FASHION FORWARD

WORDS BY ABI SLONE
ART BY SCOTT LIFSHUTZ

There is something special about costume designer Molly Rogers. The creative (who has worked on some of the most fashion-centric films and television including Sex in the City, Devil Wears Prada and most recently And Just Like That) has the ‘80s New York City nightlife history books are written about and the vision of artists who can see the forest for the trees. Inspired, out there, real and relatable, Rogers’ work is smashing, literally from head to toe.

THE CRONING: Where are you in the world? 
MOLLY ROGERS: I am at my little place on a series of islands right off of Miami Beach. Like The Standard Hotel is across the street. It's dead quiet here… But about 20 blocks over on the beach they have a curfew because of all the shenanigans and all the craziness. But here, it's such an oasis. I just love that I have this little place because I could run up to New York and work like crazy and then come back here and lick my wounds. It's really good. It's really nice to have both. I'm very fortunate.

TC: How long have you had a place in Miami? And is that where you're from?
MR: No, I'm from North Carolina originally. And I bought this place, well the downpayment was from the Devil Wears Prada so that would be 2006 or something. It was the smartest thing I ever did for my personal health.

When you get older, I find that there's less and less exercise that I can really do. Like, if I start to try to jog I hurt my foot, but swimming isn’t impactful. I love it. It's great.

TC: I also find for mental health swimming is amazing because it's like you're being held.
MR: It's very meditative — your brain can kind of wander while you stroke back and forth. Today I was thinking about clothing and Season Two [of And Just Like That] and you know, your mind can just go where it wants.

TC: Congrats on season two! Do you know how many episodes it will be? Anything about it?
MR: I have no idea. I want to see what the writers come up with because the writers are no longer in quarantine and I feel like maybe the world has opened up more to them. You get different inspiration when you walk down the street when there's news about something other than a pandemic. You know you don't know what the hottest restaurant is in New York unless you have got your ear on the ground. It’ll be interesting.

TC: So this is our spiel about the magazine since we’re still in our infancy —  we all know the word crone. I mean, many of us do. She's old. She's witchy. She's undesirable. And we know that an enormous amount of success and wisdom comes during those years on our way to crone (40 to 60) — the years where you physically start to change and attitudinally start to change.
MR: I think it's fascinating. I feel fortunate that I'm in a different headspace than I was when I was younger and I had more energy. But I think you kind of laser in on things, and you pick and choose what you put your energy towards.

TC: During this time where you are working on a show that actually touches on issues that women deal with in their croning years… it’s amazing that the show exists. 
MR: I couldn't agree with you more. There are a lot of things I hope the writers get to because almost all of the writers are female. Michael Patrick King hired a diverse group of women so I'm sure that makes the writing room full of possibilities. It is quite a unicorn of a show. It's a group of women at a certain age and how they're navigating things. And honestly, even though people see seem to really turn against her and hate her, I felt like Cynthia [Nixon]’s story a lot of people could relate to you. Cynthia's character changed her focus in life, changed her job, is getting ready to experience empty nest syndrome, and feels like she's in a loveless marriage. I mean, that's quite fascinating to watch someone act out. Yes. I think a lot of women could relate to that story, but they seem to be mad at her. I don't know. It may have had something to do with the fingering. I think that triggered either they were jealous that she had such a great orgasm…

TC: Jealousy is weird — an evil in us that we don't quite understand.
MR: A lot of people discovered their relationships in the pandemic weren’t quite what they wanted because they had never spent that much time with their partners with that much stress on them. A lot of people had to face change, which in the beginning, when Michael Patrick King called me to tell me the story arc and the character arc in the first season, he said, ‘This season is all about change.’ And I thought, well, this is going to be interesting for me because I don't do well with change. I resist it… You know, so there was a death in the first episode, I think. I mean, I'm sorry, but death doesn't happen when you schedule it.

TC: Yeah, of course. I've watched the first season of And Just Like That three times now. During the pandemic, I have watched Sex in the City, the entire series, probably six times. When I write I listen to television. The Devil Wears Prada is also in my rotation.
MR: When I read that script, The Devil Wears Prada, I had never read anything script-wise that read like a page-turner. It was so good. And I thought if it reads well, does that mean it has a chance of being like a cult fave hit? On the page it was incredible.

