Alumni and costume designers for ‘Ratched’ discuss their bold color palette

The characters in “Ratched” may be wretched, but their costumes are far from it.

The Netflix series’ first episode, “Pilot,” is nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Period Costumes. Set in a 1940s psychiatric hospital, the show follows the twisted storyline of Nurse Mildred Ratched (Sarah Paulson), a character pulled from the novel “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” The costume design team, featuring alumni Rebecca Guzzi and Allison Agler, drew inspiration from film noir and Alfred Hitchcock’s movies, Guzzi said.

“(Director Ryan Murphy) talked about ‘Rebecca,’ specifically for its similar coastal setting and really beautiful, wide shots of water and driving along the water, and of course, you can see some of those inspirations directly in the pilot episode,” Guzzi said. “The other one was ‘Vertigo,’ because of its use of color symbolism, specifically really deep, vibrant ruby reds and greens.”

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To transport viewers decades back to the past, Agler said the team began its research at Western Costume Company, searching through vintage Vogue magazines and Sears catalogs. Other primary sources included nurses’ yearbooks from nursing school as well as authentic fabric swatches from the 1940s to use as textile references, she said.

“We care about meticulous detail and accuracy,” Agler said. “We’re looking for vintage fabric that has the same toothiness to make our suits, and we’re always trying to strive for as much accuracy as we can in this contemporary environment.”

In terms of color, costumes for the show were restricted to a narrow but vibrant color palette, with hues like purple and red reserved only for nurses’ lipstick or blood in the hospital, Guzzi said. With a muted set design featuring only a few accent shades like coral and cornflower blue, Guzzi said she was able to explore which hues would pop best, eventually settling on a bold teal shade for the ever-present nurses’ costumes.

Since the bleak color scheme of the 1975 film “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” was Murphy’s ultimate ending point for the show, Guzzi said the team wanted to begin with a highly saturated color palette that could be gradually bleached over the course of several seasons to match its predecessor’s palette. As for the series’ lively color scheme, she said the costume design was concurrently able to bring levity into a plot featuring murder and blackmail.

“The color palette could help play against very dark material that we see not only in the pilot but through the whole series,” Guzzi said. “To help contrast (such material) and not to let it become too overwhelming was … this very crunchy, stylized color palette.”

Given that most of the visually striking costumes were designed for principal roles, key costumer Annalisa Adams said costumes for background characters were composed of subtler shades like burgundy, navy or soft pink to avoid drawing attention away from the leads. However, Adams said she still needed to ensure the background actors fit the elegant and refined ambiance of the hospital.

“All the background (characters) are very elevated, very posh,” Adams said. “Even though they’re in a (hospital), they’re wearing the most fabulous pajamas wandering around.”

Though one of the costume design team’s primary goals was historical accuracy, Guzzi said there were moments when they needed to take certain liberties due to logistical concerns, like vintage fabric availability, as well as creative direction. For instance, in “Pilot,” she said the costume Nurse Ratched wears to her interview with Dr. Hanover (Jon Jon Briones) is based on Dior’s postwar era bar suit, but the team opted for a more aesthetically pleasing mustard yellow monochromatic look, deviating from the original beige and black design.

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The fast pace of designing for television instead of film also presented practical challenges, Agler said. Certain scenes required stunt doubles or guaranteed the costumes would be stained with fake blood, which Agler said required the team to make replicates of costumes during a short period of time, occasionally resulting in design compromises. Consequently, Guzzi said the process featured extensive problem-solving on the fly.

“There has to be a little give and take and a little creative liberty with our decision and know that we just don’t have the fabrics, or we don’t have the ability to do a sewing stitch machine like they would have exactly back in the day,” Guzzi said. “We know that we’re going to have to adapt it with our own contemporary resources.”

With hopes of more seasons down the road, Guzzi said the team looks forward to further developing costumes that enhance Nurse Ratched’s character arc. But ultimately, despite the limited amount of time and resources, Agler said the team was able to execute its creative goals and dreams in tandem with the practical responsibilities of period costume design.

“We’re constantly making concessions so that we can produce the work, produce it well and produce it on time,” Agler said. “But we always try to service our stories, service our designs, (in ways) that we hope everybody likes.”