Creating the costuming and wardrobe for a story that requires worldbuilding and fictional settings, like “Black Panther,” allows for more freedom than a story based on reality. Costume designer Tanja Caldwell, who has previously worked in the Marvel franchise, proved that she could excel in both areas when tasked with shaping the style and visual identities for the characters in Netflix’s “Forever.”
Created by Mara Brock Akil and inspired by Judy Blume’s 1975 novel of the same name, “Forever” follows two childhood friends in Los Angeles who reconnect as teenagers and experience the highs and lows of a first love. The show was warmly welcomed by viewers after fulfilling a long-standing demand for coming-of-age TV shows centered around young Black women.
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While Caldwell has previously worked on shows with Black women at the center — such as “Being Mary Jane,” “Insecure” and “Grown-ish” — bringing characters like Keisha Clark and Justin Edwards, played by Lovie Simone and Michael Cooper Jr. respectively, to life required meticulous precision, cultural nuance and a deep understanding of Black style. Caldwell, who worked with Ruth E. Carter on the first season of “Being Mary Jane” and the “Black Panther” movies, already had a firm grasp on the concept. This time, she got to work with Akil, who writes full-fledged, uniquely specific characters, with a flair for style.
Caldwell and Akil had been in each other’s professional atmospheres for years before “Forever.” Along with the creative team and other producers like Regina King, the creatives were piecing the characters together, and their wardrobes were at the center of that. “My initial conversations with Mara and with Regina after reading the pilot was that we wanted to make sure that it felt authentically, effortlessly Los Angeles, especially in the wardrobe,” Caldwell told FN. “And especially when it comes to Black culture and Black L.A. culture.”
Justin represents the young men his age in Los Angeles who have an eccentric, creative and artistic aesthetic. He also comes from a well-off family — his mother Dawn, played by Karen Pittman, is a top executive in corporate finance and his father Eric, played by Wood Harris, is a restaurant owner — and his style reflects that type of upbringing. While teenage boys in 2018 were wearing skinny, distressed jeans, Caldwell and Akil decided that because of his always-polished mother, Dickies would be a better fit for him to wear, since they “are still cool and fashionable, but feel a little bit more put together.”
Justin’s wardrobe consists of T-shirts and flannels, while his footwear ranges from Vans to rare Jordans and everything in between. Throughout the season, Justin wears designer items from Off-White, sought-after Jordans and other styles that, during that time, spoke to his affluence, wealth and access.
On the other hand, Keisha is an athlete who comes from a more humble background, whose mom works multiple jobs to make ends meet, so the team had to tweak their approach. They sourced her clothing from brands teenagers buy from like Zara, Edikted, House of CB, Urban Outfitters and Flight Club for sneakers. “We really wanted her to feel like that just effortlessly beautiful L.A. girl next door. One thing about young L.A. women is this very effortless casual aspect to the way they dress. It’s very T-shirt and jeans, it’s more minimal than, say, a young woman from New York,” Caldwell says. “But with Keisha, we drew a lot of inspiration from the ‘90s and early 2000s, which made a resurgence during 2018 and has continued to now.”
When viewers meet Keisha at a New Year’s Eve party where she reunites with Justin, she is in a black patent leather Miaou corset, juxtaposed with baggy cargo light-washed jeans and a pair of Jordans. She accessorized with stacked gold necklaces, including a name plate necklace, and two pairs of bamboo earrings. “She’s athletic, she’s a bit of a tomboy, she has a certain confidence about her but also this vulnerability. We wanted to give her some feminine sex appeal,” the costume designer adds, naming Aaliyah and TLC as her influences.
Keisha’s style is also reminiscent of other TV characters on ‘90s shows like “Moesha” and “Sister, Sister.” Like in those shows, there were small aspects of her character that felt true and authentic to Black women’s experiences. Something as simple as a scene of Keisha laying out her clothes on the bed before getting dressed and coordinating her sneakers to one piece of clothing to create an outfit adds to the relatability in the story. “[That’s] very much what young women, especially young Black women, do,” Caldwell says. “That’s what we did, what we still do, and probably something we’ll always do. So I love the way they filmed that.”
Sports is also a major part of the plot. Keisha is on the track team while Justin plays basketball. Nike and Jordans were the go-to shoes for the show when it came to their athletics, as opposed to other brands that are also popular today like Hoka, Brooks and On. “Jordan and Nike are still very much cemented in young people’s minds as the pinnacle of sneakers. It’s still the most respected, the most sought after. Still, in comparison to Adidas and Converse,” Caldwell says about the sneaker choices on the show. “With all the newer brands, Jordans and Nike are still very much respected in that way, especially when it comes to athletics.…We chose Nike because it spoke to what I think is popular, and what is most attainable and accessible for these particular characters.”
Sneakers are enmeshed in the story, and the creative team made the young couple have a shared style aesthetic. “They both like Nikes. They both like Jordans, so we wanted to make that a part of their story. They’re both sneakerheads, so we slipped that in there. But you’ll see Justin also still wears Converse and Vans. Keisha definitely wears Converse, another L.A. staple,” Caldwell says. “Converse, Dickies, Carharts, Pro Club, have continued to be brands people born and raised in L.A. always have in their closets. We wanted to make sure they both had those along with what was trendy during that time — and Nike was still very much leading the pack in 2018.”
The show also gives a glimpse into “Black Proms,” which have become a cultural staple for teenagers in the Black community. In recent years, proms have become a spectacle, with high school students spending thousands of dollars to rent luxury vehicles, have custom-made dresses and designer heels, photographers and more. Keisha’s prom was not as over the top, with her dress being sourced from downtown L.A., which is where a majority of young women purchase gowns for a fraction of the price. Still, the team went all out when putting together the Sneaker Ball-themed prom.
Keisha and Justin wore pale pink ensembles, with her opting for the Air Jordan 3 Retro Vintage Floral and Justin wearing the Converse x Play Comme des Garçons high-top sneakers. “Everybody had on sneakers, which again, tied in their relationship and the way they dressed throughout the season. They both love sneakers. There’s this underlined love and appreciation for cool sneakers for the both of them.
“That’s what couples do at Black proms,” Caldwell shares. “They are coordinated from head to toe, the color, corsage, the shoes, the ties, the vests, everything. And we go to integrate sneakers with it. So I really loved dressing that particular scene.”
Clothing and footwear were used as vehicles to showcase the dichotomies in the story and its characters. While Keisha’s mom struggles to pay her child’s private school tuition, Justin’s mom casually wears a Vivienne Westwood suit or a Zimmermann ensemble.
“Clothing can tell all these crazy, interesting stories about life and where we are,” Caldwell says. “It’s fun to put together beautiful costumes, beautiful looks and fashionable things, but things that really speak to who we really are and how we see ourselves that feel true, relatable, sometimes that’s challenging to do. I’m just happy that I was able to do that and I did it with a really great group of people.”
Now that Keisha heads off to Howard University in season two, which Netflix has already announced, the costume designer says: “We got a lot to live up to, but I like a challenge.”
Season one of “Forever” is now streaming on Netflix.