Carbon Costume

In the Netflix miniseries The Queen’s Gambit, Beth Harmon (Anya Taylor-Joy) is chess prodigy troubled by an orphaned upbringing who rises to the highest ranks of the chess world while struggling with drug and dependency issues. As Beth grows and changes, her fashion style follows suit. But throughout, her gorgeous 1960s clothes keep a chess motif, including black and white palette and a chessboard pattern. By the end of the series, her outfit mirrors the white queen.

In Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, Borat goes undercover as Country Steve, attempting to fit in at a pro-gun rally and find his daughter Tutar. Amidst confederate flags and assault rifles, Country Steve performs on stage. He sings about injecting Obama with the Wuhan flu and chopping up the WHO like the Saudis do, and it doesn’t take much for the crowd to start singing along.

Jonathan Byers (played by Charlie Heaton) is the older brother of Will and son of Joyce.  In the first season, Jonathan is bullied and teased by Steve and his friends, though they later become tentative friends, even as Jonathan enters into a relationship with Steve’s ex-girlfriend Nancy.

Moira Rose (played by Catherine O’Hara) is the wife of Johnny and mother of David and Alexis on the Canadian sitcom Schitt’s Creek.  Moira is an ex-soap star, and her fashion sense is as quirky and eccentric as her personality, making her a fun character to emulate.  To recrate some of Moira’s iconic looks, you’ll need to be bold in your layering to achieve the appearance of the high-end pieces she often sports.  For instance, a pair of cutout leggings over sheer black tights can evoke the same feel as the expensive Proenza Schouler tights she wears in the third picture.

Ryuk is the shinigami who gives Light the notebook that allows him to kill people by simply writing their names in Death Note.  Ryuk is an intimidating figure.  As a god of death, it makes sense that his aesthetic relies heavily on dark colors and skull imagery.  If you have any chains or accessories leftover from your punk phase, this is a great time to reuse them.  If you want to go the extra mile, there are also plenty of makeup tutorials for recreating Ryuk’s terrifying face or you could purchase a latex Ryuk mask if the more subtle face covering options aren’t to your liking.

Liz Sherman (played to acclaim by Selma Blair) is the pyrotechnic female lead in Hellboy. She largely plays the role of Hellboy’s long-time love interest but her reach extends much further than that. Her abilities make her incredibly dangerous – dangerous enough to take out demi-demon monsters with a penchant for resurrection – but she herself is a peaceful and kind-hearted person.

Liz sports two looks throughout the movie. The first is an all-black look of boots, pants, a loose-fitting sweater, a peacoat, a scarf, and a beret. Accessories for this outfit can be an Americano (no cream or sugar) and a Polaroid camera. Her other look is a set of plain red scrubs seen after she is tricked into setting fire to her asylum by Rasputin’s magic. They are both very basic looks that are still classic Liz Sherman.

In Borat 2 (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan), Tutar Sagdiyet (Maria Bakalova) is Borat’s 15 year old daughter, who escapes from her barn in Kazakhstan, smuggles herself in a crate with a chimp, and follows Borat to Texas. Initially she’s unkempt and resembles a McPoyle, but gets a makeover in order to attend debutante ball. Tutar’s fresh look is enough to seduce Rudy Giuliani in a hotel room in minutes.

In Schitt’s Creek, David Rose (Dan Levy) is the spoiled son of the Rose family. As the series goes on however, he grows as an adult and flourishes with his small business, Rose Apothecary. David is one of the first openly pansexual characters depicted on television. Aside from the Levy-brows, his most distinguishing characteristic is his fashion style. David wears only black and white, usually a black knit sweater with bold pattern on top, and a combination of skinny jeans and kilt on the bottom. All from the most expensive runway brands of course.

Evan Hansen is the lead character in the musical Dear Evan Hansen. He’s a high school student with social anxiety, so his therapist suggests writing positive letters to himself. One letter gets mistaken for a suicide note from his acquaintance, Connor Murphy. To comfort the Murphy family, Evan forges e-mails between them. It’s revealed his broken arm was from falling out of a tree, possibly his own suicide attempt. Ben Platt originated the role, winning him the 2017 Tony for Best Actor in a Musical.  The show is currently running on Broadway at the Music Box Theater, where Jordan Fisher plays Evan Hansen. Wrap the gauze around your arm, and if you’d like, write Conor’s signature in Sharpie.

Katherine Plumber is a character in Disney’s Broadway musical, Newsies. She is a young journalist who writes the article that gets the Newsies in the paper. She becomes close with Jack Kelly, the leader of the July Newsboys strike, and they develop a romance. Her outfit retains the style of the early 1900s, which is when the actual strike took place. Notable actresses who portrayed Katherine include Stephanie Styles and Kara Lindsay.