Getting the funk of the ’70s right
Netflix’s ‘The Get Down’ aims for authenticity, down to the last pair of hot pants and denim cutoffs.
Netflix’s new music-driven drama “The Get Down” transports viewers to late-1970s New York, chronicling the death of disco, the birth of hip-hop and highlighting every leisure suit and Kangol hat that marked the transition.
The first six episodes of the Baz Luhrmann-helmed series became available last month, and the styling is every bit as crucial as the performances and plot.
Luhrmann and Oscar-winning costume designer Catherine Martin — Luhrmann’s wife and one of the show’s executive producers — are known for the sumptuous sartorial scenes they created in “The Great Gatsby” and “Moulin Rouge.” Although “The Get Down” inhabits a grittier backdrop, it maintains the team’s signature sparkle.
“Baz has historically done very visually spectacular projects,” says Jeriana San Juan, the show’s costume designer. She worked closely with the couple to capture the nature of street fashion.
As stars Shameik Moore, Justice Smith, Herizen Guardiola and Jaden Smith make their way through the poverty-stricken South Bronx, their characters come of age in fashions that defined a seminal era.
Throughout the series, starryeyed girls scheme and dream in hot pants and halter dresses. Boys celebrate the last day of school in tight denim cutoffs and form-fitting knit shirts. Street gangs claim their turf flaunting sideburns and vests studded with patches and pins. Sequins, satin and platform shoes make a splash in disco scenes, while bucket hats and track suits dominate at underground clubs.
You’ll see plenty of wide collars and gold medallions, but there’s little of the cheesy kitsch often associated with the decade. The costume team aimed for authenticity, pulling inspiration from everyday sources, including vintage catalogs from Montgomery Ward, J.C. Penney and Sears. San Juan and Martin also had access to the photo archives of pioneering hip-hop photographers Joe Conzo and Jamel Shabazz.
“It really started with the sneakers,” San Juan says. “You could say the late 1970s were the birth of what we now know as sneaker culture.”
She picked the brain of associate producer and resident hiphop guru Grandmaster Flash, who offered details on which kicks reigned supreme.
“There was a hierarchy, just as there is today, of sneakers that were a little bit more expensive and specific colors that were harder to find,” San Juan says.
Puma, Converse and Pro-Keds re-created several thousand pairs of period styles just for the show.
The cast also wears denim from curators in Japan, vintage pieces from rental houses in upstate New York and California, as well as dead-stock vintage items found in Manhattan’s Rue St. Denis, lauded as “the holy grail of vintage, unworn, unused clothing.” The principal actors wore mostly custom looks to ensure a “fresh, saturated appearance” that couldn’t always be found in 40-year-old clothing.
“I 100% see this show inspiring major trends,” San Juan says.