Joker reality show costume designer; Mehrnoosh Bayani

Interview with Mehrnoosh Bayani, costume designer of reality show Joker

In Joker, the clothes represent the characters!

These days, the second season of the Joker show, produced by Ehsan Alikhani’s team, is being aired again, and unlike the first season and Joker 1, it has brought female actors to the stage. Apart from the topic of the program, the clothes and styles of both the men’s and women’s sections have many points and have sometimes made news. For this reason, we have talked with Mehrnoosh Bayani, the costume designer of this collection.

From theater costume design to Ehsan Alikhani’s Joker!

Mrs. Bayani started designing clothes when she was a student with the theater work “Adam, Adam is” directed by Hassan Moeini and then she started working in cinema.

He studied handicrafts at the University of Arts with a focus on textile design and believes that handicrafts have helped his career. He, who won Simorgh for the best costume design for the movie “Summer of the same year” at the Fajr Film Festival, now talks about his first work experience as a costume designer for a reality show, after years of working in cinema and theater.

– At first, when did you start designing clothes?

At first, I had no idea to become a clothing designer and I just wanted to do manual work, so I went to handicrafts. Later, when I saw my childhood drawings, I realized how much I had been interested in this field since childhood. In the past, I thought that designing clothes was only for masons and I didn’t like to design clothes that people would buy, but when I entered the art university, I saw how much more attractive this job is by designing clothes for cinema and theater.

– Let’s go to the noisy program Joker, considering the format of this program being a reality show, what is the process of designing its clothes like?

Joker costume design has three parts; The first part is the 8 characters of actors who are wearing clothes from the beginning of the work, one part is for Joker Time and one part is the clothes of zombies who enter the recording, like the clothes of Mr. Nikkhah and Mement.

At the end, Mr. Alikhani gives the final approval for these three parts. They are very attentive to all the details and pay attention to all parts of the work.

Ehsan Alikhani has enough knowledge about the popular taste of the people and he says things that are right and important in the meetings. The insight and the surrounding they have to people’s taste is very attractive to me.

– How are Ehsan Alikhani’s clothes chosen?

Ehsan Alikhani’s clothes are from Babak Voshoghi brand and they choose by themselves. Their glasses are their personal style. In the initial meetings of the winter of 1402, we told the content team and their consultant that it is better for them to have their own casual style, and in the end, the Babak and Thaoghi brand was chosen for their clothes, but our team did not interfere in the selection of the host’s clothes.

– The same clothes and style were effective in promoting the program and even producing its content. For example, Sosan Paror’s joke with Ehsan Alikhani’s glasses.

Yes, Mrs. Parver has a collection of glasses and this association of clothes and style with the content that is produced is an important issue in the program. In fact, the glasses are the personal signature of both of them.

“Dress Code” has no place in Joker!

Many reality shows, such as Joker, are being broadcast on the home network, and most of them have a specific dress code. But this issue is not seen in Joker.

– In the idea of ​​each character’s comedy performance, a set of clothes can be seen according to the theme of their presentation. How is this choice and design?

In Joker, 8 actors enter the program with their real characters and are supposed to spend hours together and have a lot of acts. That is why it is important that they like their clothes. This space is different from other programs such as Mafia, which has a special theme. In fact, in Joker, the actors are mostly themselves and it is important that they feel comfortable in their clothes.

Also, the clothes should be in harmony with the comedy content, colorful decor and Joker details.

We talk to the actors in advance and according to the points raised, the actors bring some of their own clothes that they feel more comfortable with, so that we can style them for them, and we also try to match them in terms of color and style.

– You pointed out the difference between Joker and other similar programs such as Mafia; The obvious issue that can be seen in Joker is the lack of a uniform dress code for the actors. Can you explain more?

As I said, it is very important in this show that the actors are present with their real personality. It is not possible to put the same dress that Nima Shabannejad is wearing on Mr. Mozafari’s body.

For example, if I chose a simple blouse and pants for Sosan Peror because it is in harmony with her character, it is so comfortable and relaxed, and it is not possible to change her clothes to another actress with a different character. But programs like Mafia move forward based on a specific topic and period of time, and according to the topic, they have to choose a theme for the stage and clothes.

Of course, I will say again that there is a general harmony with the decor and space, and at the same time, we try to have a general harmony between all 8 actors. For example, we have banned black and white in the program.

Depending on the subject, we sometimes styled a dress; For example, Ms. Jaleh Samti, instead of Ehsan Alikhani, as a presenter, needed a mantle and mask, which we prepared for her.

– Considering Joker’s ambitious decor, is there a theme of coordinating the scene with the clothes of the characters? If there is, in what form?

We try to have harmony between the scene and the clothes, but due to the presence of many cameras and different decor, this task is not easy, especially in the men’s season; It is more evident in the group of women that the style is different according to the character of each person. But we tried to have a general consensus among the participants.

Also, considering the genre of the program, we tried to use more colors so that the audience can see more colors visually.

It was interesting for me to use different and happy colors for men who often wear dark colors.

The costume test is checked with the content, decor and actors team, and finally, as I said, it is checked with Mr. Alikhani.

The story of Behrang Alavi’s dress in Joker!

One of the loudest events in the Mr. Joker section was Alavi’s multi-million dollar dress; To the extent that news agencies and Instagram Explorer were dedicated to this news for several days.

