If you recently watched Sofia Vergara’s incredible performance in the Netflix series ‘Griselda’, a retelling of the real life story of Griselda Blanco as she creates one of the most ruthless cartels in history, you will undoubtedly be familiar with the iconic outfits worn by the award-winning actress.
The rise and fall of Griselda Blanco was a unique change from the predominantly male-driven storylines in Netflix’s ‘Narcos’ series, and having a female protagonist meant the opportunity to showcase the fashion of the time. And we have Hollywood costume designer Safowa Bright Bitzelberger to thank for serving up some timeless style moments throughout the series. As a costume designer for any TV series or film, the clothing worn by characters has the ability to communicate certain messages to the audience and even enhance the actor’s performance where the outfit becomes an inseparable part of the character.
Set in the 1970’s and 1980’s, following Griselda’s journey as a cartel leader from Colombia to Miami, against the backdrop of violence and fear, audiences are given moments of levity and color in the costume designs each of the characters wear, symbolic of the fashion at the time. Safowa’s job of dressing Sofia was a key component of Griselda’s journey from a mother looking for an escape from an oppressive environment in Colombia, to becoming one of the most feared drug lords of the time, to her eventual downfall through paranoia and personal tragedy. Safowa not only put together the wardrobe for Sofia, but also some of her co-stars on the show.
Safowa’s biggest challenge was transforming characters’ wardrobes from the 1970s to 1980s in episode 5, to show changing fashion trends and how new circumstances changed the way characters dress. Safowa opted for flashy designer pieces for background actors during party scenes to show the new wealthy environment Griselda was in, while using simpler 80s silhouettes to emphasize Griselda’s personality. She helped Sofia project Griselda’s power through structured dresses rather than pantsuits, and highlighting her focus on power rather than fashion trends.
We couldn’t get enough of the eye-catching outfits and iconic colors throughout the series, so we had the chance to speak with Safowa about not only her work on ‘Griselda’, but what it takes to become a Hollywood costume designer, and the psychological messages portrayed in certain outfit choices and how that plays a key role in a character’s storyline.
Can you first tell us where your career in the film industry began, and what drew you to become a costume designer?
A common thread throughout my life has been my love for arts and design.I first developed my love for art and design early on where I found that I had an affinity for illustration, painting, creating costumes and apparel. This eventually led me to focus my college education in Apparel Design and Textiles.
I then began my career in the LA Apparel Industry, designing for several women’s contemporary apparel manufacturers. My passion for the unique and avant-garde eventually landed me in the LA Editorial world and music industry as a Wardrobe Stylist. That’s where I was able to expand my understanding of style and design & where I was able to refine my creative aesthetic.
After styling for print and the music industry, I pivoted and focused my energy on redirecting my skills to the world of TV and Film, which is where I’ve remained for the past 20+ years. Within the industry, I initially worked as a Shopper, then key customer, and eventually, I was able to hone my skills in both areas of costume supervision & costume design.
There is so much more to being a costume designer than just finding good clothes. Can you talk us through your process when you begin working on a film or TV Project?
To start, I read the script many times so that I could really wrap my head around the storyline and each character. I create endless digital concept boards, which I share with the director during concept meetings. These boards are instrumental to my design process as I use them as both a creative tool as well as a starting off point to discuss and communicate my creative vision for each character. To build these concept boards, I take a deep dive into each character & the era in which the storyline takes place. In the specific case of Griselda, my team and I pretty much devoured all research sources and methods—documentaries, news archives, endless online research, period films, TV shows, vintage books, vintage catalogs, etc.
As the costume designer for the Netflix show Griselda, where did you find most of the pieces for the character outfits for Sofia Vergara as well as the other actors?
To arrive at the period looks for Sofia and all the cast, we utilized a number of methods to acquire the period pieces. We purchased and rented pristine vintage apparel & accessories, and we also custom-made many of the garments in order to have control over the design, color, size, and quantity (due to the many action scenes that required multiples for the cas & stunt actors).
Can you tell us about the psychological aspect of clothing, and how it can communicate certain things about a character or a person?
I feel that costumes can really help give a psychological assist and boost to the actor which allows them to truly embody the essence of the character. A costume can be so impactful to both the actor and viewer and can really function as a transformative element allowing the actor to inhabit the character which then enables us to peek into that character’s personality and world. I feel that costumes are an instrumental tool in the character’s development.
A costume can function both literally and figuratively as one of the many layers of a character’s personality. It contributes to how the actor views themself and how they choose to approach that character. The right costume can greatly impact an actor’s dedication to the character they are portraying, and can serve as a subtle, but compelling narrator in the storytelling process. It always means so much to me when an actor lets me know that their costume really helped them get into character.
