Dressed to a Tee

Costume and production design played a key role in recreating the 1960s world of The Archies

- Suhani Singh

Think what you may of Zoya Akhtar's The Archies, which released on December 7 on Netflix, most agree that her Riverdale of 1964 would be one of India's top places to visit. Only if it was real. To bring alive this world, Akhtar turned to two of her frequent collaborators-production designer Suzanne Caplan Merwanji and costume designer Poornamrita Singh. Her brief to them was simple: the film is based on the comics but it has to have "a storybook" look to it. "We definitely wanted a magical feel to it," says Akhtar. "When you step into Riverdale, it's like nothing you've ever known."

Dressed to the Nines

Poornamrita Singh was thrilled to work on the film because the 1960s are her favourite decade, with a lot of her own wardrobe drawn from that time period. For Singh, the decade is best known for its "timeless" and "flattering" fashion, which is why clothes from it-short shirts, A-line and shift dresses are in vogue even today. The colour palette of The Archies, says Singh, "was all muted" and isn't easily accessible in India today.