The Secret To The Righteous Gemstones Costuming Is In The Show's Title

On paper, costume design should be one of the more celebrated aspects of making film and television. After all, there are costumes throughout film and television history that are undeniably iconic — everything from Indiana Jones' fedora and jacket to Cosmo Kramer's patterned button down shirts. There are also numerous productions where the effort put into the costuming can't help but be noticed, such as Eiko Ishioka's stunning costumes for "Bram Stoker's Dracula." Of course, not every costume need be as brazen as the latter, nor as iconographic as the former examples. Ultimately, a costume designer should be serving the overall aesthetic of the production they're working on, meaning sometimes costumes are there to be unobtrusive and blend into a larger palette.

When done right, costuming can be as indicative of tone, theme, or character as any other aspect of filmmaking. With a show like Max's "The Righteous Gemstones," a ribald comedy series about a family dynasty of televangelists who are unscrupulous in their attitudes and mannerisms, there's lots of leeway. Any given episode could call for a character or two to wear something outrageous, or offensive, or, as happened recently with Walton Goggins' Uncle Baby Billy, nothing but a life jacket. In addition, the diversity of characters and their individual personalities allows for just as diverse a selection of outfits. Yet while the series absolutely takes this inherent license and runs with it, there's a method to the madness. As was revealed during a recent Wired interview with stars Danny McBride, Edi Patterson, and Adam DeVine, the secret to the show's costuming isn't about complexity, but simplicity: It's right there in the name.

A cursory glance at the costumes in "The Righteous Gemstones," specifically the outfits worn by the Gemstone family, might have you shrug your shoulders and think "yeah, it's obvious, they're gaudy like jewelry." But that's only part of the savvy simplicity with which the series' original costume designer, Sarah Trost, color-coded the characters and the show. To his credit, however, McBride apparently first had the idea to brand each member of the Gemstone family with colors, even though it wasn't just gemstones that he was thinking of so much as a popular '90s kids show:

"When we shot the pilot, my note to the costume designer, Sarah Trost, was that each Gemstone would be like a Power Ranger, that everyone would have their own gemstone color that their costume would always be connected to ... because they are each a gemstone, that's what it is."

As a result of McBride's note, Trost decided each Gemstone's signature gemstone color: Judy would be sapphire, Kelvin would be emerald, and Jesse would be ruby. Now, unlike the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, it didn't become an unbreakable rule that each Gemstone would have to wear their signature color at all times. On occasion, the Gemstones will wear colors that either reflect or match their partner, such as when Judy will wear pink in honor of her husband, BJ (Tim Baltz), or when Kelvin will wear black to better match his partner, Keefe (Tony Cavalero). In fact, when costume designer Christina Flannery took over for Trost in season 3, she expanded the family's color palette further, putting Judy in gold and Kelvin in purple, the better to indicate the tumultuous changes those characters went through at the beginning of that season.

Now, with the final season currently airing, it seems like the Gemstones are veering back toward their original colors, as seen in the above photo from the latest episode. This would seem to imply that the series and the characters are indeed coming full circle, and gives the sense of impending resolution. Yet if there's one rule for a show that's featured ninjas who play car pranks, a sudden swarm of locusts, and naked Baby Billy, it's to expect the unexpected. For clues to what will happen next, we'd better keep an eye on those outfits.