Griselda was a show about power dynamics between Sofia Vergara’s character and other cartel members, especially as the rare woman in charge of a drug trafficking operation. What kinds of messages were you aiming to portray through the Costumes?
As we witness Griselda’s ascension and the seemingly impenetrable wall of men and misogynistic attitudes that she had to literally and figuratively push through in order to attain the staggering level of wealth and power that she achieved. Our opportunity to reflect the level of power that she achieved is at the top of Episode 5 where we’ve leaped forward from 1978 to 1983.
One of the many challenges is that we had to quickly reveal visually how time has shifted into a new decade, and Griselda has now reached a level of unprecedented power within the cartels. To reflect this quick jump forward, we open the episode with her running things at the Mutiny nightclub circa 1983. It’s a great Steadicam shot led by her stylish yet ruthless #1 henchman Rivi, and it reveals that see that the 80s have arrived. This new decade is reflected in the music, the updated Mutiny club set & decor that reflects 80s Miami, and the dance floor, which is jam-packed with clubgoers who are dressed head to toe in trendy 80s club looks. The Steadicam shot finally lands on Griselda- seated at her throne and absolutely in charge.
To land on this iconic look for her, after a number of discussions with Sofia about Griselda’s shift forward into this decade, we chose to resist the urge to put her in an 80s power pantsuit for this scene (which had been initially alluded to in an early version of this episode). Instead, we decided to put Griselda in a dress-we felt that it was more impactful than having her emulate a man by wearing a pantsuit.
So when we got around to shooting that episode’s opening scene at the 80s Mutiny club, Griselda is behind the velvet rope, seated on the couch, now clearly inhabiting her role as La Jefa and her position of immense power. At that moment-it was so clear that putting her in a dress in lieu of pants was a great call creatively, as it had such an impact. Her performance had such restrained power to it. We witness Griselda instilling fear into everyone. The dress’ light color was balanced by its bold-shouldered 80s silhouette; the layered textured lace allowed for just a hint of sheerness while it is mainly offset by the opaque layers.
Lastly, the dress’ light tone was grounded by the black stockings and gunmetal vintage Escada slingbacks that she wore. It immediately established that Griselda didn’t need to dress like a man in order to get respect. With her impactful performance, it’s unmistakably apparent that everyone knew that Griselda ruled with such power, decisiveness, and ruthlessness that she clearly didn’t need to wear pants to lead her powerful empire.
I actually leaned into using a light color palette on Griselda for a number of those opening 80s scenes. It was a subtle way to reflect that Griselda was at the pinnacle of her power and that she now had a team of people to do the dirty work for her. Wearing white was a way to show that Griselda had mastered the art of keeping the “dirt” off her.
Lastly, as the storyline moves forward, it is evident that there is now such darkness within Griselda and everything and everyone that she touches. Starting off with this light color palette was a way for me to reflect the polarity of having Griselda in a light color while the reality is that she has had to make a choice after choice to go down a dark, irreversible path in order to achieve her level of power. As we shift forward into this episode, specifically to Dario’s party, we see Sofia’s impactful performance where Griselda completely unravels into darkness; she is angry, paranoid, violent, reactive, and, in the end, alone (despite all her wealth and power).
To represent this painful decline and deterioration, I shifted into a darker color palette for her party look with a deep teal green custom dress that exemplified that 80s silhouette of dramatic, bold shoulders paired with draping at the waist and sleeves. It was constructed out of a shimmering cross-weaved textured plissé lamé.
Any show set in a past time period requires a lot of work either sourcing vintage outfits or making them. What was the most difficult aspect of creating outfits for ‘Griselda’ as it is set in the 80s?
To land on all the period looks in the series, we purchased and rented vintage pieces in addition to building enumerable custom-made pieces and duplicates.
In order to pull in as many period pieces as possible, we scoured an endless amount of vintage boutiques and private collections locally and domestically. We’re so grateful for the many amazing vintage vendors that we worked with-just to name a few of our vendors; we used The Goods/Liz Baca, Recess, Elizabeth Mason-Paper Bag Princess, Kiki Stash, The Curatorial, The Way We Wore, The Kit Vintage, Remix Vintage, Denyse’s Closet, Ritual Vintage in NY & Torso Vintage in SF etc.
For rentals, we utilized all of the exceptional costume rental houses here in Los Angeles. We’re so fortunate to have these rental houses available to us; they have so many irreplaceable, precious & authentic period costumes and accessories.
Made-to-order pieces were absolutely so necessary and useful in order to capture the eras and also to allow for the exact design, size, color palette, and quantity desired. We had many custom period-appropriate reproductions built. Our gifted Head of our tailor workroom, Ms. Joanne Trotta, was instrumental in the process. Whether building a custom design based on a sketch or duplicating a one-of-a-kind vintage piece that we needed in a different size, color, or quantity.
