I started my costume career designing over the top country couture for some of Nashville's rising stars, so I'll name drop...Reba,no last name necessary, The Judds--Naomi and Wynonna and Rosanne Cash--Johnny's daughter. I loved the family aspect of the country music community, walking around the back stage hallways of the Grand Ole Opry seeing Dolly Parton having a quiet conversation with a friend or the always happy and bubbly and "on" Loretta Lynn meeting and greeting, handsome George Strait sitting all alone in a dark corner playing his guitar, the glamourous Tammy Wynette almost always in sparkly gold or white in the daytime. And the food, groaning buffets of fried chicken and biscuits and gravy and cheese grits and yams and prime rib and hushpuppies and sweet potato pie with real whipped cream. I haven't even mentioned the clothes. In their real lives the stars were pretty normal--jeans and blouses or sweaters...always jeans, except for Rosanne who was forever on the cutting edge of European fashion. But when the footlights were lit and the blue eye shadow make up was applied and the Aqua Net was sprayed onto skyscraper hairdo's and the sequins were slipped over spandex and nylons...except for Rosanne who was in black leather and boots, then the real country queens came out to play.

Star Turn, directed by my dear friend and fellow Closer blogger Lady Stacey K.Black (who spent a little time singing and song writing in Nashville a couple years ago) let me do my country damndest...almost. I had read the script and SKB had given me a heads up on the song she penned for the music video that "Missy had written" so I was browsing the aisles at, where else--JC Penney...I was in the childrens department, I wanted to buy the little t-shirts for Missy in the kids section, because even though she was a teen ager, Stacey wanted her NOT to look like an L.A. teen which basically means too much cleavage, too much g-string showing above the too tight jeans and too high of heels. Too too too! Missy was to be Indiana sweet and still a bit naive. I came upon a whole group of black and pink and floral print t's, skirts and leggings with poofs of tulle!!! Perfect for the Daddy Say Yes music video. Then Stacey had requested a vintage sun dress look for Missy...I found the most incredible dainty pink and white rose floral print dress at American Vintage and was so excited to tell SKB, she shared my excitement and then with a broad smile said, "Oh!!! We'll need two of those dresses as I plan on doubling Missy and her Daddy in the video!!!" The sound effects of screeching brakes come to mind as I write this...there are never TWO of anything vintage!!! So I race walked to my little car and put pedal to the metal and found Doris Day parking in front of the Betsy Johnson boutique on Melrose Avenue, Betsy is the ONLY designer that I knew would have a precious floral print sun dress and two of them!!! So I picked out my purchase, a lace up bustier floral print bodice with panniered skirt and a little petticoated white eyelet dress to go under this darling ensemble. I excitedly called my director down to the wardrobe department and...cue sound effects---crickets! Chirp-chirp-chirp. Stacey said..."I'm not crazy about the skirt"..."But it's perfect" I pleaded. "Can you make it fuller, more swingy, more drapey, more skirty???", my director requested and then poof, she was off and gone to another meeting. Well, I loved the look and I heard Tim Gunn from Project Runway say into my ear..."Make it work!" And I did!

When I watched the video being shot on the gorgeous grounds of L.A.'s hidden jewel of Descanso Gardens (where in the early '90's I spent 2 summers designing the Sid and Marty Krofft re-make of Land of the Lost for ABC which also garnered me my first Emmy nomination) I was so proud of "making it work" for SKB! I had Maria shorten the pannier's, add more gathers, add some tulle, one can never have too much tulle, and since the look was now super short we added frayed jean shorts underneath, a totally hip and contemporary twist on Country cool! The cowboy boots were perfectly vintage and the hat was a straw cowboy hat off the rack at Urban Outfitters and the guitar and twang courtesy of actor and director!

Brenda arrived at the Bronson Cave's loacation (which was where the Batmobile sped away from Wayne Manor in the original 1960's Batman series...footnote, I was a huge fan of Matman when I was a kid in the '60's and got to costume Adam West and Burt Ward and Frank Gorshin in a kitschy Movie of the Week called "Return to the Batcave" check it out it even has a cameo by Curtis Armstrong our smarmy Closer lawyer Goldman!!! See, the family reference from earlier!) anyway, Brenda arrived wearing a large floral print JCP American Living jersey dress and her Hiking Boots, what a Paris Runway look!!! The dress was in shades of eggplant and eggnog...at the office Brenda slipped into a vintage Neusteters sand linen Dior-esque New Look silhouette jacket with a double linen Pilgrim collar of sand and white. We met Missy's grandpa the incredibly talented Ken Howard in off the rack shirts and slacks and a navy blazer and the smarmy Hollywood manager, Bruno Perez, wearing his black Brunowood t-shirt in silver glittery silkscreening and a washed herringbone leather sport coat from All Saints. Bruno was a brilliant stereotype of everything that's bad about Hollywood, slick, sleazy, greasy hair and shaped eyebrows...brought back a lot of memories of the characters I met when I was first starting out in low budget! Gavin looked perfectly put together in a bespoke suit and his ever present brooch, a Victorian etched heirloom from jewelry maven Joan Goldman and did you see his gorgeous rose gold Patek Phillipe wristwatch?

Brenda looked like a little girl curled up on the couch with Fritz rubbing her feet as she contemplated signing the agreement. She wore an olive green Pure Collection henley and a pair of pink satin kitty pajama bottoms from Target bought back in 2008. Fritz looked super sexy in a tight and short polo and jeans.

Can you say "stunning"? Brenda shows up to work the next day in a new/old Irene suit, and what an incredible suit it was. Light charcoal gray with a darker gray band that outlined Kyra's wasp waist and curvy hips in only the way Irene could! This is the first time all season that we have seen Brenda in a complete suit. I wanted her to appear as though she had made a good decision in signing the settlement and putting on a severe suit showed to the world she was back in business. Raydor wore a black Armani jacket and skirt with a forest green t-shirt. Her necklace was from my mom, Evelyn LaVoi's jewelry box and was a stand of Tiffany pearls from 1965, each pearl was incased in alternating shiny and matte white gold. Mary McDonnel loves a back story like Kyra and all my cast and Mary said to me...I feel I must have a lunch date to go to so I want to jazz up my look a little, thus the pearl necklace. Gavin of course sported another fab piece of man jewelry this time a rectangular gold filagree pin again from Joan Goldman. I loved that he loved the Daddy Say Yes video so much...like a frothing tween fan!

Starting my career in Nasville, I never could have dreamed that I would be the costume designer on the number one cable drama of All Time! I dreamed that I would be the country version of Bob Mackie, not in L.A. but in Nashville, well dreams do come true but often never as we dreamt! However, sequins, spandex, tulle and Aqua Net still play a big part in my L.A. life...hmmm, I feel a song coming on. Thank god I was able to leave the Hollywood sleazeballs in the dust when I hooked up with the Shephard/Robin/Duff/TNT folks! No greasy hair or shaped eyebrows in sight!