How the Hacks Costume Designer Got Her Start

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Kathleen Felix-Hager fell into the world of costume design by accident when she joined the costume department on the 1995 film Waterworld. "I was around the film industry growing up," Felix-Hager said. "My stepfather was in the business, so I was familiar with a lot of it, but the ins and outs of a costume department were very new to me, and [I] was able to have the best school ever on that film." Since then, the Emmy-winning costume designer has gone on to work on critically acclaimed films and television projects such as Veep and Hacks.

For the latest episode of The Who What Wear Podcast, Felix-Hager shares how she got her start in the entertainment industry, how she landed the job on Hacks, and more.

For excerpts from the conversation, scroll below.

I would love to hear a little bit about what led you to even be here with this show. I've heard you kind of stumbled into costume design by accident. Is that right?

Yes, very much by accident. My first job was on a film called Waterworld in 1994. I was able to join the costume department there and just really was able to learn on the job.

I was around the film industry growing up. My stepfather was in the business, so I was familiar with a lot of it, but the ins and outs of a costume department were very new to me, and [I] was able to have the best school ever on that film. I was so green that I just was like a little sponge, and I just absolutely fell in love.

At what point through that first experience did you realize you really had a knack for costume design and wanted to make it into a full-time career?

I didn't really think about it as a career at that point because it was just so new to me, and I was excited about learning all I could learn. Every job led to another job, and I just really responded to the fact that you could tell a story through costumes. I found that fascinating. I was a big reader as a child. I still am a big reader, so I have a visual way of looking at a script because of that and really just how it can move a story forward. I found [it] fascinating and inspiring, so I just kept plugging along.

How did you end up landing the job on Hacks specifically?

Morgan Sackett, who's [the] producer of Hacks, was the producer on Veep, so I had worked with him previously. He called me up one day, and he said he had a couple of scripts he really wanted me to read [for] this new show starring Jean Smart. I read the first three scripts and had a meeting with Morgan and the showrunners—Lucia [Aniello], Jen [Statsky] and Paul [W. Downs]—and just hit it off. I really responded so strongly to the scripts and the relationship of these two women at two different points in their lives that I really could see Deborah Vance in my head.

It was 2020 when it happened, so it was really smack-dab in the middle of COVID. It was like summer of 2020, and I wasn't even sure how we were going to work through it. To do something exciting, new, and fresh and creative in this very weird time on the planet helped keep me sane in a very tangible way. I'm really grateful for that part of it also.

We have to talk about Deborah's style, which has also evolved from season one to season four in many ways. I believe you based some of Deborah's looks on your grandmother. [Can you] share a little bit about your grandmother's style and some specific reference points from her that helped shape Deborah's whole vibe?

My grandmother's name was Mary, and she was a very flamboyant woman who liked to smoke and drink and listen to jazz. You know, her hair was done. Her makeup was done, nails. Even if she had [on] a sweat suit, it was matching and somehow bedazzled. So she was just slightly over-the-top.

She's no longer with us, but I do have a large collection of her vintage costume jewelry that she collected, so I'd use some of that on Deborah. I think that my grandmother would be very happy to see that. Talking with Jean about Deborah Vance, more is more. We couldn't put enough jewelry, enough pattern, enough color, enough feathers. At the beginning of season one, she was slightly hesitant to some of the things that I had suggested. She would be interested in them, but she would say, "Oh, honey, I can't wear that," and I said, "Well, no one's in here but you and I, so let's just try it on and see what happens." She would put it on, and she'd look at me and say, "Well, you were right." After several of those times, she started to trust me, and I would put things together, and she was sort of like, "That's a lot, but I trust you." We just had fun playing around with the over-the-top-ness of Deborah Vance.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.