“Pam & Tommy,” Hulu’s new miniseries that recounts the relationship of Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee and the release of their infamous sex tape, has had viewers talking since the first three episodes premiered last week.
Lily James and Sebastian Stan star as the titular characters, with Seth Rogen costarring as the disgruntled handyman who exposed Anderson and Lee’s most intimate moments to the world. James and Stan have been praised for their spot-on physical transformations into the characters, achieved with the help of dedicated hair, makeup and prosthetics teams, and a costume department led by Kameron Lennox, who recreated several iconic looks (like the red “Baywatch” bathing suit) for the show.
Lennox was brought on by series director Craig Gillespie, who she met while working on the show “Physical.” “We did do a lot of leotards for ‘Physical,’ so we definitely knew how to make a bathing suit,” Lennox says. The costume designer was still working on that show when she discovered her first costume for “Pam & Tommy”: a 1930s black silk kimono with fighting dragons on the back. “It reminded me of Tommy,” says Lennox, who ended up wearing the kimono herself to get into the character’s head space. “To get myself into that world,” she adds. “‘And get into L.A. in the ’90s.”
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Below, WWD chats with the costume designer about creating the sartorial tone for the show.
WWD: Where did your research process begin for “Pam & Tommy”?
Kameron Lennox: I read the article [that the show was based on] and read the script. I also am from Southern California; I lived in L.A. during that time. For my research I used a lot of resources from my own photos, but then also did a deep dive for Pamela and Tommy specifically. What you have in your memory is usually different than what you find online. I remember them, I remember the things that she would wear, I remember a lot of that — but in my mind’s eye, it’s not exactly how it was. So we wanted to have the correct research.
I built boards for Pam. I did a board for each year, from the late ’80s to the late ’90s so I could show the progression of her style. I did the same with Tommy. I started with him in the early ’90s, because in the late ’80s he was was much more glam and theatrical, and then it started to mellow out a little bit. He is a chameleon. He was constantly changing his style, always coming up with something. And I really wanted to encapsulate that.
Pam was at the height of her career. “Baywatch” was taking off and she had this film, “Barb Wire.” I really wanted to capture her in that moment, but we also do some flashbacks to when she started out with Playboy. I wanted to make sure I understood that progression completely. I also did a fantasy board where, when I think about a character, I really want to know where their inspiration is coming from. I try to get into their minds. Her style reminded me of this Brigitte Bardot, bombshell-type character. I did a whole board of Brigitte Bardot, Marilyn Monroe, and some beautiful Helmut Lang lingerie shots. I also added a few stills from “Wild at Heart” because Laura Dern and Nicholas Cage in that film reminded me of Pam and Tommy. I was trying to get myself into that fiery, passionate relationship.
Many of the photos that I found of Pam were online. A lot of that stuff we recreated, and then some stuff we created on our own. Like being at home — casual at home with your husband when the cameras aren’t around — that was something we had to create from our imagination.
WWD: To what extent did you aim to replicate those iconic looks versus using them as inspiration, and feeling like you could depart from them?
K.L.: There were some key historical moments that we recreated and it was important for me that the wardrobe was the same as she wore it, because there was a lot of thought into what she wore in those moments. For the deposition we built the suit that she wears, but it was based off of the [actual] suit that she wore. Obviously, the “Baywatch” bathing suit. I also had the same latex dresses made to Lily’s proportions to replicate Pam in that time, because she did wear latex. Back to the idea of her being this bombshell from the ’50s, she was more of a ’90s version of it. There was always this rock ‘n’ roll undertone.
WWD: In terms of sourcing, did you pull from vintage looks, or search for contemporary looks that you could piece together to reflect the time period?
K.L.: When I do period work, I tend to shy away from anything modern or on-the-rack. Because there’s something about bringing in actual pieces and cuts that were made at that time to retell a story. For Pam, it was important to find ’90s dresses. The dress that she wears to Jay Leno — we were recreating an actual scene that she had on Jay Leno, same neckline and everything — I found a vintage couture Versace gown that she wore. I tried to pull designers that I knew Pam wore at that time, like Versace, Dolce & Gabbana, Vivienne Westwood, Alaïa. There are a lot of great vintage dealers here in L.A. And if you can’t find it in L.A., you can find it online.
I did a deep dive and looked around for these pieces. The white dress that she wears in Cancun with the little pink flowers on it when she’s meeting with all the new people, that was a vintage Vivienne Westwood dress that we were able to find, and we just fit everything to the prosthetic. Which was a whole other thing. Sometimes we had to add a little bit more just to get it to fit correctly. She wore a vintage gold Vivienne Westwood dress when she first met Tommy. There are a lot of things that are recreated now to look ’90s, but I tend to be a little bit of a purist.
