From Pamela Anderson’s always-iconic Baywatch bathing suit and Tommy Lee’s itty-bitty thongs to the couple’s wedding day attire, the wardrobe on Pam and Tommy checked off all the boxes.
But creating a closet that mimicked reality — and making sure the items meshed with Sebastian Stan and Lily James’ prosthetics — wasn’t without its challenges. In honor of the series finale, costume designer Kameron Lennox sat down with Us to dish on how some of fans’ favorite on-screen looks came to be.
While Lennox spent nearly two weeks mood boarding, researching and planning, and countless more hours sourcing vintage clothing from designers like Versace and Dolce and Gabbana, there were a handful of game-time decision and learning curves throughout the filming process.
Take Tommy’s thongs for instance. After sourcing 12 patterns, ranging from animal-print satin to rock n’ roll prints, Lennox said that there was a lot of “building, fitting, building, fitting” to make sure that the seams worked with Stan’s prosthetic penis.
“Then, when we went to go shoot the first time and he was actually in the full prosthetic, we came to find out that it still wasn’t big enough to cover everything,” she told Us. “So we had to do an emergency cut. That morning, right before he went on set, we had to remake all of the same patterns.”
While Stan’s prosthetic privates necessitated a last-minute alteration, James’ prosthetic breasts actually proved to be a major help when getting the Baywatch bathing suit to stay put.
Lennox explained that a “normal hack” for getting skimpy clothes to stay in place during action scenes is to use double sided tape. But given that any sticky substance would lift off James’ fake tan, the team had to engineer the bathing suit in a way that would simply adhere to her body.
“Having the prosthetic chest like that would help hold the garment in place. It’s not like flesh that moves around, you know?” she told Stylish.
The reverse held true too, though. When it came time for James to wear the “breathtaking” black Versace dress that mimicked the one Anderson wore for her Jay Leno interview, prosthetics caused a problem.
“The prosthetics she had, it just wouldn’t work. That dress had to have its own prosthetic made — just for that scene,” Lennox said. “It’s a lot of planning ahead of time and discussion.”
Even bathroom breaks require team work between wardrobe, prosthetics and glam.
“Everything Pam wore at that time was very tight fitting and we wanted to recreate that same silhouette,” Lennox said. “We had to sew onto her body because we were fitting it over her prosthetics.” So if she needed to take a break or pick up the same scene on different day, the team would have to un-sew and re-sew her into the look.
While the show presented its own set of obstacles, Lennox said that James’ dedication to the film was a constant motivator. “She worked incredibly hard and she was so in the character and in it for the ride. To see someone so dedicated to her character — it was inspiring for me. It inspired me to do the best that I could do as well. We wanted to match the excellence that was happening at all times,” she said.
