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

“We Are Lady Parts” facilities on an all-feminine Muslim punk band who are building music their way, making an audience, and balancing their individual everyday living on and off stage.

Costume designer Computer Williams developed just about every woman’s wardrobe to honor her relationship with her faith when also utilizing costume to act as an avenue for cultural and self-expression.

The series, streaming on Peacock, follows 5 women— Amina (Anjana Vasan), the recently recruited direct guitarist Saira (Sarah Kameela Impey), Lady Parts’ direct singer Ayesha, (Juliette Motamed) Woman Parts’ drummer Bisma (Faith Omole), the bass participant, and Momtaz (Lucie Shorthouse), the band’s supervisor.

“All of these women are 2nd-generation migrants, like me I was born in the U.K., but my roots are from Nigeria and Ghana. When I was thinking about these four girls, for me, it was about really making an attempt to realize who they had been culturally and marrying that with a London vibe,” Williams suggests.

Four of the 5 band customers put on some variety of traditional Muslim head coverings. Williams brought on numerous Muslim women of all ages to her layout crew and undertook several hours of investigate to properly portray how model and religion run facet by side.

“A head covering is a head covering, now how you do that is totally up to you and I preferred to display that there’s no one particular way to do it. You can have diversity in a team of Muslim sisters,” Williams says.

Williams broke down each and every rocker’s signature style.

Amina

Amina has her sights set on getting a everyday living companion and acquiring her Ph.D. in microbiology. But, when she joins the band, her plans adjust. In excess of time she finds a new comfort stage in her id. Amina is typically found in pastel-colored hijabs and small makeup.

“Amina was 1 of those people characters the place when you commence the project you have these types of a distinct plan of what it is that you want to do. And then, as you get into the venture, that strategy keeps twisting and turning. And I assume marrying her demure sensibility with this want, and sort of want, to crack out of this mildew and to lean into this new room that she was inhabiting, that felt fantastic to her — that was like my biggest obstacle, how do I make, how do I make neat costumes for a female who loves A-line skirts and button-up blouses. And is now in a punk band.

“There’s the scene in which Lady Pieces is accomplishing a Dolly Parton song and Amina’s nevertheless received her A-line, significant-waisted skirt on, but she’s got this shirt with a horse print on it. And it’s the to start with time we genuinely see her in dark hues, and it’s her edition of leaning into what it means to be punk, but it’s even now genuinely sweet. It is what she could be outdoors of what we ordinarily see her in, which is pastels and closely-embroidered two-piece sets.”

Bisma

Bisma requires excellent delight in her heritage and frequently sports bright 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 providing her artwork on her avenue stall.

“Bisma is Nigerian-British, she’s my sisters and me, and my cousins, and mother’s friends’ kids — it’s a satisfaction in African prints, but incorporating that in a way wherever it feels present day and has a Western vibe, but you continue to holding on to what is genuine to your cultural id.

“Her artwork performs a massive portion in who she is. The inside structure of her apartment is a lot of upcycled, reclaimed furnishings and items. I desired to convey that by to her wardrobe — about 90% of it is thrift shop finds with autumnal colours, macramé, and anything at all that feels Afro-centric.

“We utilized a great deal of Omolola jewellery from a young Nigerian jeweler, and a good deal of her jewelry is from around Africa or particular tribes in Nigeria utilizing symbols that imply a little something to Nigerian society.

“Bisma’s vibe is super vintage. Every thing requires to sense 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 street rage. For her outfits, she’d sport sparkly Center Jap abayas and drapey headscarves with dramatic eyeliner.

“Ayesha’s vibe is who Juliette is in authentic daily life. So fairly than me building the outfits, I took additional of a curatorial technique to her design and style. I curated her wardrobe, and collaborating with her. I’d say, ‘Here, what do you think? What type of seems 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 since she would deliver in a lot of herself in the character. I imagine often when you’re executing a character who is so stylized it can sense a bit forced. I did not want that to take place so she was a large portion of designing what she wore — dim shades, anime prints, large steel detailing, and slogan t-shirts from Aborigine makes.”

Momtaz

Momtaz is the core of the band. As the group’s supervisor, her aim is to convert them into a massive success.

“I needed to make positive that a female who wears a niqab could pick up 1 of the niqabs we made and put on and truly feel like it fit the goal. I did not want it to be like this unusual vogue detail. Almost everything has to just come to feel organic. It couldn’t truly feel like the show was styled. I’m not going to consider and adjust the niqab from what a niqab is what I want to do is just give you variations of this even though continue to trying to keep it modest and fitting the function of being covered while also allowing our actress, Lucie, to come to feel that she was also bringing something cool to the exhibit. She has to shell out these eight months coated and I can picture that that’s very a major factor to just take on, particularly when the women are coming out in appear after search. I consider Ayesha had 37 appears in the entire display when we intended 4 niqabs for Momtaz.

“But it was definitely significant to me that Lucie felt that some structure, care, and thing to consider experienced been taken into her costumes, but that they however match the reason.”