How did you differentiate between the Noughts and the Crosses?
The Crosses are very bright. They’re full of patterns and texture. With the Noughts, it was a more earthy-toned and broken-down version of that, but still in the same world. It’s still African prints, but I dyed it, dipped it in brown to knock back the colours, and combined it with Western things – normal stuff you could buy in a shop.
What was your starting point for the costumes?
To begin with I did a lot of research on African kings and queens, because I wanted it to be authentic. Then I thought I could do something similar to the Belgian designer Dries Van Noten – he was a big inspiration for the Crosses. So I took African fabrics and reprinted them on silks and cotton and linen, and combined the colours, to give us an eccentric feel for the Crosses. Then there are people like Marianne Fassler, African designers – I researched them a lot, but I made it all my own. My head went to Afrofuturism first, because automatically you think, “Black Panther”. But then I thought, “I don’t want to go there, I want to make it my own.”
Did you have any favourite characters to design for?
I loved Jasmine Hadley, her mannerisms and character. I loved Bonnie [Mbulia]’s beautiful skin – I could use amazing colours on her and really explore. With Kamal Hadley, because of his status he has to stand out in a subtle way. I got hooked on the idea of a Mandarin collar, because that’s typical of African men, but simplified it and used rich fabrics and imported stuff from India. It elevated his costume to the next level without using ties or bow ties, because that is so conservative.
MERCY POINT CREST
Central to this design is the adinkra symbol “leg of a hen”. It stands for mercy and nurturing, so we felt it was a good option for Mercy Point Military Academy. The weapons are [left to right] a traditional knobkerrie, the short stabbing spear, and a hoe – an agricultural implement, a tool of the common people used to grow a nation. That was kinda inspired by the Mozambican crest, which I am very fond of. The background circle is an African talking drum (showing the skin stretched over the sides).