When we think of ’90s style icons, there are many that come to mind. There’s Cher Horowitz in Clueless, Drew Barrymore in sundresses, Courtney Love in grunge babydoll dresses and teenage witches in The Craft. But there’s one style in particular that seems to be everywhere on our social media feeds: Fran Fine. The star of the 90s sitcom The Nanny, played by Fran Drescher, is famous for her bold, colorful looks that captivate any setting.
Over the past few years, we’ve seen growing interest in The Nanny, which aired from 1993 to 1999, despite its lack of streaming (a missed opportunity for Netflix and Hulu). ). The renewed interest is partly due to the popular Instagram What Fran Wore, Cardi B’s ode to Fran Fine fashion (and possibly a reboot starring Cardi as Fine’s daughter) and the cycle Fashion is happening again and again. Many of Fran’s outfits—checkered miniskirts, crop tops, fur coats, and shorts—could easily be worn today. In fact, we’re in a curious time when it comes to fashion, where the ages have gone back and forth enough times about almost everything going. An army of Fran Fine-inspired outfits would likely flood the streets without so much as a blink of an eye.
As with any iconic fashion figure in film and television, there is always someone behind the curtain who creates these legendary looks. For Fran Fine, it’s Brenda Cooper. The British-born costume designer brought the costumes of The Nanny characters to life — so much so, in fact, that Renée Taylor, who plays Fran’s mother, Sylvia Fine, told Cooper that she didn’t know her character. Who am I until I dress her?
Cooper worked on The Nanny for four seasons (and won an Emmy) before leaving to have her child. In addition to The Nanny, Cooper worked as a costume designer for other films and shows (including Happily Divorced, which also starred Drescher) and as a stylist and color expert (she was helping customers like Jamie Lee Curtis figure out their wardrobe color palette). ), and is the host of E!’s Fashion Emergency. Currently, she’s working on a book proposal for a style guide of sorts that incorporates the tenets Cooper uses to help empower women and their wardrobes.
To celebrate the 25th anniversary of The Nanny, Cooper (who is still very close friends with Drescher) invited me to her home studio to see in person some of Fran’s wardrobe, rummage through stacks of after-effects Polaroid photos school and talk about the content of the movie. Most memorable looks.
HelloGiggles (HG): How did you start working on The Nanny?
Brenda Cooper (BC): I previously met Fran at my second job, where I was an assistant to designer Eduardo Castro. She is working on a series of short films titled Princesses with Twiggy and Julie Hagerty. “If I had my own show,” she said, “I want you to be the designer.” Before, I was pursuing a career as an actor no faster than the speed of sound, so I had to get a job. I wanted to start a business and I’ve always been good at combining clothes. When I went from being in front of the camera to behind the camera, I was — I don’t want to mince words here — but a little nervous about the approach to costuming in film and television. To me, that’s really important, but it seems like in the Hollywood hierarchy, costume designers aren’t that important. I said, “Well, if I’m going to do this show that Fran gave me to do, I want to make a statement.”
HG: Did you get a lot of input on how Fran’s character would dress?
BC: I didn’t get any instructions, but I knew exactly what to do and Fran let me do it. I took a few styles and one of the vests from Princesses – it’s so colorful and fits well. That was the inspiration to create this character. I deliberately wanted to make a statement about style, wit and humor, all combined. So I just started shopping for the show. It’s intuitive and that’s how I work with clients today, just knowing…the way it should be. I want color, I want it to be sexy. And there were so many colors available in 1993. We will always shop in Beverly Hills. Coming to Neiman Marcus is like style heaven—all the prints, colors, and Moschino, Cheap and Chic, and Dolce and Gabbana. They are all in there.
I just pull things off the rack and load up the clothes, then go try on every Wednesday. Even though you’re a designer, in some ways you’re in a bit of a bind.
wearable today as it is then. It’s bold, it’s bright, it makes a statement. It’s sexy. I think the millennials just love it. They just love the look, and that you could wear it today.
I love when millennials want to raid my closet. Or they come up to me and say, “I want to dress like you.” I’m old enough to be their mother, and possibly their grandmother. It’s great, it’s really inspiring. Then from another aspect is that character, which I didn’t realize the impact. The way she presented herself was very motivating and inspirational for people. Someone who was outspoken, who was loud and proud, who had her style. I read stuff on Instagram where people said that the character, and the way she looked, really helped them through hard times.
A lot of people consider image superficiality. It’s not superficial, because it’s an expression. Your outward image is an expression of your inner self. For me, it’s always about the marrying of the inner and the outer. That’s why, to think that the creation of the look of that character has actually helped people, is really inspiring and very moving for me. At the heart of our style is confidence, and I love how I can get people to be confident through what they’re putting on the outside.
