‘The Color Purple’ costumes are anything but drab, thanks in part to this Philly stylist and designer

Celie’s redemption story moved Rashad Corey to tears the first time he watched The Color Purple, Steven Spielberg’s 1985 film based on Alice Walker’s poignant novel.

He also thought the clothes were drab.

Yet never in his wildest dreams did Corey, a graduate of the Art Institute of Philadelphia, think he’d have a shot at adding a dose of his sartorial glitz to a remake of the iconic film.

This more uplifting musical version of The Color Purple stars Fantasia Barrino as Celie, Taraji P. Henson as Shug Avery, and Colman Domingo as Mister, and is directed by Blitz Bazawule (Black is King and The Burial of Kojo). It opens Christmas Day.

“When Oprah released the cast and her concept for the remake, I shared on social that I wanted in on this Black excellence,” said Corey, 35, who lives in Atlanta and attended the film’s purple carpet premiere in Los Angeles earlier this month. “I spoke it into existence.”

Corey grew up in Baltimore and graduated from the Art Institute in 2012 with degrees in fashion design and fashion marketing. (Shortly after his college graduation, I was a celebrity model in his Stomp the Runway fashion show in 2016, benefiting victims of domestic violence.)

The Color Purple is the story of long-suffering Celie, a young woman repeatedly raped by her stepfather, whose two children are forcefully taken from her. She is stuck in a miserable and abusive marriage until her husband’s lover shows her what it feels like to be loved.

Bazawule’s The Color Purple, a contender for the 2024 People’s Choice Award for best costume design, focuses on the joy of forgiving. Anger, no matter how justified, can’t live in the same space as growth and that growth is evident in the movie’s dynamic costumes. Corey, who was sexually abused as a teenager, has a particular window into Celie’s pain.

“I didn’t feel worthy, I didn’t feel capable. I didn’t feel like I was good enough to accomplish my dream,” Corey said. “I understand the importance of healing. I hope this project helps heal others.”

Corey was a fixture on the city’s fashion scene. In addition to Stomp the Runway, he styled local radio personalities MoShay LoRen and Kharisma McIlwaine for Philadelphia Fashion Week red carpet events, where he was often in the front row. Corey also worked with the late stylist Anthony Henderson on Philadelphia Daily News’ Sexy Singles fashion shoots.

In 2019, Corey moved to Atlanta and landed a gig at Tyler Perry Studios where he worked in the costume department of BET’s Sisters. He worked in costuming on AMC’s The Walking Dead and ABC’s The Wonder Years, and snagged his first movie gig as a costumer on Respect, the 2021 Aretha Franklin biopic, starring Jennifer Hudson.

“I’ve always been fascinated with period pieces,” he said.

The Color Purple costumes are exceptional replicas of what southern Black woman wore in the early 20th century. They are vibrant, exciting, and far from drab. Corey worked as the right hand to the film’s lead costume designer, industry veteran Francine Jamison-Tanchuck (Boomerang, Emancipation, and One Night in Miami). All of the characters, he said, “were touched by the Rashad Corey flair.”

As children in the 1910s, young Celie (Phylicia Pearl Mpasi) and Nettie (Halle Bailey) wear ankle-skirts and smocks in understated prints and soft pastels. Their lives were hard, but the soft palette signals hope.

Dancers shimmy in drop-waist evening gowns in 1920s juke joint scenes; these people work hard in a segregated world, but their lives are not all pain and sorrow. The flowing A-lines and shirtwaist frocks Celie and Shug wear through the late 1930s and 1940s are what any respectable midcentury woman would wear, and signify these Black women are finally learning to love themselves in a world hell-bent on stopping them.

There were several places where Corey took the lead. He pulled the vintage suits, shirts, and ties for the crotchety misogynist Ol’ Mister (Louis Gossett Jr.).

“I was convinced of Rashad’s talent and wonderful style when I asked him to pull a few looks from our vintage stock for the character Ol’ Mister and he passed the test magnificently,” Jamison-Tanchuck said. “He not only was able to pull what was needed but accessorized the outfits beautifully. I was able to fit Mr. Gossett without any changes.”

Corey also designed the blue pin-striped suit and shawl neck collared tuxedo for Shug Avery’s flamboyant husband, Grady (Jon Batiste). “I sketched the design, I searched for the fabric and walked the tailors through what it needed to look like,” he said.

The costume designer sourced all the fabrics for the dozens of trousers featured in the dance celebrating Celie’s specialty clothing boutique, Celie’s Pants. Celie, a talented seamstress, empowers the women in her small southern town by making the same style of pleated trousers popularized by Katharine Hepburn in the 1930s. But Celie’s pants are in bold, fun prints symbolizing how the once scaredy-cat of a woman has come into her own.

Just one scene in the Spielberg movie, the Celie’s Pants scene is arguably the most important in Bazawule’s version. The women look directly into the camera and sing with joy and confidence; their hard suffering wasn’t for naught.

The Color Purple is Corey’s first credited gig as an assistant costume designer, but it’s not his last. He’s the assistant costume designer for August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson, starring John David Washington, Sam Jackson, and Corey Hawkins, scheduled to be released late next year. He will be the lead costume designer on Holiday Flop, starring comedians Terri Vaughan and Charity Jordan set to debut during the 2024 holiday season.

He feels blessed to be able to live his dream.

“In 2018, I made an affirmation to God that I wanted to further my career in fashion and film,” Corey said. “And here I am.”