TC: It was so good… the movement of the fashion… that series of staccato clips where the coat and bag are being dumped on the desk and if you watch it multiple times, you can catch a glimpse of incredible pieces. Also, you get to zero in on other characters and their styling, like Stanley Tucci’s character. But as far as AJLT goes, how did you approach the film from a design perspective?
MR: Well, I knew that it was going to be a different experience from having done the original Sex and the City series and the two movies with Pat Field because the world we were creating was so different.

There was no way that I was going to find things for Carrie to wear that were under the radar or underground because nothing is. I just accepted that it's a different world where everyone is overexposed and exposed to things immediately. You see the runway show of Louis Vuitton on Instagram and then it's burnt to you, kind of, because the world has seen it. And it's not like you can make that look fresh and new like we did on the original series… There isn’t a whole lot underground. People were bugging me while I was prepping about what's gonna be the next Carrie necklace? My thoughts? There’s not gonna be one because that happened so organically. It was on girls in the neighbourhoods of New York — Latina girls in Queens. And I just don’t think that something like that happens these days. Not that you know everything and you've seen everything, but what is underground? I knew Robert Maplethorpe when he was alive. What would he think of Julia Foxx showing up in head-to-toe latex? Like being in a sweatsuit now… It means nothing.

I just wanted to have the most incredible, fun time that I could. I knew the level of judgment was gonna be like my mother’s and I just was like, I'm going to have fun and find the things that I love the most, and that I know Sarah Jessica will love… All those three girls were established. You're not going to change the spots on that leopard, except for Cynthia [Nixon] who was at Columbia, so you could do her a little more relaxed. But overall, you're not going to change those girls. And then all the new characters… just fun to explore.

TC: Sara Ramirez?
MR: They had very specific ideas that they came with and I just followed those clues. I knew that we should do them in a uniform — hoodie and a pair of sweatpants, right. I didn't want to pay attention to the clothes because they had a whole idea about sleeves, tats, and the hairstyle was really strong. I just felt like the clothes should frame that. So we just went dark and sexy. But Sara came into the room very prepared. There was a list of companies that were owned by non-binary folks so we could better support that community.

TC: For me, and I think for a lot of people, so much of the writing is in the clothes and is where the characters come through. Not even only on a heavy clothes show, just period.
MR: I was putting Willie Garson, who played Stanford, in this Dries Van Noten DayGlo shirt and these yellow pants. And after the fitting, he said ‘Thanks for putting me in DayGlo when I'm supposed to be hiding because there's no way I thought that was would be funny. But I'm in neon. So it's ridiculous.’ He caught it. It’s little things like that. It's contemporary clothing so that’s not as hard as doing a Western or a period piece. I would never in a million years have the focus to do Gilded Age. It's not my bag.

TC: And as a viewer, not normally mine either. But the acting on that show is blowing my mind. And the wardrobe of Mrs. Russell is out of control. It outshines every other character in that in that show. It’s fascinating to see how a New York City social climber in the late 1800s is positioned through fashion. How long have you lived in New York?
MR: Since ’84. When I graduated from college in North Carolina I went to London, England for two years because I was really into the music scene there. I stayed there for two years and then I came back to New York in ’84 and was in and out of New York working with Pat Field. I did some shows in New York, moved to LA for a couple of years and worked out there, then went back to New York so often I consider New York my home… even though I've never lost my accent. Sometimes that gets heavier as you get older, or drunker… I just never lost it. But my life is in New York. This place in Miami is just for relaxing.

TC: How long have you lived where you live in New York.
MR: I bounce around there now. I just rent or slide into somebody's place. I decided to be more vagabond.

TC: I call it home free. You just go where you want. But I asked about your place in New York because you said that you are not a fan of change.
MR: Well, I'm a person of contradiction. For me, New York, the city, is home. I will say that New Yorkers are creatures of habit. You get settled in one place and you have your dry cleaner, your bar and you get comfortable and never leave your neighbourhood. But because I decided to be a vagabond, a couple of years ago, a friend of mine had this really weird apartment that was on the street level that came in off the street into the apartment and it was available for a year and I had never lived in Brooklyn. I ended up being such a fan. I just loved it.