HG: I know this is going to be a difficult question, but what are some of your favorite looks from the show?
BC: I have to say the first season was just so great. Todd Oldham’s outfits, because Todd was a huge inspiration for me, and I loved all of his clothes. He had this little black skirt with a vest, and Asian embroidery around it, in black satin. There’s also a brick print suit that I think was Todd.
One day, I used an inexpensive, black bell-bottom catsuit that I could kick myself for giving away. And I have it here, but it’s a Todd Oldham vest that’s encrusted with sequins, but has black silhouettes underneath it. I absolutely love that. There’s so much. I look back sometimes and I go, “Wow, I did that. That’s great.” She looked fantastic. It didn’t really hit me until recently that I created the look of a show that actually became iconic.
HG: I know you used all types of designers, but did you design any of the costumes yourself?
BC: Well, the speed of television moved so fast that I didn’t really have time. Fran is not a made-to-order girl. We’ve actually had a conversation about this last night, about a dress that she had made and it didn’t fit. I copied a few pieces for the episode where the joke was that she and Madeline Zima were dressed the same, they’re both in leopard. I had the leopard dress that I found for Madeline and then I knocked off—excuse me, Todd, sorry for knocking you off—a Todd Oldham bolero jacket and then made a pencil skirt.
And there’s the whole thing with Patti LaBelle. I created the looks for all the characters, so the guest stars will come on and they’d always be told to bring their own stuff. Patti shows up and she hasn’t brought anything. We’re doing the show in two hours. I thought, “Oh my God, I have to make Patti LaBelle look like Patti LaBelle.” So, I know I have a pair of bell-bottom silk charmeuse pants by Norma Kamali. Then I went into Beverly Hills and found a huge Donna Karan gold skirt. Then I ran to Saks and found this beaded top dress and a beaded jacket. I get all the pieces, get back to the studio, cut up the dress, and make it into a top. I took the jacket, stitch shoulder pads in it, and take the center out of the skirt so it became a 1950s hostess skirt, and she looked brilliant.
HG: Oh my god.
BC: She took the outfit home, she loved it so much. I just knew I was in the right profession. One of my favorite outfits on Sylvia was a red, form-fitting sequin dress with a leopard swing coat over it that I made. Bob Mackie was the inspiration for the dress. I talk to Renée all the time. She’s one of my closest friends, and she still wears that.
HG: Didn’t you also use pieces you found from Kmart back then?
BC: I didn’t care if it came from Neiman’s or Kmart. Today, I still don’t care. If I can make something work, I don’t care where it comes from. I once found an amazing jacket in a trash can that somebody threw out for another show, and I got it fixed up and used the jacket on C.C. It doesn’t have to be a designer. I was asking Peter [Marc Jacobson] if he remembered anything back in the day, because Fran’s writing the foreword for my book, and he said, “Oh, you always told us, it doesn’t have to be expensi
draw. It just has to have great style.” There wasn’t money in the beginning. There wasn’t a budget, and that’s where I created the canvas of the black turtleneck, black miniskirt, the black opaque tights, and black suede heels. They had to be suede so that they didn’t reflect the light. Because if it would have been leather, you would have seen the break on camera. I wanted a solid silhouette. Then we’d change the look by the jackets and pieces that are put over it.
HG: Are there any behind-the-scene stories you can tell us?
BC: Okay, this isn’t actually costume-related, but it is funny. There was a scene where Fran is hanging in an elevator and she’s wearing a gown. They have a stunt person doing it. So, they started the shot on the feet, and the girl who’s a stunt double had bunions all over her feet. It’s supposed to be Fran’s feet. It was like, oh my god, oh my god. Just things like that would happen.
HG: With all the clothes you come across in your work, how do you figure out what to keep?
BC: I’m very attached to clothing; clothing is like children to me. It’s so difficult to let go. I mean, I have my school tie in my closet since I was four. I’m just passionate about them. It’s so sad what happened to The Nanny wardrobe. When Fran and I came back together in 2012 to do Happily Divorced, I thought, you know something? I want to see if I can find the wardrobe, to see if we could use any of it. When a show completes, all of the wardrobe goes into a central department at the studios. It’s like a graveyard of all of these clothes. I went to track down the wardrobe which was at Sony, and it had just been sold to a thrift store in the Valley. I called the thrift store and I begged them; I told them I was the designer of The Nanny and they wouldn’t help me. People today have pieces of clothing in their wardrobe that are the original Nanny wardrobe and probably don’t know that.
