‘The Bear’ Is Super Stressful, But Its Wedding Dress Code Definitely Isn’t
Josh Hartnett is so nice and Jamie Lee Curtis dresses to avoid confrontation in the Gen-X star-studded episode.
Hey WNVM-ers,
Everyone caught up on season 4 of “The Bear?” Because dressing up for weddings and watching shows are two of my favorite things. So I talked to the series costume designer Courtney Wheeler about outfitting the Gen X-stacked guest list for the shockingly low-stress wedding episode that thankfully did not include Jamie Lee Curtis driving a car through the wall of Josh Hartnett’s fancy Chicago townhouse. (Also, fun fact: Hartnett played John Tate, the teenage son of Curtis' iconic Laurie Strode in the 1998 horror sequel, Halloween H20: 20 Years Later.)
In scheduling news, our second official — and first paywalled — bonus issue will be out this coming Monday, July 28. Teaser: It's summer-themed, and will include some very useful expert advice in our Whatever Nevermind way.
And in news, Sandra Oh found her old diaries, David Beckham gets an unfortunate haircut, and more.
Per usual, you may need to read the entire newsletter in your browser. And, if you’re feeling generous and also think Frank is so nice, please give us a heart at the bottom of the post.
Come As You Are
“The Bear” costume designer Courtney Wheeler discusses Richie’s off-duty suit and the meaningful wedding attire of several Gen X icons.
By Fawnia
Warning: spoilers for “The Bear” season 4 below.
“The Bear” stresses me out at any given moment, but especially during Berzatto family occasions. I’m still recovering from season 2’s Christmas flashback episode. The ultra-tense 66 minutes revealed the generational trauma behind chef Carmy’s (Jeremy Allen White) guilt-driven determination to land a Michelin-star, and his sister Natalie’s (Abby Elliott) fraught relationship with their emotionally volatile mother, Donna (Jamie Lee Curtis).
Leading into season 4, Berzatto honorary cousin and reformed hothead, Richie Jerimovich (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), prepares for the impending marriage of his ex-wife Tiff (Gillian Jacobs) to none other than Josh Hartnett, I mean, Frank, a successful Windy City tech entrepreneur, who’s just so nice. As stepfather to precocious Eva (Annabelle Toomey), Frank can more than afford $100 teddy bears that Richie, on principle, will not buy his 7-year-old.
So I cautiously pressed play on episode 7 for Frank and Tiff’s nuptials. Richie stress-smokes outside Frank’s contemporary art-filled townhouse with The Bear chef de cuisine and Carmy’s heir apparent, Sydney (Ayo Adebiri). But, as the wedding’s loose dress code — Carmy isn’t even wearing a tie — would soon convey, this Berzatto-filled milestone event might actually be an occasion full of joy, gratitude, and acceptance.
“It’s very much, ‘Eat what you want, do what you want, wear what you want, dance, leave whenever,’” says series costume designer Courtney Wheeler, imagining Frank and Tiff forgoing made-up themes (“Southside Formal?” sorry) and guest moodboards to just impart, “We're just so happy you're here to celebrate us.”
Richie’s Heartfelt Non-Work Suit
After season 2, I interviewed Wheeler about Richie’s pivotal internship — or “stagiare” stint at Olivia Colman’s restaurant — for one of my favorite stories ever at The Hollywood Reporter. His wardrobe transition into suits marked his journey from an insecure, ill-tempered loose cannon into an assured and responsible team leader. (I also love that Moss-Bachrach suggested that man-movie buff Richie would obviously take suit inspo from Al Pacino in Michael Mann’s 1995 classic, Heat1.)
As The Bear front-of-house manager, Richie has made his pristinely styled monochrome suit into a consistent work uniform. But he changes it up for a social occasion with a dark Canali suit and a white Eton dress shirt.
