By the end of series three we were like living and breathing Moordale. Like we knew
instantly like that's a Moordale thing, that's not, we don't want to see that.
The kind of look and feel of Sex Education is something that we're all incredibly proud of and it really was a
collaboration between all of the creative heads on this production which I think is a key to its
success actually and the success of being committed to such a kind of unique stylized project that
was really exciting to be involved in.
When it was discussed that it needed to be timeless and sort of non-specific and very much a fresh world
that everyone could relate to and almost having a sense of nostalgia to it but not quite knowing why.
It's a feeling, isn't it? That was very exciting because I kind of thought what's nostalgic to you
is not nostalgic to me because we've had different backgrounds different lives you know. So it was
very interesting to come up with a way of thinking that would make everyone feel some form of
emotion or some form of recollection, plus of course having the John Hughes little
dash or sprinkle I call it, a sprinkle of the John Hughes era. So for me in terms of
costume it was very much more about... I worked in a very different way in my mind to what how I
usually work. I kind of started thinking of each character and the personality of the character
and what kind of fabrics and what sort of colors or styles that type
of character would would equal. So that's why when you look at all the characters you can't really
place where everything comes from. People often say to me is that is that vintage
or is that contemporary? Or where's that from? But it was kind of
borrowing from the past but being very selective depending on that personality of that character.
It was different to anything I'd ever designed before like you say because I'd come in and
they'd already been two seasons established so it was different to Rosa and Sam in that I already
knew the characters that I was designing the looks for. So I knew them as a viewer and as a fan.
But actually that was quite amazing for me because it meant that I could
see these how these characters had developed and then from my job point of view it was just to
push them that little bit further. Obviously with teenagers they change their
look constantly so it's quite a good age group in terms of having that flexibility
that freedom to enhance their looks from one from one season to the other.
With the color palettes and things, I mean that was the most crucial thing to be communicating with everybody about because
it's that thing of how much do you put in a scene. You've got the
set and then you've got the costume. You just have to do one little thing wrong with a costume
and put some really jarring color and the whole thing will completely lose the magic of that space.
I mean it was very much a complete working... everybody working together and kind of
putting their bit and then if it was too much maybe pulling back. Like I did that quite a bit
at times you know sort of if I do that that's going to be too much. Because there's a
very fine balance definitely very fine balance to this world.
And I think Rosa and Em would agree that by the end of series three we were like living and breathing Moordale.
Like we knew instantly that's a Moordale thing, that's not, we don't want to see that. It was quite amazing.
We were set in the fictional town of Moordale as you know which was...
we were in the UK but we very much drew on the influences of these classic
American high school tropes of like the letterman jacket and the
lockers and all those beautiful things that are so iconic and they scream
school and institution, be it British or American and like crossing
that boundary between those two. We wanted our school to be
quite aspirational in some ways but quite relatable in other ways. But also just iconically
Moordale, iconically Sex Education, our world that we've created.
We want our wanted our viewers to be kind of drawn into that
kind of world so it was like you said leaning on
what different people relate to, those kind of classic coming-of-age films that
they would have experienced at school as a pupil but they also would have experienced
at that age or during that period in their life as a viewer of classic coming-of-age of age film.
Obviously I started off with a very strong initial thought of what everybody... the sort
of world they should be in. I wanted everyone to be incredibly individual and be very much
a certain type of... the clothing being very much theirs
so that they're very individual. Aimee for example starts off being very much
the denim girl. Maeve wears black and Eric is the colorful completely
over-the-top pattern person. There was very much that sort of thing. So in the first series
there was very little input from them [the actors] because they hadn't sort of discovered their characters
in a way. Obviously they'd read the script and their characters are being developed
but they weren't in their characters yet because they hadn't started
performing them. Second series, they definitely had more of a view of what their
character would be but it's kind of an organic thing when we get into the fitting.
So yes if they didn't think something was quite their character they'd say but generally
we were pretty much on the same wavelength which was great. We would be saying
actually no that jacket is completely not right. It might have initially.
I might have gone, oh yeah that's very... I mean I still walk in the shops all the time like oh god that's very Lily.
Both series I'd watched thinking god this is such an amazing job for hair and makeup because
not only it's so stylized but also it's one of the only shows where you actually see
characters who could look like they'd spent an hour and a half in makeup but it's not questioned.
It's just that's the world they live in. So the show talks about such incredible
relatable topics but you still get lost and it's still an escapism for the viewer
because everyone looks so incredible. So you still get lost in the show but at the same time
the the topics are so relatable. So that's why for me it was such an amazing show to be a part of
because I could actually really go to town and be really creative with all these characters without
thinking would a teenager actually be able to do that? Would someone be able to spend an
hour and a half blow drying their hair before they went to school? But that's not something that
you have to worry about. You can really just push the boat out with everyone.
