23 Interesting Things To Know About The Costumes In "Judas And The Black Messiah"
So many berets!
The highly anticipated film Judas and the Black Messiah has finally dropped on HBO Max, and if you haven't watched it yet, you reaallllly should.
Set in 1968, this biographical film tells the story of FBI informant William O'Neal (LaKeith Stanfield), who infiltrated the Illinois Black Panther Party to keep tabs on charismatic leader Chairman Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya).
FYI, it's streaming for free for subscribers on HBO Max now until March 14, and it's also playing in theaters.
Being a period piece, Judas and the Black Messiah features some *chef's kiss* costume design. So, BuzzFeed attended a virtual summit and then chatted with the film's costume designer, Charlese Antoinette Jones, to learn more. Here's what we found out about her amazing work on the film:
Note: Spoilers ahead!
1. Jones started researching for the film about a year before it was even greenlit.
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The talented costume designer explained, “I already had a ton of research about the Black Panthers because, at the time, I was doing a TV show that had a time travel element and we had a whole episode that featured Black Panthers. So, it was just serendipitous that Shaka King (the director) was working on a movie about Fred Hampton and the Illinois Black Panther Party.”
2. And she relied on several documentaries during her research.
“I got really lucky because I had a lot of documentary footage to pull from. A lot of journalists were shooting the Party and the Rainbow Coalition of that time," Jones said.
3. However, the actual prep time Jones and her team had was very short — roughly five weeks.
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And luckily, she was able to pull information from many sources. “There’s tons of images on Getty Images, so I literally broke down people’s wardrobes in these images and had my team go out and find these pieces."
4. Jones and her team sourced roughly 90% of the clothing for the film, so it's almost entirely authentic '60s clothes you see in the movie.
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"There was a lot going on, so we sourced clothing from LA, Cleveland, and Cincinnati — where we were shooting — and we sourced clothing from various dealers down South. So, it was like an amazing treasure hunt,” said Jones.
5. Various chapters of the Black Panther Party had their own versions of a uniform and sets of rules about what members could and couldn't wear.
“The images we’re most familiar with of the Black Panther Party are the Oakland chapter. They have the powder blue shirts on, the leather jackets, sunglasses, and berets,” Jones explained.
6. And there were specific reasonings behind the Black Panther Party uniforms. For example, the iconic berets were meant to be symbolic of being revolutionaries...
"The berets, as Huey P. Newton said, was the international symbol of revolutionaries,” said Jones.
7. ...and the black leather jackets and sunglasses were simply practical — these were readily available clothing items and also useful for security reasons.
In her research, Jones found that "the reason why they wore leather jackets, specifically, was because it was something a lot of people had already. Also, they wore the sunglasses with the jackets to kind of conceal their identities for safety."
8. The Illinois chapter had their own unique look — the green camo WWII jackets, as featured in the film.
Jones went on to elaborate the symbolism, saying, “The Illinois Party specifically, which was formed in late ’68, they wore these camo green WWII jackets for a couple reasons… 1) It’s what was readily available, 2) there were a lot of protests around the Vietnam war at that time, and 3) to symbolize that they were at war. That this country was at war with Black people, the Chicago police was at war with them."
9. There really were several groups using different colored berets at that time in Chicago.
"It is visually fascinating to have a Rainbow Coalition, and also have people of different races wearing different colored berets," said Jones.
10. For example, in real life, the Young Lords really did wear purple berets...
And the Young Lords' leader, Cha Cha Jimenez, actually came to set.
11. ...and the Young Patriots wore coyote brown berets.
It's a brief moment, but you can see the different color berets during Fred's speech about forming a Rainbow Coalition.
12. And there were a couple reasons why groups at that time wore berets.
"Either one group (or sometimes gangs) already had the berets and that was what they adopted, or a group of a different race was inspired by the Black Panther Party and adopted the berets," explained Jones.
13. Deborah's look evolves throughout the film to help signify change.
The filmmakers wanted "to be able to signify change in her as she becomes a mother and also becomes a revolutionary. It was fun to mature her through her clothing," said Jones.
14. When Deborah and Fred are reunited after he gets out of jail, Jones said she wanted Deborah's costume to be warm and welcoming.
Jones elaborated, "I picked the colors that she's wearing to be warm, like warm-fuzzy. So, those browns and golds and that beautiful pumpkin dress that she wears, I wanted them to be really warm and welcoming."
15. And you'll note a complete tonal shift overall in the cast's clothing after Chairman Fred gets out of jail.
"You see it visually through clothing, like everyone's wearing more leather, the colors that people are wearing are getting a little darker, because we're getting towards the end," said Jones.
16. The robe Deborah is wearing the night of the raid and Hampton's murder was re-created by Jones and her team by referencing archival footage.
To get it just right, they "had to design the fabric and print it as well," said Jones.
17. Jones and her PA would literally print out every photo of Fred Hampton and lay them out on the floor to track the progression of Hampton's look in real life.
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"His look was about utility, he was a former athlete, so early on he's wearing a lot of crewneck sweatshirts and T-shirts, particularly when he's out in the streets organizing. And then later on in the film, as he starts wearing a leather jacket later in his life, he's wearing more collared shirts."
18. Throughout the film, O'Neal's looks are meant to represent how confused he is as a character — he doesn't know if he's a Panther or a Fed. So he often copies others, like Palmer.
"Palmer is like authentic and cool, and O'Neal is trying too hard and he comes off like really, really flashy," said Jones.
19. O'Neal slowly starts to wear "flashy" accessories as the film progresses, like green boots, a fancy belt buckle, and green-tinted sunglasses.
The buckle (which is hard to see in the final cut of the film, but it's there!!!) was actually a vintage one Jones and her team found, but they had to re-create it because the vintage one broke.
20. Speaking of green, the color green is often used on O'Neal to symbolize greed and capitalism.
This look, with the green fedora, was one of Jones' favorites. She said, "He has on this green fedora and he really looks ridiculous and over-the-top to be having an 'informant' meeting. I think it just spoke to his character and how lost his character is."
21. The Eyes on the Prize 2 suit Stanfield wears as O'Neal in the film was actually built for the movie.
"We had to build that and sourced all the fabric," said Jones.
22. The last time we see O'Neal, you'll note his outfit is a kind of hybrid Panther-Fed look.
"You can track a lot of what's happening in the story through his clothing," said Jones.
23. And finally, after working on Judas and the Black Messiah, Jones actually established a program through the Boys & Girls Club of Cleveland to help disadvantaged children in the community where they filmed through fashion.
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Jones explained, "I think working on this project, learning what I learned about Chairman Fred’s life and the Party and what was going on at that time — you don’t need a lot to make a difference. They didn’t have a lot, they had each other, and they put together what they had to feed children. So, you know, I think it’s just really important for all of us to remember that you don’t need a lot to make a difference.”
