Here's How 'OITNB' Makes Costuming Work

If our weekends look at all similar, you likely took in a few episodes of Orange is the New Black's latest season. OK, you probably binge-watched all of season 3 of OITNB if we're being real. Which might make you wonder: What's it like to costume a show that's largely set in prison? OTINB costume designer Jenn Rogien spoke to a crowd at the Fashionista June meetup about telling the characters' stories through clothing.

"A script [will tell you if a character] is snarky, poor, rich, works for this kind of company, drives this kind of car. My job is to filter that out and put together a look that will also tell you things," she said. When it comes to a cast that's wearing uniforms (from a real prison uniform manufacturer) most of the time, that means making a lot more subtle choices like "a lip color here [and] untucked socks there," Fashionista reported.

From Boo's struggle with her butch gender presentation to emo Flaca's desire to "dress for her authentic self," the great paper suit incident of 2015, and the underwear storyline, clothes have been front and center this season — although Rogien's goal is for them to be unnoticeable most of the time. "They shouldn't be stealing spotlight from the characters. There are moments where the clothes are meant to steal the show… none of [the shows I'm working on] are fashion shows," she told attendees.

A fashion show it's not, but the clothes on OITNB are definitely worth paying closer attention to: Rogien tells a mean story.

Images: Courtesy Netflix; Giphy