Between season one and season two and then season two and season three it kind of
became more challenging and we had bigger set pieces and bigger sets and we moved around
but I think we're really committed to that kind of aesthetic.
From a design point of view from my team's point of view
we can't drop the ball. So even though we have a lot of sets it may not
read on screen or it may not be totally obvious as a viewer but
there's a lot of different layers of different characters and different sets and
different places and parts of the school and we're just very very mindful that
if we are to go to a location that isn't quite right for the show or
if we need to do something quickly and
because we're up against time or there's restrictions that we can't control or anything
like that, andour producers and our directors
and everyone is very respectful of this, we just take that time to go actually this
isn't right or this is right because we know that that time when we, and it must be the same
for Emily and Rosa as well, that time when we drop the ball will be jarring. Going back to the
overall look of the production, that time when we don't do something properly
will be the time that... So we have to hold ourselves to a really high standard and just
keep committing to making it better and better. Which is obviously great because we all just
want to do the best job we can possibly do but we don't make life easy for ourselves basically.
Everybody gets dressed in that show. Every person in the background
everyone gets their Moordale treatment. And I think that only happens because of
having a strong team. Because it's all about the detailing I think.
Sometimes people go oh but they're just in the background you can't really see it but
even if you don't see it you just feel it or it's just there with the color or it's
maybe the shape or even if someone's walking right in the background and if they were just wearing
just completely I don't know a tracksuit, it just wouldn't, it would just be...
you would just see it somehow, it wouldn't have that energy. So that's why everybody's got
to be dressed. So it's commitment. It's absolutely all due to a fantastic team.
-Now... -It's my vagina. -Sit down. -No! That is my vagina in the photo. -Sit down.
-No it's my vagina. -Now thank you Maeve. Settle down please.
-You're both wrong. It's my vagina. -It cannot be all your vaginas.
-I also have a vagina. -Well congratulations. Please sit down.
-It's my vagina. -Don't be... -It's my vagina. -It's my vagina.
-Thank you. I understand what you are all trying to... -It is my vagina.
-You do not have a vagina in the same way that I do not have a vagina.
-It's my vagina. -Please would you all just sit down.
It is required that you... -It's my vagina. -It's my vagina.
-It's my vagina. -It's my vagina. -It's my vagina. -It's my vagina.
-It's my vagina.
One of my challenges for Maeve I think was tory and get back that
more of an edgier vibe again. I think the bleach for me was...
If I could do anything, bleaching would be like, I just think that's very much her character.
So it was finding out how I could get that back without having to put her hair through
that sort of process. Lily was a really really fun character. Lily's always a fun character I think from
everyone's point of view just because she's so unique and individual. She doesn't wear
makeup in the same traditional sense that a lot of young girls wear i make up. She wears it
more in a way to express her personality. So she she is always someone really fun to
work with. And also because in series three you see her develop in such a... you see her from
episodes one to three she's still got that really fun look and then as Hope comes
in and completely breaks her down and then you see her for the first time without any hair or makeup
and she just sits in assembly with that really sad low ponytail which I was trying to help
the audience feel so sorry for her because she's lost the Lily that we've
all we all know and love and Hope has done this to her. And then by the time we get back to
the end of episode 8 she's back to who she is and she's celebrating who she is
again and that's why I wanted to try and go quite big with that with that look.
I didn't find any any characters that challenging. Different scenes perhaps
they were more challenging. But I guess the more complex character
for me that took a lot of thought was probably Hope. Initially she comes in dancing and
stuff and everybody's like who's she and all that and so I wanted kids
teenagers to look at and go god she looks cool, she's cool. So I wanted to
have her character to be like that initially but when she starts showing
her other side and her complex and intimidating and controlling side, I didn't want to then have to
completely change her costumes. I didn't want that sort of very visible transition so I kind of
wanted it to be a smooth transition but for the costume to make complete sense when you realize
that she was actually really repressed and very actually quite unhappy and she was literally
trying to control everything around her because her life was actually a little bit of a mess in a
way, her personal life was torturous. So with those clothes, with the costumes I
kind of wanted the fabric to be quite stiff and quite hard so you could translate it as being
utilitarian and kind of cool and slightly trendy. But then when she starts
becoming stern it actually becomes quite military. So it kind of has two personalities.
It's depending on how you wear it or how you projecting yourself in that in the costume.
So it doesn't come up and go oh how can she be this kind of person? Why would she be wearing that?
You actually go oh yeah oh god okay I see that as well. So I guess that was my challenge.