Radical Realism

Katina Danabassis has become the go-to costume designer for A24's brand of zeitgeist-y cool.

- Eliza Brooke

When the costume designer Katina Danabassis was developing a wardrobe for Nora Moon, the playwright at the center of the 2023 film Past Lives, she received a somewhat contradictory request from writer-director Celine Song. "She doesn't care about clothes," Danabassis recalls Song telling her. "But she has to look iconic."

Nora's outfits don't sound like much. For a day out in New York, she wears a pair of gray trousers, a cream-colored button-down, and white sneakers. But the trousers, from the Seoul-based brand Arch The, are long and baggy, like luxurious pajamas. The delicate blouse, which Danabassis found in the '80s and '90s section of Helen Uffner Vintage Clothing, has "the softest stripe" to it. With only three buttons fastened, the cuffs loose, and the collar tugged to one side by the strap of a tote bag, it looks careless and elegant on actor Greta Lee.