The Time Traveler’s Wife

The Time Traveler’s Wife is a limited television series based on the book by Audrey Niffenegger. It chronicles the love story between Henry and Clare, whose romance is complicated by Henry’s uncontrollable ability to time travel. I worked on costume designer Christopher Peterson’s team as the second assistant costume designer. A notable challenge of this show was the staggering amount of multiples needed for Henry’s various exploits whilst time traveling. True to the name of the show, the jumps in time also meant we needed to research and source clothing from various decades, starting in the 1970s to present day. As the second assistant, I had my hand in a little bit of everything: from researching and creating reference boards, to helping shop for principals, assisting in fittings, swatching for custom builds, and overseeing the background on and off set. We filmed in New York and Chicago, necessitating our team set up two costume shops. Just like Henry, we had to adapt to being in multiple places at once!

Behind the Scenes

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Henry's Suit from Episode 1

Henry steals this suit from a man on a date in an alleyway. We needed over half a dozen multiples of this suit not only in Henry’s size, but also for the stunt actor playing the man on the date.

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Young Henry at The Field Museum, 1987

We replicated a vintage t-shirt for Young Henry to wear. I sourced the t-shirt fabric and liaised with the fabric printer and tailors to get the shirts made.

Inspired by this original vintage t-shirt

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Henry PJs 1987

I sourced the fabric for these custom pjs we built for Young Henry based on a vintage set we found.

The original 1980s set that inspired Young Henry's PJs

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Field Museum 1987 Research Boards

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Field Museum Souvenir T-Shirt

Our t-shirt is based on an real museum t-shirt from the souvenir shop during the 1980s. We made a few adaptations, such as lightening the the color (because this scene was shot it very dark light and the original navy read too dark). I sourced the fabrics and oversaw the graphics printing.

The Original Museum T-Shirt

Vintage 1980s T-Shirt

Our designer Christopher Peterson liked the double collar and cuff detail of this vintage 1980s shirt, so we added it to our version of the museum t-shirt Young Henry wears.

Field Museum Uniforms 1987

We worked with the art department to come up with a graphic adaptation of the original museum guard patch for the uniforms we made for Field Museum employees, also worn by Henry.

Field Museum Employee Uniform Research 1987

Our Field Museum Uniform Worn by BG Guard

We were in contact with The Field Museum, but they only had black and white photos of the uniforms from the 80s available. A long time employee recalled the sport jackets were burgundy. Sometimes that’s all the info we have to go on when replicating a costume!

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Research photograph of visitors to The Bean in 2008

Research/Virtual Fittings

Sample of research sent to children playing extras at The Bean in 2008. Since we shot this during the pandemic, we tried to minimize in person fittings when possible. We asked for virtual submissions and tweaked their outfits as needed.

Adult Female BG Boards for Virtual Fittings

I created the background boards and worked with background casting to facilitate the virtual fittings. Designer Christopher Peterson and I then sorted through the submissions and decided who was approved, needed adjustments, or needed to come in to be fit.

Men's Virtual Fitting Board

Our virtual fittings were possible because 2008 fashion isn’t terribly different from nowadays. By doing virtual fittings, we provided safety during the pandemic, as well as reducing cost and manpower for production. This is not always possible, but it worked for this show.

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Original 1980s Jacket

We built our jacket multiples based on this original vintage jacket. I found the jacket, sourced the fabric, and liaised with the tailor to build the multiples.

Sourcing Process for Young Henry's jacket fabric

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Original 1980s Sweater

This is the vintage sweater we replicated for Young Henry’s 1987 Christmas/Car Crash costume change. We needed multiples so we couldn’t use the original and had to custom build it.

Selecting the Yarns for our Knitter

Knit sample, sketch of costume and inspiration

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Annette's 1987 Christmas/Car Crash Outfit

I sourced the fabrics based on designer Christopher Peterson’s sketch and liaised with the tailors to build multiples.

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Cartier Earrings & Necklace

I worked with Cartier to loan these period appropriate earrings and necklace for Annette’s 1978 concert performance.

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Research inspiration for Annette, Orchestra & BG Crowd 1978

Annette & Richard's Engagement Dinner, 1979

Late 1970s Engagement Dinner Research

Maitre'D Inspiration, 1979

Sourcing the Waitstaff Uniforms

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1981 Chicago Lakeside Research

1980s Joggers

Featured background I fit

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1988 Funeral Research

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Young Henry's Funeral Suit in Process

I sourced the fabric to build this suit and shirt

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Women - Art Institute BG 1988

Background fitting boards in process

Men - Art Institute BG 1988

Background fitting boards in process

I created "To Bring" Boards for the Background

Worked with casting to inform the background to bring helpful items such as shoes and pantyhose to their fittings.

Research Boards 1988 Art Institute

I contributed research and created these boards for the background

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Stunt Fitting I did for Art Institute 1988

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The original Murray Arbeid dress that inspired the Annette's 1988 concert costume

We were lucky enough to find a similar one locally to study its construction

Original sketch and fabric selection

I sourced all the materials to build this dress and liaised with our designer & dressmaker Eric Winterling to help bring this dress to fruition

Mixing the sequin "salad"

Chris & I pouring over the fabrics with our dressmaker Eric Winterling

I worked with Cartier to secure the loan of this jewelry for Annette

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1980s Opera Research

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Pool Party Virtual Fittings - Girls

We again opted to do virtual fittings as our starting point to fit the BG for the pool party. It turned out to be pretty successful.

Pool Party Virtual Fittings - Guys

We again opted to do virtual fittings as our starting point to fit the BG for the pool party. It turned out to be pretty successful.

Background on set waiting to be placed

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The Kooples dress I shopped for Clare

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Biker Jackets We Made

Unfortunately you never really see them… but they’re there! I worked with the art department and our embroiderer to make these custom biker jacket patches for our biker gang

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Annette's 1979 Wedding Gown

I sourced all the fabrics and materials to build this dress

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Research for Groom & Groomsmen 1979 Wedding

Built custom tux shirts

I sourced the fabric and worked with our pleater to achieve this period replication

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Late 1970s Bridesmaid Research

Original 70s dress inspiration

Making the custom printed chiffon for the bridesmaids

We adapted the print of the original dress in 3 period appropriate color ways for each bridesmaid and custom printed onto chiffon. I worked with our fabric printer DyeNamix to get just the right color ways and pattern scale.

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Research inspiration for Clare & Henry's Wedding, 2008

Watch the Trailer

You can now stream The Time Traveler’s Wife on Amazon Prime or Apple TV. Starring: Rose Leslie, Theo James, Kate Seigel, Josh Stamberg, and more. Produced by: David Nutter, Steven Moffat, Brian Minchin, Sue Vertue, Patty Willet, Joseph Iberti and others. See full Cast + Crew here.