Make The Style Of Early-Eighties New York Your Own With Inspiration From The Nostalgic Dramedy by Edward Burns
From EPIX Studios and written, directed, and produced by Edward Burns, Bridge and Tunnel is a dramedy series with an ensemble cast set in 1980. It revolves around a group of recent college grads setting out to pursue their dreams in Manhattan while still clinging to the familiarity of their working-class Long Island home town. Costume Designer Rosemary Lepre Forman and Set Decorator Beth Kushnick share the keys to 80's Casual-Cool and mixed and layered decor.
THE FASHION
THE CHARACTERS
Jill (Caitlin Stasey), Jimmy (Sam Vartholomeos), Tammy (Gigi Zumbado), Mikey (Jan Luis Castellanos), Nick 'Pags' (Brian Muller), Stacey (Isabella Farrell).
THE DIRECTION
A main reference from Edward Burns was the 1979 film Breaking Away.
THE LOOK IN A FEW WORDS
Late seventies fashion into 1980 in a casual, t-shirts-and-jeans-style. Burns wanted everyone to look like the film Breaking Away. .
SYMBOLIC WARDROBE MOMENTS
Jill in a demure and elegant white dress in the opening scene of episode one, and in the final scene of the season.
THE COLOR PALETTE
Muddy; colors that disappear.
THE TEXTURES
Corduroy; leather. A focus on pieces that have a special element of texture to them.
THE PRINTS + PATTERNS
'Sad plaids'. Nothing too busy.
KEY ITEMS + ELEMENTS
Jeans, tube tops, Candie’s, jewelry in mostly gold, t-shirts, velour, grey sweatpants, striped sweat socks, Wrangler, and Lee.
THE ACCESSORIES
Jewelry in gold, gold, gold. Jimmy wears a silver chain because he’s a photographer and a little more cool. So many belts! Classic Nike’s, wooden-heeled shoes, small handbags.
THE BRANDS + RESOURCES
Ritual Vintage NYC, rental houses, Etsy, Ebay, JC Penney catalogs from 1978 through 1980, the books Teenage and Rolling Stones Fans by Joseph Szabo. Edith Machinist in NYC’s East Village.
BTS
Burns changed a character originally named "Jeannie" to be named after character Lana from the classic comedy series Three’s Company after a discussion with Lepre Forman about costumes. He characterized her as “the type of woman that would hang out at the Regal Beagle".
NOTES ON THE PROJECT
"I love the clothes. I love the music. I love our crew and cast. It’s was a really fun project to work on during quarantine. And let’s not forget, it was also fun getting to wear Candie’s." - Rosemary Lepre Forman
RULES FOR VINTAGE DRESSING
"If you feel comfortable and if you’re confident in what you’re wearing, you can carry it off." - Rosemary Lepre Forman
Caitlin Stasey as Jill and Isabella Farrell as Stacey.
Gigi Zumbado as Tammy.
Sam Vartholomeos as Jimmy.
COSTUME DESIGNER ROSEMARY LEPRE FORMAN
Rosemary Lepre Forman hails from New Jersey, making her the perfect fit for her latest solo design project Bridge and Tunnel by Ed Burns, a series filmed in New York City's tri-tate area. After graduating with distinction from Wesley College, she moved to NYC and landed her first job as a costume assistant on Woody Allen’s Deconstructing Harry. Work on the Michael J. Fox show Spin City soon followed and it was there that she met her mentor, Emmy Award winning designer Patricia Field. After years of honing her craft on shows like Sex and the City, Law & Order: SVU, Sweeney Todd, Friends From College, Red Oaks and Darren Star's Younger, Rosemary has finally earned the title Head Costume Designer.
THE DECOR
THE DIRECTION
Each character was given a backstory that had both a vibe and color palette. Burns attached each character to a selection of music from the period, and that was used to build out the look and feel for each character's world.
THE MOOD + FEEL
Dreamy and glowy.
THE COLOR PALETTE
From pastels to jewel tones.
THE TEXTURES
Corduroy, velvet, macramé, fringe, smooth glass, organic wicker.
