Interview with Costume Designer Sarah Trost

Sarah Trost: Well, it didn't really work that way for The FP. We had already done a short of the first ten minutes of the film, so I had already designed and built a fair portion of the hero costumes and the design infrastructure for the universe was in place. The costumes from that short carried over to the feature film so in a small way were were already kind of ahead. It was more of "what can I do" with the resources available to us. I was the sole member of the costume department, I had quite a bit to do and make. I would also help out Tyler [Robinson, production designer] with building sets when I could so it was pretty demanding in the end.  

How much of the character design, if any, was written in the script or pre-visualized by your brothers at least conceptually vs. your own ideas and sketches? I guess I'm asking if the legendary moon boots were there on the page.

Well, as I said we already had a design concept in place from the short so the film really expanded on that. Not much was written into the script but I had a good idea of what Jason [Trost, co-director/star] wanted, and as ideas for characters popped up we'd have little meetings about my thoughts and hash things out to make it the best/funniest it could be. 

The boots made their first appearance in the FP shorts Jason and his friends made in high school. They were another random acquisition of our dad's. Jason thought they were hilarious/appropriate and wore them in the shorts. I re-vamped them a bit for the movie, but I would say those boots are pretty responsible for the design inspiration of the entire FP universe. 

All of the character design however is under my costume design parameter: the American Civil War. The 248 from the north and the 245 from the south. Thusly you can see the incorporation of Civil War uniform colors and flags, etc. worked in to The FP costumes. Any time you see gangs or factions together in a scene, including the girls, they all have coordinating costumes for that scene. Almost as if they get together to coordinate before they go out.   

What was your main avenue for accruing materials for the pieces in The FP? How much did you make from scratch and what amount came from orphaned pieces found at thrift shops into which you breathed new life?  

Funny enough, the smallest portion of the costumes came from thrift shops. I used thrift clothing to fill in some gaps and dress some background. Many of the pieces, including the vests for the Tros and most of L-Dub's jumpsuits were made from the ground up. Aside from those, the majority of the recycled clothing that turned into costumes came from our personal family stock. For whatever reason, we had a ton of old family clothes in storage at our dad's place. Some were my dad's, my brothers', and my old clothes or costumes I had collected. Essentially we did a huge clean out of the containers and poured everything on the workroom floor, which was the top floor of our dad's unfinished barn. I separated everything into two piles: pieces that could work or be altered to fit in the FP universe and those that didn't. We had so much clothing in the first two piles Jason and I took turns swinging from the rafters and landing in the clothes.  I whittled it down further and further from there. 

I'd say L Dubba E's final match costume was the biggest challenge to perfect. It's his final battle and therefore the most aggressive and most involved of his jumpsuits. It needed to be very fitted but also allow for the range of motion required in those scenes: dancing, running, kidnapping, the final fight, etc. I designed and built the costume from the ground up, incorporating spare fabric from my stock as well as some deteriorating fur coats and I remember it took about eight layers of padding to get the shoulders where they needed to be. Additionally adjusting BTRO's vest to fit onto JTRO for the final match was a little tough considering we only had one of each and there might as well be a foot of height difference between them. 

It's generally a bit different for each character and each project. For The FP I was lucky enough to have some pretty hefty creative reign. On this project it starts with the breakdown of gangs and upon which side of the fence the character resides. JTRO for instance is a member of the 248. Being a part of the northern gang he's dressed much "cleaner" (in FP terms) and must be dressed in the gang colors. You'll notice his costumes are generally in the blue/black range with notes of silver and white. So once you have those parameters the real design process can begin. JTRO goes through quite a journey during the film and the costumes must complement and at times exacerbate those situations. Color, texture, shape and above all fit are imperative in creating a successful character. 

The script is then broken down into the number of outfits (changes) required. From there a color/shape arc is created in coordination with the emotion meant to be conveyed in each scene/ character interaction. For JTRO, the battle costumes were designed from the ground up incorporating the gang colors as well as the stars and stripes denoting the american flag on the back of his vest. The 248 is also sleeker in shape in comparison to the 245, and the 248 utilizes "futuristic" digital fonts in any of their costume writing as opposed to the olde english used by those 245 chumps. 

