The costumes of "in Treatment" shake up the representation of the female body<

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In 2008, the series In Treatment (adapted from the Israeli program BeTipul and recently become In Therapy with us) followed different therapy sessions, week after week, conducted between the psychologist Paul Weston and his patients . Finely written and embodied, the program and its many variations have lifted a taboo on psychotherapy, and has revolutionized the representation of mental health on screen.

More than ten years after its cancellation, In Treatment returns in 2021 with a new season, broadcast on OCS in France. And for the occasion, the series has a new look: in this fourth installment, Paul Weston leaves his chair to Brooke Taylor, a young shrink living in the heights of Los Angeles. With her, the series once again shakes up the representations, not only of shrinks on screen, but also of the female body and the ways of dressing it.

In these 24 new episodes, the new therapist is embodied by Uzo Aduba, who was best known for the iconic role of inmate Suzanne “Crazy Eyes” Warren in Orange is the new black. Here, the actress explores a new territory: installed in an opulent house overlooking Los Angeles, Brooke Taylor is a psychiatrist with an apparently millimeter life, who, between two therapy sessions, fights against her own anxieties.

But what is obvious from the first scene is that she is also and above all undermined like never before. Silk suits, luxury pyjamas, perfectly coordinated shoes and bags: from the first to the last episode, all of the character's outfits are sumptuous. And this is not unusual.

Brooke Taylor is dressed sumptuously throughout the season. | Screenshot OCS/HBO

A shrink that clashes

In the first seasons of In Treatment, Paul Weston was most often dressed in the traditional way, in shirts and suits in dark colors. Same for Frédéric Pierrot in En Thérapie, dressed in jackets or sweaters in reassuring tones. And when the fictional shrinks are women, a fortiori women who are not thin, they are generally dressed in large tunics and fancy necklaces: Dr. Akopian in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Betty in Broad City, Dr. Reisman in Big Little Lies, or Molly's shrink in Insecure could probably share the same closet.

Tiffany Hasbourne, costume designer for season 4 of In Treatment who also worked on the series Atlanta and Ballers, did everything she could to get out of the clichés: "I was constantly trying to make sure that she came out of the stereotype of the normal psy on television, that is to say dark, erased, very boring colors. Impossible indeed to find a boring outfit in Brooke's wardrobe, based on bright suits, platform shoes, patterned jumpsuits, and above all, bright colors that clash. An astonishing bias for a shrink, but also, as Tiffany Hasbourne puts it, for a luscious woman who "does not look 34".

The character of Uzo Aduba wears bright colors almost always. | Screenshots OCS/HBO – Editing Slate.fr

The costumes, in the series, embody a real challenge: just like the acting, the script or the photography, they help to tell a story to the viewers. And when they're worn by actresses who don't have the very fine build typical of Hollywood, the message they convey about the person wearing them is all the more important.

In Girls, the character of Hannah Horvath, played by Lena Dunham, regularly wore outfits that were unbecoming, too tight or badly cut. An ill-fitting wardrobe that reflected Hannah's legendary awkwardness, but also the real difficulty of dressing well when you only have "plus size" clothes at your disposal, and you don't have the means to go to the tailor. For the series Shrill, which talks about grossophobia among other things, costume designer Amanda Needham had to make herself the majority of the outfits of the main actress, Aidy Bryant, because there was no guard - dress of choice adapted to its morphology.

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This is a common problem for fat or simply curvy actresses, who sometimes have to bring their own clothes to photo shoots to make sure they have something in their size. An experience recounted by Aidy Bryant or even Mindy Kaling – whose iconoclastic wardrobe in The Mindy Project, supervised by Salvador Perez, comes closest to that of Brooke in In Treatment: colorful, impactful, and very becoming. Giving these characters well-tailored and colorful looks means making them visible, and offering them the same dignity as all the other trendy female characters that populate the small screen.

"You don't have to avoid color if you don't make a 34"

We understand it from the foreground on her sumptuous living room: Brooke Taylor is certainly very rich. Her character therefore does not have the problems of Hannah Horvath or Annie Easton when it comes to dressing well: we suspect that she has the means to frequent the biggest shops in the city, and to have their clothes or even to order them to measure. But the most impressive thing about her wardrobe are the bright colors that characterize her outfits.

