Costume Designer Luke Reichle on Closets, Clothes, Crazy Costumes, and "Castle"

"Costume designers call television boot camp," confessed Luke Reichle, who is the Costume Designer on "Castle," the hit ABC comedic crime show about a famous mystery novelist who teams up with the NYPD. "It’s a movie every two weeks. Instead of filming two pages a day, it’s seven. That’s a lot of clothes, and it’s moving very fast."

Luke Reichle has been through the fashion design trenches. While still in college in San Francisco, he sold his women's evening wear collection to Henri Bendel and Saks Fifth Avenue. As soon as he moved to New York, he landed a job in design at Perry Ellis. He worked for a host of fashion designers through the '80s. The focus was always on individual looks and artistry, he recalled—until the crash of 1989 changed everything. Suddenly, companies were bypassing high-priced fashion designers and hiring kids, who did the bidding of merchants, management, and sales managers. Burnt out and ready to try his hand in a new field, fashion designer Luke Reichle turned to renowned movie costume designer Ann Roth ("The English Patient," "The Talented Mr. Ripley" and dozens more) to help him transition.

"Theory," Sneak Peek of Tonight's Episode of "Castle" (via YouTube)

"I started as a production assistant. Essentially, I was a wardrobe assistant, but according to the rules of the union, you can’t actually touch clothes! You can pick up pins, but you’re a runner, completely entry level."

Two weeks in, Luke Reichle was on a plane to North Carolina to work on "Curly Sue," the 1991 John Hughes comedy starring James Belushi as a homeless man, and Alisan Porter as his young companion. Since it was a non-union film, aspiring costume designer Luke Reichle had more leeway than he thought he would. "I was a set costumer. It was six weeks of night shoots. Pretty brutal, but a great experience."

He’s been on roll for over a decade, working on TV series like "Without a Trace" and films including "Exorcist: The Beginning" and "American Outlaws". “This is my first season on "Castle,” Luke Reichle said, “but the show is in season three.” Between fittings for Tamala Jones, who plays smarty Medical Examiner Lanie Parish, costume designer Luke Reichle sits down in his office at Raleigh Studios to talk closets, clothes, crazy costumes, and the "Castle" TV show.

The Inside Source: As costume Designer for the "Castle" television series, who do you spend the most time shopping for?

Luke Reichle: Probably the guest star of an episode because they usually have the most changes. But you’re always on the lookout. No matter what you’re doing, you have one eye roaming the store, looking for your principal characters. Over time, it will probably have to be Beckett [NYPD homicide detective Kate Beckett, played by Stana Katic] because we make all of Nathan's clothes [Nathan Fillion plays novelist Rick Castle].

Castle's Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic check out a feather in the “Murder Most Fowl” episode. (Photo courtesy of ABC.)

The Inside Source: Why do you make Nathan Fillion’s clothes?

Luke Reichle: We have the opportunity to create something that doesn’t exist—to get a particular look. It’s one of Castle’s splurges—he has all of his clothes made. We make his shoes, shirts, suits, and some of his outerwear. We do buy a few things.

The Inside Source: Do characters on "Castle" ever wear the same costume designs twice?

Luke Reichle: Sure. We look at it like somebody’s closet, so we don’t have new stuff all the time. We try to rotate clothes and avoid a dress parade. Certain characters you don’t repeat as much, like Martha [Castle’s colorful mother, played by Susan Sullivan] or Alexis [Castle’s teenage daughter, played by Molly C. Quinn]—their clothes are so identifiable.

The "Castle" TV show's Susan Sullivan and Molly C. Quinn looking colorful.  (Photo courtesy of ABC.)

The Inside Source: What is your favorite episode of "Castle" in terms of costume design?

Luke Reichle: By far, it was “Punked,” where Castle goes back in time. Steampunk is about taking late Victorian/Edwardian clothes and punking them up with all sorts of Jules Verne/H.G. Wells kinds of apparatus, gears, cogs and tubes. It was very creative and a lot of fun.

Steampunk costume from “Punked” episode of "Castle." (Photo courtesy of ABC.)

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The Inside Source: This year's season premiere, "A Deadly Affair," was set in a burlesque club, where one of the owners, sexy strip tease artist Kitty Canary, is one of the murder suspects.  Did you have any wardrobe malfunctions?

Luke Reichle: The actress playing the killer does a striptease with fans, so we sent the choreographer two ostrich feather fans [to practice with].  They had only been rehearsing for five minutes, and they disintegrated! We wound up wiring eight ostrich plume fans together to make two fans that were strong enough and opaque. We had to curl the ends of the fans and feathers to make sure they cupped around the breast and covered them. There’s a lot of clever editing in that scene. Fortunately, nothing flew off!

Neo-burlesque scene with ostrich feathers from Castle season three’s premiere episode. (Photo courtesy of ABC.)

The Inside Source: What was the most challenging episode of "Castle " to design costumes for?

Luke Reichle: “Nikki Heat,” where Laura Prepon "Single White Female’s" Beckett and takes on her look for a role. It was a Hollywood actress sort of imitating the look of a New York detective but for a script, based on a book [Castle’s] that’s based on the New York detective [Beckett], but the look is not exactly detective!  It’s more heightened in some ways, sort of Hollywood in another way. 

Laura Prepon imitates Stana Katic in “Nikki Heat.” (Photo courtesy of ABC.)

The Inside Source: Who were the hardest people you’ve ever fit costume designs for?

 Luke Reichle: The little people in The Fantasticks [the 1995 musical movie about a mysterious fair that comes to a small community in the countryside].

The Inside Source: What is the strangest costume you’ve designed?

Luke Reichle: I made a rubber alien suit for Teller for a comedy sketch on a Penn & Teller TV show. It was cut out of foam that we painted green and slathered with goo. He only had to wear it once.

The Inside Source: Do you ever shop on eBay for costume designs?

 Luke Reichle: Sure, but not very often because we have to move so quickly. eBay is great for accessories because accessories have no size. We utilize online resources when we have a little more time and the vendor has really good return policies. If you add up our costume budgets for the season, we probably spend nearly three-quarters of a million dollars on clothes. We bring in easily 3-4 times that! We have to work it out with the actors and send the stuff back that we don’t use. We never ever return anything we use, even if it’s for a photograph.  

The Inside Source:  Do you ever buy anything from eBay online auctions for yourself?

 Luke Reichle: Yes.  I had a big collection of Schiaparelli accessories when I was in school. I used to find them in thrift stores. Those pieces went by the wayside, so I’ve been rebuilding that collection.

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The Inside Source:   Your book, Style Secrets of The Red Carpet, is coming out this spring.  Can you share a red carpet style secret with us?

Luke Reichle:  The style secret at the crux of this book is that it’s not about the clothes. It’s about the person who inhabits the clothes.  It’s about how to look in the mirror and love what you see before you go shopping.  If you’re not feeling that good about your body, buy some great shoes!  Shoes will never make you feel fat.

Want to know more about who is wearing what on ABC’s Castle?  Follow Luke Reichle on Twitter. And watch the "Castle" tv show on Monday nights at 10pm EST on ABC.