WWD: What qualities within the clothing reflect that era?
K.L.: For me, it’s fit, cut and tone. I usually start with a color palette for each character and stay within that color palette. Tommy was a lot of black, white and red. And then Pam was a lot of reds because of “Baywatch,” but it was more white. She wore a lot of white, pale blues, teal, pinks. But the fit and the way that people wore things was important as well. They were coming out of the ’80s; they’re not quite Y2K with the drop waist, they still have the high waist. Men wore pants that were a little baggy — that was before the skinny jean phase. Everything needed to look like how people wore it then. And it’s always about the silhouette. If the silhouette is off, we have to start all over.
WWD: The characters are often wearing very little, particularly Tommy with his thong looks. How do you approach costuming when the actual costume is so minimal?
K.L.: There’s definitely challenges there because we couldn’t just buy any thong and put it on him. We had a prosthetic to deal with, so those were all custom made. We picked fabric that we thought someone in rock ‘n’ roll would wear at that time. Tommy was known to wear thongs in real life, and he was known to wear the least amount of clothes possible when he was drumming, because you get so hot. We always kept that in mind. It’s something he just throws on and hangs out in. We made multiples of different materials, fabrics and graphics, with this idea that he has this drawer full of all these different thongs and would just throw them on at different times. We did have to make them a little larger — it’s back to the cut of the time. The G-strings that you find now are cut very differently than they were then. I did find a pair on eBay that I went into a bidding war on that were vintage, just to make sure that we were getting the exact cut from that time.
WWD: What was your dynamic working with Lily and Sebastian?
K.L.: I’m always watching someone’s face when they look at something or put something on, and also how somebody feels or moves. In our fittings, all that stuff comes out. Our initial discussions started in the fitting room. We had already built a lot of the stuff for Pam’s character, things that we knew that we were going to use. The “Barb Wire” look was all custom made to match the original from the film, all the latex dresses.
For Sebastian, the first thing that I wanted to address with him was this idea of wearing a thong so much and how comfortable he was in it. It’s a lot of discussion and fitting, and I can always gauge when somebody’s comfortable in something from their face. [James and Stan] were both so excited to start to see these characters come to life. That was the first note like, okay, well, we’re on the right track.
They were always open to collaborate. Lily and I were constantly texting each other images and discussing things. Whenever we tried anything on, she would move around in it, move as she would as Pam to make sure that she could pull off that character. I found them both just lovely to work with. Sebastian, we had a few first fittings and then it was complete. He was open to whatever, he had complete faith in me. With Lily, because it was so iconic and specific, we talked a lot. She was always open to fittings at lunchtime or before scenes, just to make sure that everything was right.
WWD: Pam and Tommy are obviously the focus of the show and the most compelling characters, but Rand [played by Seth Rogen] is also an interesting character. What was your approach with his looks, and the people who surround Pam and Tommy?
K.L.: Rand was in the background a bit, and that was on purpose. The way that he dresses, it needed to seem like the complete opposite of Tommy. When you’re in these scenes, you’re seeing Tommy’s rockstar attitude played against this guy that’s just trying to make a living and get by. Our fitting with Seth was fun, we were laughing hysterically. Because these are things that people wore during that time, like the jean shorts, and those shirts. We did a whole closet of different looks, and we would drop in for each scene what we felt looked best. There’s a couple of [looks] that I like to call the “Garanimals.” I don’t know if anybody remembers Garanimals, but in the ’70s, there were these tags for kids so they could choose their own outfits. If you had a giraffe, you could match the giraffe tag on the shorts and you knew that that was a complete outfit.
It’s this idea that Rand has accumulated clothes. Maybe there’s an aunt that sent him a shirt for Christmas. It’s stuff that is lived in. It’s comfortable. You don’t have to think about it so much. Because of the time period, there is a little bit of the Seinfeld aspect; people were wearing those lighter washed jeans with the white puffy sneakers. We wanted to make sure we incorporated that in there as well. Rand’s not a stylish guy and up against Pam and Tommy’s style, he needed to look the complete opposite.
WWD: What are a few of your other favorite looks in the show?
K.L.: The one that I keep thinking about is Pam’s first Playboy shoot. We pulled all of this beautiful vintage lingerie. It was a lot of fun to recreate these actual shots that the real Pam did when she was young. The “Barb Wire” premiere look where she’s in the chrome latex dress is another one of my favorites. We had it customized to fit over a pregnant belly, so it was a maternity latex dress. I don’t think I’ve known anybody that would ever wear that. But we were like, of course Pam would wear that. Why wouldn’t she wear that to the premiere? [James] really embodies Pam Anderson’s energy. She could wear jeans and shorts and look incredible, and make me in awe of a shirt that on the hanger you wouldn’t even think about.