I would say that one recurring challenge when working on a period project is that vintage items are almost always one of a kind & rarely come in multiples. There were so many action scenes requiring multiples/duplicates for Sofia, other cast, and stunts, so we really relied on making custom pieces that could seamlessly merge with the vintage purchases & rentals.
We were able to accomplish this not only by the use of made-to-order items and sourcing some vintage textiles, but we also had many period-appropriate prints reproduced and printed onto textile yardage so that we would be able to build multiples that matched many of the original vintage apparel pieces. By having the repro fabric and custom duplicates overdyed & aged, we were able to match the color exactly, reduce the color saturation of purchased modern reproductions, and lastly, these processes also allowed us to gently add the subtle shade difference that many vintage pieces have.
Do fashion trends play a role in how you create a look for a character?
Absolutely and reflecting trends was actually an interesting challenge when designing Griselda’s look- specifically as she reached her pinnacle of wealth and power within Miami’s drug scene in the 80s.
Since Griselda had such immense wealth at this point, it was very tempting to immediately put her in all the iconic and recognizable designers of that era–Dior, Escada, YSL, Chanel, Lacroix etc. After discussions with Sofia about Griselda’s evolution, it was very important to her to reflect and honor the fact that the real Griselda’s desire and taste level was not about acquiring the latest luxury designer piece from that era and that Griselda desired power more than having her finger on the pulse trend-wise.
So, we chose to reflect Girselda’s evolution into this era of wealth and power by utilizing the appropriate 80s period silhouettes of structured garments, broad, bold shoulders, dramatic draping, nipped-in waists, and the use of self-colored textured fabrics like jacquards while leaning away from many of the other period trends like embellishment, passementerie, elaborate trimmings, beaded edgings, trim from the era. This was instrumental in order to reflect her wealth while also showing that she was not a slave to trends. Griselda used her wealth for power and not as a means of following every trend.
There are a number of action sequences in the show – how do you design or find clothes that are able to withstand so much movement, especially if they are designer clothes or vintage on-off pieces?
We were able to navigate what felt like an endless need for many, many costume multiples in a few ways. Occasionally, we were able to source duplicate vintage pieces in quantity (this was quite rare); we were also able to purchase some “modern vintage reproductions” that we could purchase in quantity and slide in alongside the authentic vintage pieces (also rare to find were modern pieces that truly matched period, designs, and color palettes appropriately). Hands down, for period multiples, the most useful tool for us was to create custom-made pieces since we could then control the design, color, size, and quantity that we needed.
What was your fave item of clothing to find for ‘Griselda’, and can you tell us Why?
I would say that Griselda’s shimmering and dramatic draped teal green custom dress that she wore during Dario’s party really holds a special place in my heart.
After going through many evolutions of design, fabric, and color, we landed on that gorgeous epitome 80s silhouette of a nipped-in draped waist offset by those bold and dramatic structured shoulders. When that design was paired with this amazing pleated lamé “magic” fabric, which managed to capture the complexity, glimmer, shine, and elegance of a beaded dress while remaining flexible, lightweight, and moveable (what a feat!).
The cross weave of that gorgeous shimmering deep teal green and gold merged together beautifully as the two colors captured the light beautifully while still allowing for all the movement needed by both Sofia and her stunt double during so many action scenes. Such a rare and great match of aesthetics and functionality!
Female characters are often portrayed wearing pants or pantsuits if they are in a position of power. Yet Griselda often wore dresses. Can you talk about this costume choice and how it layered Sofia’s character’s power?
I leaned into dresses for Griselda in lieu of pants in order to clearly establish that she didn’t need to emulate or dress like a man in order to rise to power and that she was able to lead her empire and deeply instill fear into anyone who dared to cross her path. Because of Sofia’s impactful and intense performances, we were able to reflect Griselda’s ability to wield her power decisively and ruthlessly while wearing dresses in lieu of slacks. I feel that this choice to have her in dresses for these intense scenes was actually more impactful than if she had been wearing pants or pantsuits.
What project are you currently working on, and where can we next see your costume designs?
I can’t reveal too much right now, but I’m about to begin prep on a limited series that I’m really excited about-the storyline is both period as well as present time, so it’s right up my alley!
What advice would you give to someone interested in becoming a film and TV costume designer? What do they need to know to succeed?
I feel that one of the most important things is to have the ability to adapt to change. This industry as a whole does require that you have a great deal of resilience and flexibility since it is literally evolving around us. So, if you remain flexible and stick to your ethics & passions, you will still be able to adapt and navigate your path as this industry and your career evolves.
You can see Safowa’s iconic costume design work on Sofia Vergara and other actors on the hit series ‘Griselda, streaming all episodes now on Netflix.
