BROOKLYN, N.Y. - The dresses, coats, hats and accessories lining the walls of Donna Zakowska's studio aqre vintage 1950s New York. The Emmy-award winning designer creates the iconic costumes seen on Amazon's acclaimed televsion show "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel".
"I thought it was a great thing to sort of capture New York at this moment. From the beginning I said I don't want to do the 50's cliches the big skirts the pony tails. I don't think that was New York. New York was..as it still is now..a place of great diversity," Zakowska said.
Zakowska works with her team at Steiner Studios in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. There they research looks, study fabrics, compare colors and design the costumes used in the show.
The series follows Midge Maisel, an Upper West Side housewife who turns to an unconventional career in stand-up comedy downtown after her life is upended by her husband's affair.
"It was much more delineated at that time. Uptown and downtown was a big deal, like you didn't, most people didn't go downtown that were uptown. So it is about showing these different worlds," Zakowska said.
Zakowska, who was raised in Brooklyn, says this is the longest she's worked on a TV series. The biggest challenge? Finding outfits for all of the characters, including extras, on a tight deadline. Sometimes she receives a script just three weeks before the scenes are shot.
"You have to really design it as if you are that person in that moment," Zakowska said.
There will be thousands of other colorful costumes on display in season 3, which is set to begin taping sometime in March.