DRAMA – CONTEMPORARY 2022

BLACK CAKE – CONTEMPORARY WORK

Disney +/ HULU · Costume Designer

DIRECTORS — Zetna Fuentes, Natalia Leite, Tara Nicole Weyr, Mario Van Peebles

PRODUCERS — Nick Goding, Marshall Boone, Matthew Conner

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS — Marissa Jo Cerar (Creator and Showrunner), Oprah Winfrey, Michael Lohmann, Aaron Kaplan, Carla Gardini, Brian Morewitz, Charmaine Wilkerson (Author) and Zetna Fuentes

SERIES TRAILER

THE DESIGN

The contemporary story of Black Cake, spanning 2014–2022, centres on the Bennett family in Los Angeles. The costume design embraced an elevated, aspirational aesthetic, reflecting the family’s success, sophistication and individual identities. Across an intricate narrative of flashbacks, family memories and unfolding revelations, the costumes needed to establish continuity while subtly revealing the emotional histories and changing relationships between the characters.

Benny and Byron were designed as contrasting personalities within the same family. Byron’s polished, structured wardrobe reflected his professional success as an ocean scientist, his self-discipline and the expectations he carried. Benny’s style was more expressive and individualistic, combining bold colour, contemporary fashion and unexpected pieces to communicate her creativity, independence and rebellious spirit. Their contrasting silhouettes, palettes and styling became visual expressions of their different responses to family, identity and belonging.

The extensive movement between timelines required careful consideration of each character’s wardrobe evolution, tracing their personal histories while maintaining a coherent visual identity. Costume became an important storytelling tool, revealing the gradual shifts in Benny and Byron’s confidence, vulnerabilities and understanding of themselves as the secrets of their mother’s past unfolded.