Costume Designer Janie Bryant Talks Outfitting the Magical World of Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches (Exclusive)

When it comes to the latest entry in AMC’s Immortal Universe, Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches, the series takes viewers deeper into the late author’s universe this time not with vampires, but into a world of magic and complicated family as we follow the story of the Mayfairs and their generations-long entanglement with the mysterious and sinister entity, Lasher. Set in the vibrant city of New Orleans, it’s a rich story with dark magical elements and mystery spanning both the past and the present. A big part of bringing the complicated story — which is based on the nearly 1000-page novel The Witching Hour — to life is the costumes. That task fell to costume designer Janie Bryant. Bryant is well-known for her work on a wide variety of series, including Mad Men, Deadwood, Yellowstone prequels 1883 and 1923, and many more projects. Bryant recently sat down with ComicBook.com to talk about her work on Mayfair Witches and how she brought the characters off the page and onto the screen.

“I was designing 1883 and Mayfair Witches was gearing up and Jeff Freilich, who’s a producer, he had wanted to work with me for several years,” Bryant said. “I actually knew Esta [Spalding, showrunner] beforehand as well because I had designed The Last Tycoon and she was one of the writers … So, we were all kind of circling each other, I guess, for a little bit. And then it just worked out, time wise, for Mayfair Witches. I had also worked with Alexandra Daddario before when I designed Why Women Kill, the first season. And I had worked with harry Hamlin before as well when I designed Mad Men. So, it was just so lovely to work with so many of the people that I have worked with before, just love and know, and it was great.”

Read on for our interview with Bryant as she breaks down different costume choices for the characters of Mayfair Witches.

Cortland Mayfair

“For me, his character, Cortland is very much old South, Southern gentleman And I think just in general, New Orleans has such a kind of a fancier aesthetic anyway. And also, being Southern myself, I understand those kind of dressing traditions with men and women that we as Southerners are raised with. Much more of a formality. So, I felt like Cortland was really in that, especially since he is old South, old Southern money, there’s definitely a formality to his character.”

“I just love his whole palette being very… except for his dinner jacket that he wears to the costume ball, which is just way more festive anyway. So, that was more about, he is the host with the most and having a very festive aesthetic for that night. And especially since it is kind of a costume ball, which is very. much a part of New Orleans customs, so It could be way over the top. But for his usual dress, I saw him much more of a man who would be in a sport coat and trousers, so suit separates, as opposed to a more of a traditional business suit. He’s much more of that Gentleman’s Quarterly kind of style aesthetic.”

“I think Cortland has rules. And he loves his flourishes. I made all his shirts with French cuffs, and he has very fancy cufflinks. It’s so suiting for his environment, too. The house, it’s designed very much in that genteel Southern style and so, his costume design reflects the design in which he lives.”

Rowan Fielding

“She lives in San Francisco and, I wanted Rowan’s style to be much more androgynous. She is and even just story-wise, I feel, especially in the beginning, before she kind of embraces her family and her femininity of being a part of these witches, this amazing family, that is about the power of femininity. She has really not embraced all of her power, she’s really in a much more of a masculine role. She has not come into her power yet as a witch, as a Mayfair, to be in full power of her femininity yet. So that’s why I really loved the idea of having much more of an androgynous design.”

Rowan’s dress in “The Thrall”

“I think that is kind of a foreshadowing to where her character is going. Because that whole scene, I just wanted to feel super dreamy, beautiful, airy, but also to have her sense of darkness as well. And it’s definitely still staying within her color palette of the navies, the blues, kind of this cool tones, because that was a big part of the costume design as well. When she’s in San Francisco, her color palette is very cool. It’s teals, and navies, and grays, and kind of playing to just the coldness of San Francisco in a way, before she gets to New Orleans, which is much more warm tones, lustful. It’s much more hot, sweaty New Orleans. So just in terms of costume design, especially Rowan, because we see her in San Francisco first, which is her color palette is totally in the cool tones. And then she really shifts into these warmer tones of jewel tones, and just warm tones of New Orleans.”

Scotland, Suzanne, and the use of the color green

“It’s 17th century Scotland. And something that Esta and I talked about a lot, is that to make Scotland to be as grubby and dirty as possible. You want to feel the dirt, and the sweat, and the grime of that place. Yeah. And my distressing team was amazing, because to have to make all those costumes to be so textured, and for the audience to be able to feel the lifestyle of those characters. It takes a whole team to get all the distressing right, and all the tears right. And so that was a really, really important aspect of Scotland is to be able to see how dirty it was, which I love. I feel like it just adds an extra layer to the color palette, the texture of the characters, to see. I really wanted all the fabrics to be super burlapy, or torn, or it just had to be… Everything was just very much about high texture, and just being very contrasty.”

“My team makes fun of me because I’m always like, ‘Highs and lows. Highs and lows. Everything has to be highs and lows.’ Lights and darks. Lights and darks. Lights and darks.’ But I love just design-wise and how it photographs. It’s so important, especially for Scotland. That was an important part for Scotland. And another important part is the Mayfair witches, their color is green, and green is the color of love. And also, if you notice the Mayfair witches’ key is a green emerald. And so that was very important for Susanna to have her green cape.”

Ciprien’s gloves

“It was definitely a process because Esta and I talked a lot about this. Because when you read it on the page, it sounds like a little fantasy in a way. It doesn’t seem real of like, ‘How do you make those gloves look realistic and believable, as opposed to a jokey thing?’ So that was really the intention behind getting the right pair of gloves because it really had to be almost a second skin. And so, it was really important that the leather was super thin, that the gloves were super fitted, that they were also… Except for the funeral, but the gloves that he wears most of the time, are the brown gloves that really match his skin tone so beautifully. So, it’s not something that is just in your face. It was all about the perfect fit, and the subtlety of this character having to wear something that totally was realistic and doesn’t take you out of the story. So those were the important elements of Cip’s gloves, really.”

“I think that that is exactly the challenge of costume designing for him. Because on the page in a book, it’s a different thing than creating it in a television show, and like, ‘How is that going to really play?’ And without jumping at you of like, ‘Oh, that’s really corny.’ It’s really important for it to seem realistic, and natural, and something that is just kind of, you don’t really notice, until it’s kind of pointed out. Because you know what? It’s 100 degrees in New Orleans. Why? You know what I mean? There’s also that aspect of it too of like, ‘Why would a person be walking around in gloves in 100-degree weather?’ So, there are different elements that kind of played into the gloves really looking natural, and normal, and not calling attention to itself.”

Millie Mayfair

“I just thought that Millie should have a little doily around her neck. I was really happy by the way it looked on film. I just watched the third episode, and I was very happy with the way it turned out. There’s a little Victorian-esque elements going on with the sisters over at the Mayfair Mansion.”

Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches airs Sundays at 9pm ET on AMC and AMC+.