In a forum sponsored by Smithsonian Associates on Sept. 17, Broecker and Gering are expected to appear. Ahead of the event, they had an interview with the source.
Gering is in the middle of her research as they are shooting the season 3 in the middle of October. The setting begins in November of 1982.
“I go down a rabbit hole. I’ll just Google 1982, and look at all the social, cultural, and historical events. I go month by month through the year. There are tons of photos out there, and before you know it, I’ll have had the best afternoon. My favorites are the family photos on people’s blogs. I don’t just want to go with images we are all familiar with. I want to know what Chris Brown of Milwaukee wore to his 13th birthday party or what someone’s grand mom wore to her anniversary dinner,” explained Gering.
She is looking for how real people looked outside the city since the majority of the scenes will be shooting at suburban Virginia.
Gering thought theat her words were kind of off but the interviewer said he was not insulted, “Washington doesn’t have a reputation for being super fashionable.”
When asked us about the jeans of 1982, she said in dismay that they were so high-waisted and wondered if they were really uncomfortable since they were not elastic.
She commented too about the men’s, “With the men, they find that the suits waists are so much higher than in modern suits. The guys just aren’t used to it. But it changes the way you move and carry yourself.”
In the tv show The Americans, the designer use vintage styles as much as possible. But she revealed that sometimes they have to go out of norm and that’s when they do stunts. During these times that they need multiples of the same outfit, and then the producers hire large men, and for some reasons, they just coulldn’t find vintage suits for these men.
If the undercover Soviet spy agent, Elizabeth were a young agent in our time, the designer told us her imagination of what should look like, “I would say the majority of her wardrobe could work today without looking like a costume. It’s elegant, casual, chic sportswear in lots of warm colors and luxurious textiles. Those aren’t trends. She hasn’t yet gotten into big shoulders yet — her look is more late ’70s, really, than mid-’80s.”
She said that even if she were to play as a spy agent in our time, shoulder pads are still necessary but cut to smaller size. The seemingly stress-free look of Elizabeth is because of her shoulder pads. She stressed that her outfit always seemed incomplete without them.
Jenny left a humble message to the readers, “Actually, if any of them want to share their own archives, that would be wonderful. We are always looking for inspiration. I’m really concerned with getting details right. I want to make sure our FBI guys and the guys from the Russian consulate are looking accurate. It’s so much more interesting to see real people than, like, Madonna. So if people have photos from the era, I would love to see them.”
