Back to Black costume designer PC Williams spills the tea on We Are Lady Parts and Polite Society
We Are Lady Parts is the Peabody award-winning TV show about a British all-female, all-Muslim punk rock band, made up of Amina, Saira, Ayesha and Bisma. Polite Society, on the other hand, is the kung fu coming-of-age movie that blends British-Pakistani siblings Ria and Lena Khan. Both projects are very similar in tone and voice: they weave together contradictory aspects of female identity, such as modesty and outlandishness, the bizarre with the conventional, Muslim women with fighting and punk-rock.
However, a strong women-centric narrative and marriages between unconventional things aren’t all that combine these projects. When it came to creating the outfits for these unique and boundary-breaking figures, the work was done by no other than costume designer PC Williams.
Next to her work on these projects, Williams also designed the costumes for the widely discussed Amy Winehouse biopic Back To Black directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson.
SCREENSHOT took the opportunity to interview the BAFTA winner about dressing women from different backgrounds with nods to contemporary British fashion.
“When I first read the pilot and the character breakdown of each girl, where their parents were from was such an important part of who they are and the identity they partake in,” Williams explained while going through her research process for We Are Lady Parts. “I don’t know nearly half as much as I would love to know, because knowledge is endless but I really enjoyed the research into Southeast Asian culture. Then I also got to take a look into my own personal history. My mom’s Nigeria and my dad’s Guyanese. So I also understand how a familial upbringing affects how you present as an adult.”
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“What they have in common is that they’re all London girls, that’s an element that brings them together,” Williams noted regarding London street style within the TV show. “And there are parts of their wardrobe that set them apart from one another. It was really important to pay homage to their individual as well as collective cultural identity.”
Providing a small review of what to expect in the upcoming season, Williams explained: “I think we had a little bit more fun with the hijabs, head wraps and other head coverings this season. There was confidence to be had as an entire department because we wanted to get all the marks right. With season two, I understood the rules and the parameters of Islamic dress, which helped me understand where I can push and be creative.”
Our attention then quickly turned to Polite Society, an elaborate and flamboyant celebration of Southeast Asian culture and dress that graced cinema screens in 2023.
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“I think every great design you see on TV, or on screen in the cinema, comes from a group of people working together to make it happen. So as much as I got to sit and do this interview and get all the praise, it was actually a massive team effort. My team is incredible,” the costume designer noted. Indeed, the designer made sure to highlight the importance of collaboration to embrace diversity and identity.
Williams continued: “And one of the things I loved the most about working on Polite Society was discovering that there’s a place in London called Green Street. I’ve never been there before in my life, but it’s full of tailors who were doing Southeast Asian dress day in and day out. I got to work with them on the design, and the embellishment of the design, and they connected me with factories in India. I felt very lucky and privileged to be able to put that sort of costume on screen. But then to [also] put that next to costumes that felt very London-centric, like the girls were there themselves.”
To round things up with a bow, I also asked the designer how young women from diverse backgrounds could start to melt cultures and experiment with textures and traditional patterns to embrace their cultural heritage.
“I think we’re always sort of playing dress up,” Williams began. “I think that clothes should be fun and not scary. And we should just embrace our bodies, whether they’re in their peak condition or not.. It’s the one body we have, and you’ve got to celebrate it, you’ve got to embrace it,” she emphasised, highlighting the importance of self-expression and the willingness to take risks with traditional fashion.
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“And those of us who came before us, our ancestors, who paved the way for our cultures. They have created some amazing things as you know. We don’t have to wear clothes in the same way [they did]. But we can still pay homage to them in our own way,” Williams concluded.
As our interview came to a close, I couldn’t help but marvel at how the clothes in Polite Society and We Are Lady Parts represented a new guild of women of colour fiercely embracing who they are and what their bodies look like.