– The story of Mr. Behrang Alavi’s Dolce Gabbana dress was accompanied by a lot of noise; Did you have a role in choosing this dress and did the feedback affect your work?

Generally, Mr. Alavi has a classic style and wears dark or neutral colors. Due to the nature of the program, I asked them to wear colorful clothes. They sent me a bunch of dresses and I chose this dress, which was different and interesting and I liked it myself, but I didn’t think it would be seen so much online. Behrang Alavi actually bought that colored dress.

– Brands were discussed; Do you also work with Iranian brands?

yes I am also interested in Iranian brands and I follow them on Instagram and I like supporting brands.

Cotton clothes, the champion of the 12-hour studio marathon!

Mehrnoosh Bayani has faced many challenges for the Joker women’s section; From choosing cool and cotton fabrics for a long recording, clothing form, accessories to styling it according to the personality of each actor. This is while in this section – unlike the men’s section – the actors’ clothes are chosen outside of their personal wardrobes.

Considering the new season of Joker featuring women, what problems and challenges do you think the costume design of this season was associated with compared to the men’s season?

Designing clothes for women is definitely more difficult. Because it was the first season with the presence of women and because it is more difficult to get women’s satisfaction for a style. Of course, while it was more challenging, it was also more attractive.

Our challenge for the ladies was mostly to make them love their clothes while still fitting into the constraints of the program. It was sometimes difficult to comply with both aspects; For example, in order for the actors to be able to wear the clothes they like according to the restrictions, we used long and strong scarves.

I mentioned earlier that the Jokertime part was harder for the men, but the original costumes were the hardest for the ladies.

Another point was that in the first season, due to time and cost limitations, it was difficult to fill the accessory section, and whatever was in the room, we prepared with the help of the decor team. Therefore, most of our time was spent on this work and the style of all 8 male actors was chosen from among their own clothes.

– Cotton fabrics are used in the fabric of the clothes; Why did you use linen and cotton fabrics in the actresses’ clothes?

The actors are in the studio for about twelve hours and the atmosphere is very exhausting. If the fabric is not comfortable and light, the actor will be confused and it will affect his performance. We prepared a series of clothes for the actors that did not wrinkle, but because the fabric was annoying for the actors, we discarded those clothes.

Choosing this type of fabric made the work more difficult for our team, but women have to wear several layers of clothes and the clumsiness lowers the quality of the work. In general, I am challenging, and even our team was present behind the scenes with an iron in hand so that there would be no problem.

green; The favorite color of Joker actors!

Colors are the most important part of Joker’s clothing and style. This topic is designed and implemented by Mrs. Bayani and her team, considering the character of each person and the different parts of the program.

– How was the selection of women’s clothes? Is it selected from their own clothes like the men’s section?

Unlike men’s clothes, which we chose from their own clothes – for example, Nima Shabannejad brought a suitcase of shoes and colored and patterned socks! For example, we determined the models for Giti Ghasemi and Roya Miralami and they were sewn by their own tailors, Metin Sotoudeh ordered online with our supervision, and we sewed clothes for Sosan Parver by ourselves.

For example, one of the actors brought a vest and pants and said that I can’t wear this dress anywhere. Please suggest how to style it for this program.

The selection process was such that two days before the main recording, all eight actresses wore the costumes and were photographed from all angles, the prints of the photos were given to Mr. Alikhani for corrections to be made for final approval. For example, Metin Sotoudeh was initially wearing a wide jeans, but he was corrected and his outfit was changed and the jacket model was chosen with a skirt and pants, similar to the new Ref Lauren collection.

– You pointed out that the women’s clothes in the second season of Joker were not chosen from their wardrobes, unlike the men’s. Considering the principle of choosing clothes based on the taste and personality of each actor, didn’t this make your work more complicated?

There are several points about this. Women usually like to dress more formally during the holidays; In this program, which has a one-period form, we tried to take into account the desire of women in the comfort of their clothes. Another interesting point was that women were harder than men to accept wearing colored clothes; For example, we had chosen lilac color for one of the actors, but it was difficult for them not to wear a neutral color. The next interesting topic was the preference of all the actors for the color green; That is, all the participants of the program agreed on wearing green.

– The clothes of some actors, such as Nima Shabannejad, were very appropriate to the trend of the day. Do you consider the trend when choosing clothes?

Yes, I follow the trend of the day and actually try to personalize it. For example, patterned pants with plain paper or the same Valentino pink color by Nima Shabannejad. Nima’s pink dress was for herself and as I said, she brought us a suitcase of clothes; Because this color is not usually worn by men. I personally like magenta and yellow very much. On the other hand, Nima’s dress was monochromatic and had a greater impact on the stage of the program. The yellow color of Susan Parver’s dress was my personal taste, which Mrs. Parver also accepted.

In the end, how was the experience of working in Joker for you?

The experience of working in the reality show was very interesting for me because the actors were present in the work with their own personality. There is a big team behind the scenes of Joker, which is putting a lot of effort into it.

This was my first experience in a reality show and I really liked this atmosphere. Mr. Alikhani was very much with the team and was very careful.

One of my interesting experiences was designing the clothes of “heroes” or heroes; For example, the design of the corpse man’s costume performed by Mr. Nima Shabannejad was difficult and challenging, but the result was cute and lovely.