Beyond perfectly fitted cuts, color treatment was costume designer Tiffany Hasbourne's priority. She wanted to break away from an industry that she believes gravitates more towards dark tones and baggy cuts when it comes to dressing a woman who isn't thin. "One of the most important things I wanted people to know is that you don't have to avoid the color if you don't make a 34. This is a psychologist, who lives in an upscale neighborhood, and the fact that she was luscious did not mean that she was dressed in black, gray or dark colors. It was very important for me to celebrate her with bright colors, and to find the perfect cut for her body.

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However, this very marked visual choice was not immediately dubbed by the production – according to the costume designer, because of the clichés associated with the way curvy women dress: “I wanted to change the way women rounds are seen on TV.” In one episode, the shrink is dressed all in white. In another, she bursts onto the screen in a hot pink satin suit. Outfits that the costume designer claims to have had difficulty imposing. “People tend to think this pink is too much, especially in a monochromatic outfit. But she is a woman who is extremely sure of who she is in her work.

Brooke Taylor is very confident in her job, and it shows in her outfits. | Screenshot OCS/HBO – Editing Slate.fr

In her private life, Brooke does not have the same confidence: a sober alcoholic for several years, she flirts with a relapse, and asks herself many questions about her private life and her desire for motherhood. In these intimate scenes, she often wears slightly darker, less vivid tones, and slightly more relaxed outfits. But in his work, Dr. Taylor is always impeccable, and his costumes reflect it perfectly. “Generally speaking on television, producers think that people who don't wear small sizes shouldn't wear colors. They tend to make them blend into the landscape, to want to blur their presence. And I said no, she has a beautiful body, [...] and she's very comfortable with her body."

Helping women feel better about themselves

To dress the actress, Tiffany Hasbourne also made a large part of the custom-made costumes. When asked if it was related, as for Shrill, to the difficulty of finding suits in sizes that go beyond the 38, his answer is "yes and no". According to her, the main difficulty was mainly linked to the pandemic: not only were the stores closed, but the arrivals were also much rarer. "We had no problem finding great joggers, but finding a dress could be tough." The costume designer was nevertheless able to buy several pieces for the shoot: like this incredible golden tracksuit worn by Brooke during a particularly difficult evening. Or the cream Kenzo dress that the actress wears on all the posters for the series, and which has been embellished with a custom-made leather corset – another example of an outfit that initially scared the production.

Tiffany Hasbourne's costume choices sometimes scared the production off at first. | Screenshot OCS/HBO – Editing Slate.fr

But if she created the majority of the outfits herself, it was mainly because Tiffany Hasbourne had this very specific look in mind for Brooke: "I could have easily bought all her outfits, but I think that would have left everyone in a certain comfort zone. We have been able to create something different, which takes us away from what is “normal”. The costume designer was particularly keen to create a monochrome palette, to embody Brooke's power, her solidity, and the fact that we want to confide in her. A radical look that made producers doubt, until the monochromatic trend of the presidential inauguration of January 2021 made them change their minds.

But, explains Tiffany Hasbourne, “I knew I wasn't going to find a lot of monochromatic suits in 44 or 46. I know you're not going to find a suit like that that's firecracker pink. I know that some pieces, in some colors, don't come in those sizes, because the assumption is that people who wear those sizes don't wear those kinds of colors. [...] Yes, it was a challenge to find outfits in these sizes in store, especially during the pandemic. And we wanted to give him the same options as someone who would be a size 34 and who would have a real multitude of choices.”

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If these outfit choices are not insignificant, it is because they can change mentalities on what some women think they have the right or not to wear. The costume designer hopes these declarative bursts of color will inspire other women who don't necessarily fit a size 36: “It was so important to me to help someone say, 'I can wear pink now! I never would have thought to wear something like this!” The goal was for women to feel better about their bodies, not to feel like they had to hide, just because they weren't wearing small sizes."

This change, Tiffany Hasbourne already notices it at home: “I know that it has helped me, personally, to turn more often to color. Not wanting to hide in outfits that are too big. Seeing Uzo, I said to myself “I have to stop doing this! I have to stop hiding.'” Since the series aired, she has also received many messages on social networks, from women who turn to her for information on where to find identical outfits – and, when. she can, she helps them find equivalent models. "All of these women contact me and tell me that they feel inspired by the daring of Brooke's outfits, and I hope it helps them be just as daring."