“This really means something to him, and he wants to show his best self,” says Wheeler, who imagines Richie now owning a rotation of suits, from the likes of Boss, Suit Supply, and Chicago’s high-end menswear purveyor Syd Jerome Chicago. (The Bear’s paying well!) “It's an important event, and he doesn't want to wear the same thing he's worn to work.”
Richie’s jacket is respectfully buttoned, his shirt crisp, and his Suit Supply tie pristinely knotted and elegantly secured with a vintage tie bar.
“It’s a character choice that’s bringing the look together,” says Wheeler, surmised that Richie amassed a collection of tie clips over the past two seasons. “He's like, ‘Oh, I love a tie clip. That's my thing.’”
Richie’s come a long way from season 1’s “free T-shirt guy,” who regularly sported his shabby, “The Original Chicago BERF” misprint tee. Now running the client-facing operations of The Bear, he’s precise with table settings — to the millimeter — and honing his pre-service motivation speeches.
“He was pretending he didn't care, and now he has all of this care,” says Wheeler. “He's also showing and learning about his personal style, which he's never done before.”
Cousin Michelle’s ‘Tough’ Floral Dress
Biological Berzatto cousin, Michelle (Sarah Paulson), can only stay for an hour because of work — surrrrre. She’ll head straight to the airport in a sculptural Ulla Johnson Devon midi-dress with a French botanical-inspired motif.
“Its very much like, ‘I flew in for the wedding, but I’m leaving. So I put this great dress on. It's my go-to,’” says Wheeler. “It's not necessarily something that we wanted to overthink.”
The dark color palette threads back to Michelle’s moody, striped turtleneck sweater at the disastrous Christmas dinner, when she invites Carmy to escape the Berazatto chaos to stay with her in New York, and challenges a spiraling Donna.
“Even though it's a feminine dress, it's still a tough color,” says Wheeler.
Michelle’s New Yorker aesthetic also contrasts with the pastels, ruffles, and flounce on tried-and-true Chicagoans, Natalie and her sworn enemy/BFF, Francie Fak2 (Brie Larson!).
“We wanted Francie and Natalie to complement each other and be very ‘Midwestern women at a wedding.’ They love that über-femme, cottage core-y, nap-dress style,” says Wheeler, who coordinated Francie’s buttercream-yellow Selkie Day Dress with Natalie’s blue ruffled seersucker Ganni confection.
Credit to Hair Department Head Ally Vickers for the princess-y final touches: Francie’s Jennifer Behr pearl and crystal Ines headband, layered with a delicate Amazon double-gold one, and Natalie’s Lelet padded headband, monogrammed with a rhinestone “S” for daughter Sophie. Aw.
“We also thought it would be funny if they're dressed [like that, but have] the most sailor mouths, and are about to fight each other,” says Wheeler.
Donna’s Metamorphosis Dress
The incomparable Jamie Lee Curtis returns as the Berzatto family matriarch, completely immersing herself into the complex, heartrending character.
“[Curtis and I] like to talk about where Donna is and what that means for how she gets dressed and how she presents herself to the world,” says Wheeler. “Her clothes are always a reflection of that.”
Well, Donna’s also turning a corner — hinting toward her newfound sobriety to Richie after the consummate hospitality pro offers her a cocktail. As a surrogate mother to Richie and Tiff, and to face her anxiety-ridden children, she thoughtfully wore what looks like the most elegant and respectful dress she’s had in her closet for years, and a fancy belt she once splurged on at Neiman Marcus. (In reality, it's a Dries Van Noten graphic butterfly silk shirtdress and a Lanvin belt.)
“[Curtis and I] wanted Donna to feel comfortable, because she is uncomfortable, and we wanted her to look her best,” says Wheeler. Donna’s dress serves as figurative armor, as she asks Sydney for a reassuring hug, while preparing to seek Carmy’s forgiveness in episode 9.
“The flowing silhouette brings a softness to her, but also offers protection,” continues Wheeler. ““The subdued pattern is not as bold as that black when we saw her [at Christmas in ‘Fishes’]. She's in this mode where she feels like she's making amends.”
