Thomas Haden Church's fashions on Ned and Stacey

The TV series Ned and Stacey brought me my first fan letter! It was from a guy in New York who just loved the way Thomas Haden Church was dressed and wanted to know where he could buy similar clothing. It was so exciting to know my choices had an impact!

I was hired to costume design the sitcom New and Stacey just days before production started on the first epsidode, and literally one day before TV Guide did the photo shoot for their Fall Preview issue. I talked to Tom by phone and got a sense that he liked the high buttoned jackets and vests he had worn in the pilot. I had one day to race around and gather as many choices as I could - I think I worked 16 hours that day! Then I met with Debra Messing, who immediately looked at the long bias-cut skirt I was wearing and said “Can I wear that?”, so I took it off and lent it to her to wear for the shoot.

That’s how my two seasons with this marvellous show started. Thomas Haden Church and Debra Messing, though totally opposite personalities in reality, were a perfect comedic foil for each other in this crazy sitcom. I had grown tired of designing sitcoms, but this one piqued my interest with its quirky characters, sharp writing, and the opportunity to do something really different in the costume department.

I have to credit Tom for initially creating his look. He in no way wanted the usual sitcom look - the “Seinfield” style - jeans and casual shirts. He wanted Ned to be formally dressed no matter what, buttoned up and wearing a tie, even cooking in his kitchen.Tom is tall and slender, a size 42 long, a perfect figure for male fashion.  I used almost exclusively four button jackets for him (not easy to find), with vests with a very high stance worn underneath. A few were purchased, many were made. Shirts were crisp and with a high collarband where possible, as his neck is long, and his ties were of very stongly colored regimental stripes. Since such a small part of the tie showed, we needed that punch of color.

I was very proud of some of the more daring looks I created for him. I had several wing tipped shirts, usually made only in white for formal wear, made in striped fabrics. I also did a white scarf wrapped around his neck, Beau Brummel style, for a New Years’ Eve formal outfit. One fan wrote and said he was copying the look for his wedding. I was tickled pink when Church was named “One of the Best Dressed Men on Television” by TV Guide, “E” Entertainment, and the Atlanta Journal Constitution by Scott Walton, who declared the sitcom to be “more fashionable than anything else on TV.”

Tom’s humor was dry dry dry! Debra, on the other hand, is funny, outgoing, disorganized, generous, and everything with her was right up front. I went for an eclectic look for her, mixing tops and bottoms together that were flattering but unexpected. She liked a special one-of-a-kind jewelry made by designer Aklia Chinn, which has an exotic ethnic style.(aklias.com/ ) Debra also refused the producers requests to pad up her bras - she saw no need to fall into that cliche. She is her own person.

The two other leads were the darling Greg Germann, whom I had costumed on the drama Sweet Justice, and later co-starred in Ally McBeal,  and Nadia Dajani, who opted for a very New York look. Some of the “unknowns” who had guest starring roles were Megan Mullally (pre-Will and Grace),  Marcia Cross (pre-Desperate Housewives), Kathy Griffin (pre-LIfe on the D list) and John Slattery (pre-Mad Men) 

It was one of the big disappointments in my career that Ned and Stacey never had the huge mainstream success that Debra’s next hit show, Will and Grace had. Ned and Stacey suffered from a change of networks between season 1 and 2, and never got the full power of a network behind it. However, it has a huge cult following, and I often hear how much the show was loved. I know I did.