BREEDA WOOL

GN: Has a role ever influenced your personal style?

BW: Yes, Lou Linklatter on Mr. Mercedes changed all my pants. I never wore tight vagina-strangling pants ever again. You can’t ride a motorcycle that way.

GN:  What’s your go-to outfit for a last-minute audition?

BW: I have a really hard time looking “normal.” Like if I’m a lady that works at a bank or teaches kindergarten, I have nothing in my closet for that. So my sister gives me a lot of nine-to-five clothes. She was a cheerleader, so she understands looking clean and responsible. Her Washington, D.C., clothing vibes have helped me a lot.

GN:  If your style had a theme song, what would it be?

BW: "Good God Damn" by Arcade Fire.

GN: What’s the best fashion advice you’ve ever received?

BW: I was bullied every day in middle school for the way I dressed, but the next morning, I would put on another homemade, wacky-ass outfit like it was armor. I had a choice to retreat or go farther into my own creative identity. Your clothes are an extension of you. They are the dream of whatever reality you want to live in. So thanks, random middle school kids who called me a freak—best fashion advice ever.

GN: Who’s your ultimate style icon—real or fictional?

BW: I went through a faze that was very Katharine Hepburn inspired. I also had a picture of Kristen McMenamy on my wall when I was a kid. I love women who subvert conceptions of fem. I also love a little sexualized grotesque, like Julia Fox.

GN: Where’s your favorite place to shop for clothes?

BW: I have a giant pile of clothes in my basement. Almost every object is secondhand, and I consider it a special found object. I collect them like records, and I have fantasies about who wore them before me and what they did in them. I also have a lot of my grandmother’s, mother’s, and father’s clothes. I wear and keep them like memories of the people.

GN: Has a costume from a past role ever made its way into your personal wardrobe?

BW: I try to take whatever the costume department is comfortable or can give me from roles that I love. The clothes that I’ve gotten from these stories are amazing. I feel like when I wear them, I slightly experience the make-believe world we all created together again.

GN: Has working with costume designers changed the way you think about fashion?

BW: The most interesting and intimate part of creating a human’s world is figuring out what they wear. I have had some of the most illuminating and interesting creative experiences with costume designers. It’s such a fun part of my job. The psychology of the clothes we wear says so much about us. To name a few, major shout-outs to Hannah Bender, Eulyn Colette Hufkie, Agata Maszkiewicz, and Krissie Torgerson.