It’s all about the fit! Megan McLachlan talks to The Chair Company costume designer Nicky Smith about dressing these zany characters on the HBO comedy series.
Have you noticed that Ron’s (Tim Robinson) suit fit changes over the course of The Chair Company? You’re not crazy! Costume designer Nicky Smith confirms that when we meet Ron, his fit is a little baggier to make him look “sad.”
“If you put on clothes that are just a little too big for your body, especially for men, it creates a hunched-over effect,” says Smith. “You look lost, like a teenager putting on your first JCPenney suit, and it just doesn’t fit your body correctly.”
For Ron’s pleated Dockers, Smith selected pants that went up two to three sizes, and then she took in the waist so they wouldn’t have that “volume.”
“It’s like sadness in the leg. And then when you look at him standing full up, they always pool at the ankles. It’s just the saddest thing, but it really helps sell the character.”
But of course, Ron feels cooler when he’s tracking the seedy underbelly of Ohio, and with that, his style changes.
“Initially, I was like, oh, it’s a leather jacket,” says Smith of making him look hipper. “It’s turtlenecks, that sort of energy. And [Zach Kanin and Tim Robinson] were like, no, so I was like, maybe his clothes fit better. And he’s still a dad on a mission, wearing New Balance. I think that’s the way to make him look cooler. The shirts are actually pretty decent shirts, but when you put them with that sad belt and the jeans and that New Balance sneaker, it just dad-ifies the whole look.”
While Ron tries to figure out what’s going on with the damn chair company at his office, Smith also has her work cut out for her in supporting the quirky genius of Kanin and Robinson. Picking out the perfect shirt in the first episode was crucial.
“The good thing about Tim and Zach is that as much as the show lives within their mind, they invite us into the world as part of the creative process. So in the original script, it’s a ‘party shirt.’ So for me, a party shirt is like a Versace shirt. And Tim’s like, no, no, no. It’s a party shirt. So he sent me some ’90s references, and I was like, oh, it’s that kind of party shirt.”
Smith did some investigating and found one online she thought would be perfect.
“They loved it, and the only note I got was, ‘Can you make it a little bit darker?’ They were worried that the brightness of the shirt would reflect in the lights when he’s running. So a member of my team dyed it down to like a light gray. Everyone gave the thumbs up, and that’s the shirt.”
And they didn’t even have to do anything to the buttonholes, so it could come off Mike Santini (Joseph Tudesco) as he’s running at the end of the first episode!
Speaking of Mike, so much of his wardrobe speaks to his character. How did Smith combine Midwestern style with New York gangster?
“He’s that guy you see at a racetrack who’s been placing bets for days. And you’re like, how long has this guy been here? He’s always here every Wednesday from sunup to sundown. His whole pension check is going to the ponies. And that was the idea of it. He’s not really New York, but he clearly idolizes that lifestyle and is very Midwest, very set in his ways.”
To really drive home that point, Smith put him in comfortable orthotic footwear. We see him in white Reebok sneakers, “the epitome of Dad on the run.”
And then of course, there’s Douglas (Jim Downey), Ron’s work nemesis, who gets trapped under a refrigerator —and doesn’t get to pick what he can eat! — after his mistakes party. He shows up in a huge sweater vest in Episode 5’s “I won. Zoom in.”
“When we did the fitting, I wanted to test him in the wheelchair to see how it looked when he was sitting down. And we’re like, a sweater vest would really sell the sympathy card of poor Douglas.”
While Smith admits there’s a lot of work she puts in as a costume designer to flesh out the character, she credits the actors for their part in this beautiful collaboration.
“We’d all come in and be like, oh, how exciting for both of us that you’re here to do this role.”
The Chair Company airs on HBO.
