The Next Sopranos? Boardwalk Empire Premieres Sunday

By Heather Summerville
September 17, 2009

Boardwalk Empire

Tony Soprano can go have a glass of Grappa; there’s a new HBO Sunday night show in town, and it may just be worthy of following in “The Sopranos’” footsteps.

In case you’ve missed the hoopla “Boardwalk Empire,” which premieres this Sunday, is a vivid depiction of 1920’s Prohibition Era Atlantic City. And it might just be the most highly anticipated series in recent history. Its creator, Terence Winter, was executive producer of “The Sopranos,” and his team of headlining executive producers—Martin Scorsese (who directed the pilot), Mark Wahlberg, Tim Van Patten, and Stephen Levinson—would be cause for anyone to tune in. There also will be those who watch to ogle the historically accurate set and costume design—everything down to the buttons on the characters’ waistcoats is authentic. And there will be those who check out the show because hey, it’s HBO and it’s Sunday. Boardwalk Empire

No doubt, Terence Winter and Co. are hoping to tap into the mainstream success of The Sopranos. But costume designers John Dunn and Lisa Padovani are also seeking to mimic the fashion success of another hit television series—one they both worked on and received Emmy nominations for—“Mad Men.” If that series can spawn the return of curvy women to the runway, then we, for one, can’t wait to see what their take on flapper dresses and cloche hats has on mainstream fashion. (We’re envisioning a whole lot of fur, feathers, and sequins.) We recently caught up with the John Dunn to chat about the “Boardwalk Empire,” how they researched the wardrobe, and why we won’t be seeing many flappers just yet.

Boardwalk Empire

The Inside Source: What type of research went into outfitting the cast?

John Dunn: A great deal. Visual resources were obviously the most important when dealing with costumes. The sources included everything from films made in that period, films made about that period, fashion magazines, books, and black-and-white photography. I also read a great deal about the lives of people in 1920 [when the show is set]—what they were dealing with, what was and was not available to them—and from that, I started to refine a picture of how they were dressed.

TIS: When people think of the 1920s, flappers are generally called to mind, but the costumes in the series aren’t what some viewers might expect. Can you explain how you dressed the characters?

JD: In 1920, the “roaring twenties” had not begun—there were no flappers… that was all to come.

Boardwalk Empire

TIS: When dressing the cast, was it difficult to stay faithful to the time period?

JD: The largest challenge in working on the show was creating an accurate picture of 1920. We used as much real clothing—pulled from rental houses in California that specialize in period films—as we possibly could. We were very strict about using accurate clothing from 1920 or before.

Boardwalk Empire

Steve Buscemi and Paz de la Huerta (left); Chris Mulkey (right). (Photo Credit: Abbot Genser/HBO)

TIS: Did you take any creative liberties for the sake of how the costumes appear on screen?

JD: We were absolute fanatics about using accurate fabrics to the best of our ability, and we were vigilant about not letting anything contemporary slip into our show. Whenever I made a man’s suit or woman’s dress, it was out of a fabric that would have existed at the time. It’s really important to be accurate in order for the viewer to really sink into the show.

Stephen Graham (Photo Credit: Craig Blankenhorn/HBO)

TIS: Were you inspired by any particular designers?

JD: I looked primarily to the designers of that period. Most fashion in 1920 was generated out of Paris and London. The houses back then, say Chanel or the House of Worth, would invite American companies—the department stores and design houses—over to Paris or London, where for a fee, they were allowed to sketch the clothes that were being designed. Back in the United States, they would use these sketches to reproduce the designs. Today, we would think of it as a sort of plagiarism. But then, the houses actually encouraged it, largely because they couldn’t manufacture the volume of clothing and ship it around the world as we can today.

**Photos courtesy of HBO**