How ‘We Are Lady Parts’ Costumes Were an Avenue for Faith

“We Are Girl Parts” centers on an all-woman Muslim punk band who are creating new music their way, constructing an viewers, and balancing their individual daily life on and off stage.

Costume designer Computer system Williams made every single woman’s wardrobe to honor her romantic relationship with her religion while also making use of costume to act as an avenue for cultural and self-expression.

The sequence, streaming on Peacock, follows five women— Amina (Anjana Vasan), the freshly recruited direct guitarist Saira (Sarah Kameela Impey), Lady Parts’ direct singer Ayesha, (Juliette Motamed) Lady Parts’ drummer Bisma (Faith Omole), the bass participant, and Momtaz (Lucie Shorthouse), the band’s supervisor.

“All of these ladies are second-generation migrants, like me I was born in the U.K., but my roots are from Nigeria and Ghana. When I was pondering about these four women of all ages, for me, it was about seriously hoping to fully grasp who they ended up culturally and marrying that with a London vibe,” Williams claims.

Four of the five band users dress in some kind of regular Muslim head coverings. Williams brought on quite a few Muslim ladies to her design and style staff and undertook hrs of investigate to correctly portray how style and religion operate side by side.

“A head masking is a head masking, now how you do that is totally up to you and I required to clearly show that there is no a single way to do it. You can have range in a team of Muslim sisters,” Williams suggests.

Williams broke down each rocker’s signature style.

Amina

Amina has her sights established on obtaining a everyday living partner and having her Ph.D. in microbiology. But, when she joins the band, her plans transform. Around time she finds a new comfort level in her id. Amina is generally identified in pastel-colored hijabs and minimal makeup.

“Amina was a single of these figures in which when you start off the job you have these a distinct plan of what it is that you want to do. And then, as you get into the task, that thought retains twisting and turning. And I consider marrying her demure sensibility with this want, and kind of need to have, to crack out of this mildew and to lean into this new room that she was inhabiting, that felt terrific to her — that was like my greatest obstacle, how do I make, how do I make awesome costumes for a female who enjoys A-line skirts and button-up blouses. And is now in a punk band.

“There’s the scene in which Lady Sections is carrying out a Dolly Parton song and Amina’s nonetheless obtained her A-line, substantial-waisted skirt on, but she’s acquired this shirt with a horse print on it. And it is the initial time we truly see her in dim shades, and it is her version of leaning into what it signifies to be punk, but it’s nonetheless seriously sweet. It’s what she could be outdoors of what we usually see her in, which is pastels and closely-embroidered two-piece sets.”

Bisma

Bisma normally takes wonderful pride in her heritage and normally sporting activities vivid West African turbans and political t-shirts. She’s also the calmest member of the band. When she’s not in the band, Bisma spends time selling her artwork on her road stall.

“Bisma is Nigerian-British, she’s my sisters and me, and my cousins, and mother’s friends’ kids — it is a delight in African prints, but incorporating that in a way where by it feels fashionable and has a Western vibe, but you still holding on to what’s real to your cultural identification.

“Her artwork performs a big section in who she is. The interior style of her apartment is a lot of upcycled, reclaimed furnishings and pieces. I needed to carry that by way of to her wardrobe — about 90% of it is thrift store finds with autumnal colours, macramé, and just about anything that feels Afro-centric.

“We made use of a large amount of Omolola jewellery from a young Nigerian jeweler, and a lot of her jewellery is from close to Africa or specific tribes in Nigeria employing symbols that signify some thing to Nigerian culture.

“Bisma’s vibe is super classic. Every little thing needs to come to feel like it’s experienced 3 life in advance of coming to her, but when it hits her, it makes perception.”

Ayesha

Ayesha is the band’s drummer. She’s also an Uber driver with highway rage. For her outfits, she’d sport sparkly Middle Japanese abayas and drapey headscarves with remarkable eyeliner.

“Ayesha’s vibe is who Juliette is in actual lifetime. So fairly than me designing the outfits, I took far more of a curatorial approach to her structure. I curated her wardrobe, and collaborating with her. I’d say, ‘Here, what do you feel? What type of appears to be would you make?’  So, we experienced an afternoon of just trying all the things on.

“That to me, felt true to who she was mainly because she would deliver in a great deal of herself in the character. I feel often when you are carrying out a character who is so stylized it can truly feel a little bit compelled. I did not want that to transpire so she was a large component of creating what she wore — dark hues, anime prints, significant steel detailing, and slogan t-shirts from Aborigine models.”

Momtaz

Momtaz is the core of the band. As the group’s supervisor, her target is to change them into a enormous success.

“I desired to make positive that a female who wears a niqab could choose up 1 of the niqabs we made and don and truly feel like it healthy the intent. I did not want it to be like this unusual trend thing. Everything has to just feel normal. It couldn’t feel like the display was styled. I’m not going to check out and change the niqab from what a niqab is what I want to do is just give you versions of this though nevertheless keeping it modest and fitting the objective of staying covered whilst also permitting our actress, Lucie, to experience that she was also bringing some thing amazing to the present. She has to expend these 8 weeks coated and I can imagine that that is pretty a major issue to take on, in particular when the ladies are coming out in glance after glimpse. I assume Ayesha experienced 37 appears to be like in the total show when we made four niqabs for Momtaz.

“But it was actually critical to me that Lucie felt that some design and style, treatment, and consideration experienced been taken into her costumes, but that they still healthy the purpose.”