THE PRINTS + PATTERNS
Tone-on-tone prints, damask, linen, corduroy, late 70's to early 80's florals, pop art, wallpapers in bigger prints.
KEY ITEMS + ELEMENTS
Artwork, wallpaper, and lighting are important. Printed wallpapers, wicker furniture, fan chairs, jewel-toned barware, velvet, outdoor umbrellas with fringe, ashtrays everywhere, American flag references, hanging macrame and macrame pillows, butterfly...anything, stained glass lamps and wall hangings, quartz grapes, wispy dried botanicals, floor vases.
THE BRANDS + RESOURCES
Items from two period shows that had shut down, items from a friend of a friend who was giving away her grandparents' things, Ace Hardware, Anthropologie, Wayfair, Target, the Novogratz collection. Raymour + Flanigan is a key resource for Kushnick.
BTS
Bridge and Tunnel was among the first productions to film following the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Between items being heavily out of stock and the fact that the season had to be rewritten for new scenes that were no longer taking place in Manhattan, it forced the set décor team to be doubly creative; the crew pulled their own photos from family albums to help shape the visuals for set decoration; Burns wasn't precious about his big notebook of scripts and ideas being left in the rain during production. Isabella Farrell's character, Stacey, has an elaborate bedroom that includes the best elaborate headboard that you can shop HERE.
NOTES ON THE PROJECT
"I loved being with crew again, and I thought about how much love my craft. Bridge and Tunnel came with perfect timing because my team was longing to get back to work, and it was the perfect sized job. Working with an amenable director who is so committed to the project and so authentic was great. And there was a lot of true nostalgia our crew was feeling during production." - Beth Kushnick
HOW TO INCORPORATE 80'S DECOR TODAY
For the color palette, think anything from pastels to jewel tones. Mix everything; mix metals, and mix styles. Upholstery should be chunky and over the top. The iconic fan chair is a piece to consider. Choose corduroy and velvet for texture. Wicker is making such a come back! Try window treatments featuring embroidery, or beaded curtains. For accents, think elevated and artistic macramés, colorful art à la Peter Max, and jewel-toned glass. Top tables with curated collections of things like vases and glass flower paperweights. Create a bar area, many homes at the time had multiple bar areas.
SET DECORATOR BETH KUSHNICK
For over 35 years, Beth Kushnick has created character-driven settings for some of the most recognizable feature films and television series, including seven seasons as set decorator on the award-winning hit CBS drama The Good Wife and its critically acclaimed spin off, The Good Fight. Kushnick’s approachable yet sophisticated style has resonated deeply with audiences, leading her to become a pioneer in her field. Bringing set decoration to the mainstream, her work on The Good Wife generated so much viewer interest that she collaborated with Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams to create the first home décor license in television history for both The Good Wife and The Good Fight. When Covid-19 hit, Kushnick turned her efforts towards yet another first for a set decorator and launched her own podcast, Decorating the Set: From Hollywood to Your Home with Beth Kushnick. Throughout her storied career, Kushnick helped breathe life into a vast array of worlds – from the uber rich estates of Reversal of Fortune to the darkly mysterious realm of sci-fi TV favorite Fringe. Kushnick also worked on the feature films Hide and Seek, Rounders, Mortal Thoughts and Private Parts, and she has set decorated the East Coast units of The Insider, Jumanji, Frequency, Wanted and National Treasure. Her television work includes the comedic political thriller BrainDead, Kings, Law & Order: Trial by Jury, Instinct, Conviction and Evil. Kushnick was also the set decorator for The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s lauded Costume Collection exhibition, The Model as Muse. Kushnick has also created licensed product under her own label, BAK Home, making the aspirational attainable by allowing her followers to shop at retailers such as Wayfair, Amazon, and Walmart for her go-to pieces from set. A native New Yorker, Kushnick is a Hall of Fame Inductee of The Set Decorators Society of America, a voting member of both The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences as well as a Christie’s Arbiter of Style.
ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF EPIX
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