Ha! That's awesome, that t-shirt gets some of the biggest response out of any costume in the movie. It came from just playing around with some of my components one night in the barn. I just thought the idea of duct tape was hilarious and it happened. I'm sure we had probably kicked back a few 40s at that point. Somewhere there's a blackmail photo of Brandon [Trost, co-director/director of photography] wearing that same shirt. 

As far as pre-planning, I had a rough idea of how I wanted every character to look. Some of these character costumes were inspired by pre-existing pieces that I could alter and some of them came from a pile of components and were built up from there. Generally I kept building and adding on to the costume until the moment it was about to be filmed.   

What was your biggest influence for your FP designs, be it film, literature, or a specific designer? What about influence on your work in general?

Inspiration for The FP designs came from a host of places and can't really be specifically pinpointed. Much of the design had to do with what was available to us then taking those components and running them through "the FP filter". Film wise, it was a mix of 80s/early 90s movies including anything starring Stallone or Van Damme. Also video games of that era come to mind especially Street Fighter and Double Dragon. Then you throw in the 8 mile influences. I definitely drew from the Duke of New York from Escape from New York and early 70's Elvis when designing L Dubba E. 

Influence on my work in general is definitely too broad to define. There are so many things from so many places and experiences in my life and it surely depends on the frame of mind I'm in or what a project requires. My taste is constantly evolving and shifting.   

Did the actors have any say or bring some kind of strange accessories or details to their costumes?

The actors for the most part didn't have a big role in any design elements of the costumes. With the exception of Jason of course as we were creating this universe and his character together. It's probably due to the fact that no one, not even our crew really, knew what the fuck an "FP" is. What I'm saying is that the universe is so strange and foreign to most people they kind of just let you do what you want, since they don't really know what they're looking at. It's almost like a period piece in a certain way, where the designer is an authority and there's not much to be said about costumes as they must be historically accurate. In The FP, everything had to fit into the FP universe, and that was pretty much up to Jason, Tyler and Me.   

Is there an advantage to working with your brothers over other filmmakers?

There are definitely advantages and drawbacks. Advantages being you know each other well and grew up together so there are entire dialogues you can skip and move right into the real guts of the situation. You know each other's strengths and can push each other much harder than crew members. The drawbacks being you know each other too well.      

Is there a sense of freedom working on a project that allows you to be fully outlandish in your creations as opposed to costumes grounded in reality? Do you have a preference?

No matter what the genre of the film, a strong and competent director/creative team that trust a designer's abilities is what will give you creative freedom.    

You were a contestant on Project Runway Season 8. Can you describe the experience? What (if anything) did it teach you about the modern fashion and media world for good or ill?

Oh man. This one would require a five paragraph essay and a few cocktails. In short, no thank you. 

Is there a trend in modern design be it in film or mainstream that you loath? What would you change?

There are a few things that drive me nuts but it doesn't directly have to do with costume design. I will say that although I greatly appreciate the artistry and advances in the visual effects field over the past 20 years, I find that films have become over-saturated with the medium. So many surfaces, fight sequences, and even characters are animated now and I find it ALWAYS takes me immediately out of the movie. Effects and animation used as an enhancement can be wonderful, but too much and I think your brain sort of taps out. I'd prefer real fights, real locations and built sets and props, and fuck it, even "real" man-in-suit-creatures. I grew up in the 80s and early 90s watching fantasy and action films where most everything was real or just slightly enhanced. To this day T2 is unmatched as an action film and I wish we could see more of that ilk as opposed to rubber people fighting in cartoon space.   

Aside from the FP, what is a favorite project that you've worked on? What current projects are you working on?

I designed a film entitled "K-11" that is pretty awesome. It takes place in the dormitory in the LA county jail that houses the homosexual and transgendered population. The costume design was a fantastic creative challenge as the inmates are allowed to alter/create their own clothing from about a dozen components that are available within the dorm. It's all socks, t-shirts, candy wrappers, etc. remade into outfits and sewn with contraband needles and dental floss. 

Also "Life of a King", which is centered around the inspiring true story of a man incarcerated for almost 20 years who upon his release starts a chess club for inner city DC students. 

I'm currently working in the costume department on the new Fantastic Four movie. Like, RIGHT this moment. And it's awesome!!

Fantasy/anime type films, like if there was a live action Miyazaki movie I would be so excited I might expire. Also I want to do westerns. Fantasy western might be the ultimate dream.