Under-the-Table Dress Code
To cajole dance-averse Eva out from under a magically expanding table, Berzattos and Berzatto-adjacents gamely crawl below to share their biggest fears and take a group selfie.
Everyone seemed to gracefully plop down in their wedding finery, even Sydney in her watercolor two-piece skirt-set by Belgian designer (and new Marni creative director) Meryll Rogge and silver Marion Parke Lotte Strappy Sandals. So did this sequence require any special costume tactics, like strategically placed spandex gussets or hidden kneepads for Richie?
“There are no tricks per se, but once you're under the table, you're under the table,” says Wheeler, with a laugh. “It's the logistics, like do the guys’ pants have enough stretch to get down there? Because we don't want any split pants or anything. At each fitting, we just tried to make sure everyone could sit in their dresses and suits.”
The Happy Couple
What a reveal in season 3, when we find out Tiff’s boyfriend-turned-fiancé Frank is Josh Hartnett, who didn’t need his parents’ help to buy his big house. Thankfully, Richie’s since gained the self-confidence to welcome Frank into the family and help him connect with Eva. Because, Frank’s just “so nice” — as everyone keeps saying as a long-running thread that makes me laugh. He even looks like a nice, chill guy in his beige Bruno Cucinelli suit, a white Loro Piana shirt, brown Ralph Lauren belt, and Paul Stuart suede loafers.
“Frank has a lot of money, but we also wanted a lightness to Frank,” says Wheeler. “So his suit is very expensive, but it's also not stuffy.”
Little details in how Frank wears his quiet luxury also telegraphs his appeal, like the top buttons of his shirt are undone, and he skipped a tie. The asymmetrical double pocket on his suit jacket reveals whimsy and a natural confidence — no wonder Tiff likes him.
“He still wants to impress Richie and their daughter, but generally he's probably been going through the world very comfortable with himself,” says Wheeler. “That's why I just love the suit — it's classic, but it's not overdone. There's an ease about Frank that you don't look at him and say, ‘Ugh, this guy.’ You're like, ‘He is pretty great.’”
Tiff’s custom-designed ‘60s-style minidress and Roger Vivier Mini Très Mary Janes coordinate with Eva’s adorable apple-print smock dress from Chicago’s Festive Collective and hand-painted shoes. Wheeler likes to think that the two had a mommy-daughter shopping outing — “a lovely day” — to pick out their matching wedding outfits.
“They just want their kids to be happy, like raising kids without the harshness that maybe they had growing up,” says Wheeler. “I just like the idea that everyone wore what they wanted to wear — and what made them feel really good — to the wedding.”
Please note: Occasionally, we use affiliate links on our site, but the picks are objectively our recommendations for what we’d buy ourselves (or an expert’s).
We are two Gen X journalists who celebrate people of our generation doing cool things, as well as analyze all the '80s and '90s nostalgia in current pop culture, fashion, and beauty. Read more stories like this one here!
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Did you notice the Thelma & Louise poster in Richie's kitchen at the end of the episode? I feel like this non-man movie, directed by his favorite auteur Ridley Scott, marks another stage of his personal growth.
I need Chicagoan Cheryl to say "Fraaaancie Faaaak."
I was so deeply traumatized by the Seven Fishes episode! (Or should I say REtraumatized!? WAY too much true to life stuff going on in that episode. WHEW.) I loved Richie’s arc of character development, and to me, he is the best of them. I care way more about Richie than I care about Carmy FOR SURE. I do enjoy Syd, and the pastry guy, and hot hot hot Will Poulter (how is he so much hotter with his British accent?!). But I have a very tough time with Donna.
Am I the only one who clocked Frank's whole look as a virtual twin of Gary Oldman's iconic villain Norman Stansfield in 1994's Leon: The Professional? Seriously, look at screen grabs side-by-side. From the cream suit and unbuttoned white shirt to the coiffed hair and more-than-5-o'clock-shadow-but-not-a-full-beard, they could be body doubles.