How 'Rivals' Got 1980s Style Right
The reception has been “bananas," said David Tennant.
“The super-posh carry on like soft porn stars in a bold and witty Jilly Cooper adaptation,” noted The Observer.
“It’s not going to expand your mind, but does lift your spirits,” judged Rotten Tomatoes (92 per cent “fresh”).
We speak, of course, of Rivals, the Disney+ series that has dominated the cultural discourse this week.
The soundtrack! The bonking! The wigs!
But what, Esquire wonders, of the menswear?
As much love went into getting that right as everything else in the adaptation of Cooper’s 1988 novel, detailing the rivalry between old-money polo-playing MP Rupert Campbell-Black (played by Alex Hassell) and nouveau riche egoist Lord Tony Baddingham (David Tennant), as they duke it out in the (fictional) Cotswolds county of Rutshire, for control of independent TV station, Corinium.
Also cutting a dash in the show are dynamic Irish newsman Declan O’Hara (Aidan Turner), bumbling presenter James Vereker (Oliver Chris) and salt-of-the-earth businessman Freddie Jones (Danny Dyer).
The look of the show was overseen by director Elliot Hegarty (son of John Hegarty, the “H” in BBH, aka 1980s ad agency powerhouse Bartle Bogle Hegarty, who also directed Ted Lasso) and costume design ace Ray Holman (Doctor Who; Fleabag).
The pair spoke to us about dressing Rivals, and how King Charles, Good Morning Britain and Anderson & Sheppard all exerted their influences.
Magazines were the starting point
Ray Holman: “I started my research from original magazines, because I used to collect magazines in my youth. I kept them and I stored them. I collected the first 100 copies of The Face, for example. I was into clothes. Marie Claire, Vogue… all sorts. Even the interiors magazines. So, I got them out and gave them to our production designer. There was lots of research. We also really enjoyed the idea of pop culture and adding it in but not making things look too citified. Our story is set in the Cotswolds, so that’s what we were reflecting.”
Elliot Hegarty: “Ray’s room in the costume department was wallpapered with the most amazing references. The actors, everyone would just come in – it was like walking through a museum, it was just brilliant.”
They exercised restraint, actually
EH: “Mainly, we didn’t want to humiliate the characters and then, by default, humiliate Jilly Cooper’s world. We wanted to be grounded – as Ray said, what would people actually be wearing in 1986 in the Cotswolds? And it was mainly greens and browns, and autumnals. We also wanted to avoid the 1980s clichés. The 198os was a ridiculous decade. And it knew it. And it didn’t care. But I think it’s easy to be seduced into overdressing people.”
EH: “I was 15 in 1986, and my memory of that period is that it was super-stylish. I wasn’t au fait with that kind of Dynasty/ Dallas aesthetic of a lot of those 1980s shows. I felt it was a bit of a pitfall, to be honest. Big, brash colourful big shoulder pads and that Dynasty aesthetic. We did deep dives in our research. We looked at Ray Petri and Buffalo [the late stylist who mixed sportswear and Americana to create a new way of dressing. As in, Neneh Cherry’s song ‘Buffalo Stance’], and things like that. It was the difference between American Vogue and British Vogue. And what was very British about ‘86? The most obvious example is Sloane Rangers.”
The suits were bespoke
RH: “We sourced the clothes from all sorts. We went to consume hire companies, we used online vintage companies, charity shops. But Tony, Declan and Rupert needed bespoke clothes. I wanted Savile Row-quality suits for them. A Savile Row suit take between six and eight weeks [to make], if you’re lucky. With maybe three fittings. I didn’t have that kind of access to the actors. We did find some suits for Rupert, they were Valentino, and other designers of the period. But we needed to make sure [the rest] those suits were fitted properly, made by a tailor so I used Chris Kerr in Soho – he’s worked with me an awful lot and he knows our deadlines. He made them look fantastic.”
