"I do a lot of research. A lot. You can't really say, 'I'll just look it up and look at the pictures.' You just go through the art and pick and choose," says The Chosen costume designer Leila Heise, who joined the team midway through the first season and dresses the main cast, guest stars and extras with her small staff of about 12 people.
Garderobe deserves all the credit for this transformation.
The process begins in pre-production, with the team sewing all the way down to the very last movement of a flowing dress when shooting wraps. Many looks are based on Heise’s research, but she also gets direction from producers.
"They write certain things into the script," she notes. At one point, there was a request for more color and texture, so when Joey Vahedi joined the cast as Thomas, Heise gave him stripes. Soon: "We have a lot of different factions of the Roman Guard now, so we have to pump them up. There's a lot going on in Seasons 4 and 5," Heise says.
Scroll down as she explains some key costumes.
