[Subtitle: Webisode 4: “Yardsign Wars”]
(Clip from that episode, Location: behind the campaign office in Chillicothe, Alan and Andrew are constructing yard signs.)
Andrew: What to wear to Kathy's
fundraiser...
Alan: I’m sure a flannel shirt will
be fine.
Andrew: That’s funny; I packed all
the plaid shirts I own because I figured that would best blend in down here.
Alan: You’re very good about that,
you calculate your speech, and you strategize what you’re going to wear...
[Transition in camera style from episode filming, to behind the scenes IRL]
"I’m Cody Hollister, and I’m the Head Costume designer for The TV Show that is My Life."
"Of course, most of the name brands our characters shop at on
the show don’t actually exist. Hollister is a joke one of the writers
originally threw in based on my name, and the fact that Head of Costume Design
is “H. CO” on the callsheets. So H. Co became my nickname, and then the
nickname for the California surfer-themed clothing store in the show, which our
characters mock for it’s bad lighting and ridiculously strong cologne. After
the first few appearances, someone noticed that there actually is
a Hollister, California – but it’s nowhere near the ocean. I think our
characters even joked about it in an episode a while back."
 |
| Andrew wearing a "Hollister Co." shirt, [Subtitle: 23.18: "New Jersey Nightmare"] |
[Subtitle: 21.03:
"Pittsburgh Style"]
(Clip from that episode, Andrew, Patsy & Erin are checking out at a Hollister clothing store.)
Andrew: ...ironically, the real Hollister, California isn't even anywhere near the ocean! It's like, fifty miles from the ocean or something.
Patsy: You read that on Wikipedia, didn't you?
Cody Hollister: "We knew for the age 23 season, we were going to take
a major change in Andrew’s clothing scheme. Up until then he had been defined
with bright colors, in kind of a High School/College-appropriate business
professional with his button up shirts and polos. But once he started Student
Teaching, we started the transition to real life: which direction is this show
going to take next? That is going to be scary, and for anyone just graduating
college, you realize all your sugary dreams kind of hit a santitizing wall of
reality: will you actually find a job? How will you make money? Will you end up
in a cubicle? So to symbolize that we added a lot more Blacks, Whites and Grays
to Andrew’s character."
 |
| Potential Andrew wardrobe pieces |
"It had been a running point that he never wore White
Button-up shirts, arguably the most common button up shirt in real life, except for the funeral episode. But now we threw in a few
different white shirts which are very normal compared to what he was kind of known for wearing."
Cody Hollister: "We do apply logic to each of our characters clothing, like
with Patsy – she is transitioning from a very “Disney Princess” to
“professional teacher”, so we are moving from college T-shirts and hoodies, to
sweaters and more business casual clothes even when she is not at work, because
we presume she can’t always have time to change before Andrew whisks her away
to go shopping and get Applebee’s. That doesn't mean we don't include camp T-shirts whenever we can, because clearly that is something she wants to hold on to, despite Andrew's efforts."
 |
| Some screen-used, some potential Panda hair bows |
"With Panda, you’re looking at the person who buys the single
best thing she knows will work for her in an entire store. So it’s important
that she is usually the most fashion forward character, while still remaining a
normal, typical person overall. We do include things like the hairbows, the
polka dot motifs because we want just a hint of that… Japanese girl style to come
out in her character as well."
"With some of our guests, we have Hannah – who is always my
favorite, because we send a page to go to a New York-style clothing store that
no one can afford, and have them find the most different mannequin and just buy
up the whole outfit no questions asked. Things that a person may not typically
wear, or wouldn’t wear because you would think “Where would I actually wear
this to?” before buying it. For guests like Brian, he is always reminding you he attended OSU either literally outloud, or with hats, or with actions, so we usually have him in a sports shirt that isn't a jersey that is just not the right size because, well, he's Brian and he doesn't know better."
 |
| Potential Andrew wardrobe pieces, and screen-used pieces combined for the set of a Mall scene. |
"When it comes to business-y events, like work or Circle K
functions, Andrew is of course in his rainbow of fitted business clothes, while
most of our girls usually wear dresses. We had a lot of weddings this season,
and rather than design dresses from scratch, most of those were off the rack. Because we figure this young, the characters probably couldn't afford the kind of customized, perfectly fitted dresses you see on a lot of TV shows, and they expect normal people to be able to afford it. It adds a certain realism, we hope."
Cody Hollister: "The TV Show That Is My
Life spends a lot of time shopping for clothes, or browsing around the
mall, so I think fashion really has played a major role in the show. A lot of
what we do is make up clothes for our characters to make fun of, like
ridiculous designs in the aisles of Macy’s or something. Flashy golden
sparkles, and parallelograms that don’t make any sense, or animal prints. Most
of those we actually have ourselves, the clothing team we look back at stuff we
made in College trying to be cutting edge that even now make us shake our heads,
and we let it come to real life and kind of mock ourselves. But only when we’re
secure enough that we can laugh at ourselves, which I think has also been
represented in the show – like Andrew picks out certain clothes not because
they are the best looking, but because they are ridiculous, like the Razzmatazz
Yellow button-up or stuff like that."
 |
| Potential Andrew wardobe pieces. |
"Moving forward, I think this season has
seen a lot of vests
as those are in fashion right now, and we do have meetings with the writing
staff to see where they want to take the characters and represent that in their
clothing as well."