EH: “Ray did such an amazing job because I think it’s much harder to dress men than it is women. And for it to stand out as something that looks great and works with the character. I feel with women’s costume dressing, you’ve got a lot more freedom with silhouettes and with lines. You don’t get that with men. It’s got to shine a different way.”
RH: “If you go to men’s rails in menswear stores, the colours are really limited – you get grey, blue, maybe khaki – if you want a different-coloured shirt you have to search it out. Menswear is quite limited. What I was aiming to do was put a lot of British traditional fabrics in our costumes – through Chris’s fabrics books. I would choose the fabrics, and we would order them from the mills up north. It was a long process.”
RH: “With Tony, Jilly [Cooper] described him as having seen a performance of Bugsy Malone – and he kind of believed it. I think he had three colours in his silk shirts. We got Mr Dometakis[Andreas Dometakis, venerable London shirtmaker] who has made shirts for the industry for years, to make Tony’s shirts. And they were made in silk. And the rest were Savile Row. Everything for Tony was bespoke”
EH: “We even made his signet ring. Out production designer designed the Corinium logo, and we got [jewellery brand] Alex Monroe to make stone which is carved out with the logo. We decided that Tony is always trying to prove something. He wants to be better than everyone else. So, he wears everything all at once. Tiepins! His tie and his hanky sometimes don’t match. You’re not supposed to wear spots and stripes together. That’s the point. He’s got too much money, and not necessarily enough taste. His wife is the person who has the taste.”
RH: “David loves clothes! We’ve worked together before [on Doctor Who] and his words to me were ‘So, these are going to be bespoke, aren’t they?’ Yes, that’s the point!”
The cast loved the wristwear
EH: “I remember the actors being very excited by the watches. They’d get together and go ‘What watch are you wearing today?’ And they’d know the price.”
EH: “We had safes to keep the watches in. I have a lovely lady called Natalia who fixes things for me. She contacted Longines and Omega. We sometimes got two or three watches for each character, from Switzerland, from the archives or from the museum. They were shipped. It was a big deal. I mean, the faff! But the actors loved their watches.”
EH: “Those details really help the actors feel like their characters. The big alpha male, or whatever it is. Those details go a long way.”
The eye-popping yellow shirt Tony wears at the pool party? David Tennant’s idea
RH: “That shirt, yes! Well, in actual fact – should I reveal this? It’s a vintage shirt. We made David some linen shorts. Then we found eight vintage shirts and presented him with them. It was the only point where we wanted [Tony’s wardrobe] to be [more] tasteless. And he chose that one.”
EH: “Really good actors are also really good at dressing their characters. They know who they are and styling them is part of it. That’s a real skill."
RH: “What brand was it? Er, it didn’t have a label.”
EH: “Very tactful!”
The actors didn’t keep anything
RH: “No, because they’re not allowed. Mainly because it all had to go into storage.”
Because there’s going to be a sequel?
RH+EH: “Who knows? [laughs]”
The knitwear caused a headache
RH: “All his knitwear was original, found at costume hire companies. We are 40-something years on [from then] now, and some knitwear doesn’t survive very well. So, I really had to search for the best pieces. Oliver [Chris] is really tall, so [the jumpers] had to be a certain size and stature. But also, the colours – I worked at [BBC studios] Pebble Mill in the 1980s and was still there when Anne [Diamond] and Nick [Owen] started [they presented proto-British breakfast TV franchise Good Morning Britain, from 1983]. I was there when that was happening! And we just accentuated it. And because Oliver is blonde and the set was certain colours, that’s the moment that we could put some pop into the imagery.”
EH: “He’s the character that it’s okay to humiliate. It’s okay to think that he’s an idiot. He wears those clothes so well. Those jumpers became huge on camera, because he’s 6’ 3”. but some of them were so out-there we couldn’t film them because the camera reacted to the pattern, so they started fizzing. We had a few bought down to the set and held in front of the camera – ‘I love it, but we just can’t film it because it’s just doing weird things’. They just couldn’t handle it.”