I need New York for inspiration. But now in the world, like I was telling someone the other day, in the time of the original Sex in the City, Pat and I and other people would go out at night to nightclubs, and we would get our inspiration from someone we saw on the dance floor, or some kid over by the bar that was making belts and we would buy one the next day… But you don't have to do that now. You don't have to socialize. You don't have to leave your couch. You can go to that club online and you can see everything. So being out and about New York, you get to bump into it.

TC: Because even though you can see it on the sofa, you feel it when you're in it. So what do you have on the horizon besides season two? What are you excited about? What do you want to do that you've never done?
MR: I want to write a book and I have tried for many, many years. I haven't worked on it in a while because a therapist told me that I was using it and it was unhealthy how long I had been working on it and not finishing it.

TC: How long have you been working on it?
MR: Forever. It was something that my best friend and I worked on together. Like we were trying to write this book together. She died and I've tried to carry on with it. I don't think I want to finish it in a way. You know what I mean? But I self-published little books all the time, just for my benefit and pleasure. 

I also love to sit here and look out at the water and work on a short story. If I remember something that happened, and I don't remember a lot of the 80s, it’s fun to pull out some old pictures, remember that night and write about it. Go back there in time. It’s just personal projects. Before the second season starts I'm sure things will come along, but right now it's nice to not do anything.

TC: But I imagine you’re doing things, even when you’re ‘not doing things’.
MR: Exactly. Firstly, it's quite an adjustment coming from a set with 300 people on it that you’re on for 15 hours a day. But it’s one that I feel like I do well with because I'm cool with writing or reading and being alone all day. 

TC: During the period where you're not shooting is there still a camaraderie? Are you still ‘with’ each other? Like, you build this really great thing, you release it out into the universe and it’s like okay, well see you around?
MR: People are busy. The girls will text me and tell me what's happening, what's going on. I stay in touch with my assistants, or they stay in touch with me because they want to work and they want to know if I’m doing a movie before we go back. But it's mostly professional. 

TC: Do you feel like there's a separation between work and life?
MR: Yeah, but I was talking to Danny who co-designed season one with me, and we're not going to stop looking at clothes just because I'm not on their payroll. There's a big vintage furniture weekend up in West Palm Beach and it's furniture, but I bet we're gonna go because we're gonna meet clothing people with the same kind of crowd. So we'll go.

For example, somebody up there told me last week that her brother had early Alzheimer's and she had found the key to one of his storage spaces. And the contents are things that he had bought from the Versace Mansion auction. Okay, can I go with you to that storage space? Don't forget about me.

TC: In the documentary [And Just Like That… The Documentary], there was this amazing scene with you in a storage facility with an enormous amount of things. 
MR: Andy. The vintage collector’s storage. I had met Andy at a vintage show on 18th Street in New York. It happens twice a year and I had met him because he had this amazing bomber jacket in a tiny size that had an Eiffel Tower on the back. It was in perfect condition. I knew maybe there was a spot for it on Carrie. I bought it and she never got to wear it, but maybe there'll be a time when she could in season two. Anyway, I met him and he told me about his storage space in Chelsea so I knew I needed to satisfy my curiosity and go and see what he had. He had brought it all out and put it in that hallway. And I knew that I should invite the documentarian because Andy is so quirky and funny and there could be some good footage. The filmmaker didn't use half of it because Andy is so foul-mouthed. And I am too so when we get together…

TC: There is a nice comfort when you find others who are as foul-mouthed as you. 
MR: Times are different now. I don’t like to censor myself, but I need to be careful about the things that I say. You get feedback that someone said you were yelling at them about taking out the garbage. But I’m like, sorry I hurt you, but take out the fucking garbage. I did it for years. 

TC: When I used to interview people for positions I would ask them if they were comfortable with being told what to do? Like shit just needs to get done. We can hug later. Are you glad that you came up when you did and not now? 
MR: Yes. It was a time when you could go to Indochine and Andy Warhol was there. And I didn't miss him. I went up to him, talked to him, or observed him from my table because I didn't have my head on a phone. Maybe that sounds like I'm crotchety and crony. But I'm glad I grew up when I did.

I wouldn't trade it for anything. Being at the nightclub Area until five in the morning, and going then going to Save the Robots which was an after-hours club… that stuff gets in your bloodstream. And it's the reason why I am who I am today.