Zac Posenand his friend Ryan Murphy had been itching to collaborate on a project for years.
The Swans,which premieres tonight.
Murphy summoned Posen to set, where he watched Calista Flockhart-as-Lee Radziwill film a scene in a hair salon.
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This isnt a historical recreation piece, he says.
This is a different story that were telling through historical figures.Each ladyhad their own history to bring.
I started off much more closely to history.
Posen raced against the clock to finish the Swans gowns.
I had basically half of November and December to build these, he says.
He also faced the additional pressure of designing for television as opposed to the runway.
On a runway, something needs to be able to walk and come back.
When youre working with actors, youre dealing with character development on womens bodies.
My process when Im working on something historical is that I really go deep into history.
I made a board for each different and went from there.
Im a movie, TV and history fanatic.
These women were all individual style icons and I wanted to honor their looks with a Ryan Murphy twist.
Joanne Carson: We had a lot of fun with this one.
This is a graphic dupioni gown made in black and ivory silk.
We added a full cape to up the drama.
Babe Paley: Here, we created a gown of ivory zibeline.
Her opera coat is like a swan itself with the feathers dipped in solid silver.
The gloves are imported jet black satin, and the jewels are rubies and garnets by Vedura.