RH: “When we shot through the old cameras [to make some scenes look extra-contemporary] it was fine on them, but our modern cameras – 4K – couldn’t cope. It was the way they were knitted.”
RH: “Some the knitwear was bespoke. So, I have a relationship with Corgi knitwear in Wales, who are by Royal appointment and all that, but they’re my friends – so I can do a sketch and say ‘I need a jumper this size, can we do this’. And then again it takes a little while but they’ll knit it up for me.”
They had to dress hundreds of extras
RH: “The chat show scenes were great fun to do. And dressing those audiences…”
EH: “I don’t know how you did it, Ray, because we had hundreds of people in, and when they walked on set it was great fun for the crew, and all of us, to watch them, with all these outfits and various hairstyles. It was brilliant.”
RH: “And most of them really enjoyed it. It was very nostalgic for them.”
EH: “There were so many characters, and I remember talking a lot at the beginning, saying ‘How is everyone going to keep track in episode one of all these different people?’ Who’s married to who… especially when they’re all bed-hopping. So, we came up with this colour palate for each character and each house. Just in a subtle way, through Ray’s clothes, and the production design, we hopefully made it an easier watch – separating all these people.”
Rupert’s shirts are just-so
RH: “His open shirts? Well… Rupert’s not trying hard, because he’s effortlessly stylish. He will only wear certain colours. He certainly wouldn’t wear brash pinstripes or striped shirts. We used the Harrow tie [ie: one of the ties associated with Harrow school] on him quite a lot. Modern men’s shirts have darts in the back and try to make men look really thin. [Rupert’s] shirts couldn’t have the darts in the back, but also I didn’t want them to swamp Alex. So, we used an absolutely gorgeous company called Anderson & Sheppard, who made them for us. Their shirts are just beautiful – do you remember his lovely coat? That’s from Anderson & Sheppard. The moment I saw it I just thought ‘Yes! I knew men who wore coats like that in the period. We’ll have it!’”
EH: “We had lots of conversations about Richard Gere in American Gigolo. And I know we didn’t use Armani [on Rupert] – but it’s that sort of louche [way of dressing] – but effortlessly, as you say. He’s got to walk like a cat, the clothes have to hang off him perfectly.”
RH: “We used Armani on Nafessa [Williams, playing American TV producer Cameron Cook].”
EH: “Now we’re used to fast fashion and things being thin and less robust. Back in the 1980s things were made to last. And you can see it on screen.”
RH: “I mean, King Charles repairs his suits. And the idea that Rupert would keep his suits and cherish them was kind of informing his character.”
Freddie Jones is dressed by his wife
RH: “He’s slightly brash. All ‘ready to go’ clothes! And I love using those trashy polo shirts on Danny. Danny loved all that.”
EH: “He’s dressed by his wife a little bit. We wanted to convey a character who didn’t really care too much about his outward impression. He’s a down-to-earth, honest guy, in every way. So, we talked about Valerie [Jones, played by Lisa McGrillis] dressing him a little bit, didn’t we?”
RH: “Especially in his choice of ties. I kept having to remind myself whenever I saw Danny [on set] and his [bad] ties, thinking – ‘No, Valerie chose that, it’s fine!’”
The clothes had to work around the sex scenes
EH: “I mean – a lot of the clothes had to come off easily, didn’t they Ray?”
RH: “We had to be able to take them off easily. But also, we had to make sure what they were wearing wouldn’t be offensive to any of the designers that created them. So, we did research and clearance on that [ie: cleared the rights to use the brands in this way].”
EH: “The opening scene in the Concorde toilet, we had to discuss with Ray what position is it? Because – how is someone going to hike up a skirt? What makes it easily accessible?”
RH: Well, what we discussed… at first, I thought it would be a dress that unbuttoned. And it became clear, as it went along, actually that might expose too much of our actress. And it was much better to find that 1980s power suit and just hike the skirt up – and keep the belt on.”
EH: “And keep the red heels on.”
The men had it easier (as per)
EH: “Rupert? I mean, his trousers are just down by his ankles.”
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