If you’re not from Los Angeles, items like Nike Cortez and freshly pressed Dickies suits likely come to mind when you think of the city’s signature style. Yes, those are key pieces of the L.A. uniform for certain groups in the city, but it isn’t what everyone is wearing. Neishea Lemle, the costume designer of The Vince Staples Show, is an L.A. native herself. She was conscious of this when putting together the outfits for each character across the show’s five-episode first season. More specifically, she wanted to spotlight the style cues of Vince Staples’ hometown of Long Beach as authentically as possible, down to minute details like how certain characters wear their socks or stack rings on their fingers.
“I think for Vince it was very important because it's Long Beach and Long Beach is a little different from LA,” Lemle tells Complex. “Long Beach has more of a skate culture that people don't really pick up on. Long Beach has some really fly style, great vintage, and people really just kinda ignore Long Beach as a part of fashion in LA. He wanted to make sure that it was clear that Long Beach is part of the conversation when it comes to overall style.”
Since Vince Staples is playing a fictional version of himself, Lemle also had to make sure that his wardrobe made sense with who he is. The rapper is a calm dresser, usually sticking to staples like black trousers, button-ups, and work jackets with some Chucks or Vans on feet. His wardrobe on The Vince Staples Show matches that energy.
“Because he is playing a version of himself, we wanted to keep it pretty authentic to who he is. He's not very overstated in fashion,” says Lemle. “He didn't want to be in all Gucci and Prada with labels going across his chest. He really wanted to keep it authentic to him—the vintage T-shirts, the graphic tees, the cool jeans, the sneakers.”
That doesn’t mean there aren’t some statement pieces thrown in. For instance, he wears a green floral Marni x Carhartt jacket in Episode 2 (the best episode of the series in this writer’s opinion) to visit a “rich bank” in hopes of receiving a business loan. The expensive designer item isn’t something Vince Staples’s character would typically wear. Lemle says it was meant to represent his idea of dressing up to try and fit in with the rest of the bank’s wealthy clientele. A Bstroy x Denim Tears varsity jacket is worn in a few scenes of Episode 3. Lemle also made sure to show love to local streetwear brands like Supervsn and Union Los Angeles.
“We always want to support our local brands, especially our local LA brands, and incorporate our Black designers as well,” says Lemle. “It was just being very strategic on where to place it and how to place it so that it just doesn't just feel like we're going after the hottest and the latest. We wanted to make it feel a little more natural.”
Before you sit down to binge The Vince Staples Show, learn more about how Lemle constructed its streetwear-heavy wardrobe, below.
How did you get your start in costume design?
I was a dancer growing up, ballet modern, and I thought that's what I was going to do. I hurt my knee when I was a junior in high school. So I was like, “OK, what else am I gonna do?” I went to school to be a lawyer. I majored in English lit. I planned to go to law school and ended up modeling during college. A friend of mine worked for Marc Ecko and told me there was an opening to be the receptionist for G-Unit clothing. I wanted to move to New York, so I moved there and started as a receptionist for G-Unit clothing, then moved to be an account executive for Marc Ecko Red.
A friend of mine who was a producer and director, she just liked the way I dressed. I always had a sense of style because my mom was really into fashion. So she was like, “Hey, we're doing a short film. Do you wanna design it?” And I'm like, “OK.” I had no clue what to do or what that entailed. But a friend of mine and I got the script, we read it, and we broke it down, what they would need here and what they would need there. From that moment on, it clicked. I was like, “Wow, this is what I was supposed to be doing.” That’s around 2007.
So then fast-forward, how did this opportunity come about on The Vince Staples Show?
I worked with Vince on White Men Can't Jump. So, just talking to him and talking to his manager, they kind of know my style. I'm from LA. It was kinda like a natural progression to do the show. I kind of heard about it during [White Men Can’t Jump], and they were sizing me up for it. So when the time came, I was one of the calls they made. I was excited. They really wanted someone from the West Coast who can really capture the essence of Long Beach, the essence of who Vince is. And so because we had such a cool rapport from the fittings on White Men Can’t Jump, it just kind of rolled over into the show.
Did having that previous experience with Vince and some of the other people on the crew make the job easier, or did you treat it as like a whole new experience?
It wasn't easier. [Laughs.] It was definitely a whole new experience. But a great one. It was very collaborative between the costume department, Vince, and the producers. We all kind of worked together and talked through each episode, who the character is, or what they want to portray with the color schemes. So it was more involved than most shows I’ve worked on, which was great.
What was Vince's involvement in that process exactly? He’s playing a version of himself, so was he very hands-on?
He was very loose. Because he is playing a version of himself, we wanted to keep it pretty authentic to who he is. He's not very overstated in fashion. It's not labels everywhere. It's more “if you know, you know.” He has great style. It is name-brand, cool stuff. You just have to know it. So we kind of kept it like that. He didn't want to be in all Gucci and Prada with labels going across his chest. He really wanted to keep it authentic to him—the vintage T-shirts, the graphic tees, the cool jeans, the sneakers. He likes Vans. He likes Adidas Sambas. He's really particular in that way.
How did you determine what brands you wanted to feature in the show? We see Supervsn, the Marni jacket, Denim Tears. How did you make those choices?
We always want to support our local brands, especially our local LA brands, and incorporate our Black designers as well. We also wanted to add in some of the cool, Hypebeast type of pieces like the Marni x Carhartt collab. So it was just being very strategic on where to place it and how to place it so that it just doesn't just feel like we're going after the hottest and the latest. We wanted to make it feel a little more natural. But we did want to add those elements, like the Denim Tears and Supervsn. Not everyone is aware of Supervsn, but we really love that brand. We really support Gavin [Mathieu]. He's always a great team player when it comes to wardrobe and giving us clothes for our shows. And so Vince really wanted to do a high, low with the pieces. We just talked through where to place it and how long to place it in some episodes. Do we take it off? Do we keep it on? Those are really, really important things to consider when we were choosing costumes for each episode.
Obviously it isn't just about putting certain brands in the episodes. You mentioned you're from LA yourself. How important was it for you to stay true to certain elements of West Coast style and make sure that came across authentically?
For me, it's very important. I think there's certain specific things about LA style, like how they wear their socks, the bamboo earrings, how they wear their jewelry, the name plates. There’s very specific things that are particular to West Coast, particular to LA, and that certain type of character. We wanted to make sure Chucks are always in there somehow, the Nike Cortez, things that are true to the West Coast. It could be a specific belt, a specific way to wear it. So we wanted to make sure that we highlight that. And I think for Vince it was very important because it's Long Beach and Long Beach is a little different from LA. Long Beach has more of a skate culture that people don't really pick up on. Long Beach has some really fly style, great vintage, and people really just kinda ignore Long Beach as a part of fashion in LA. He wanted to make sure that it was clear that Long Beach is part of the conversation when it comes to overall style.
Is there any other particular stylings or items included within the episodes that you feel like really spotlight Long Beach in that way that people might not pick up on but you felt were important?
The way the guys wore the long socks with the shorts. The girls wearing gold anklets. The name plate earrings. The gold rings on the women and the way we stack them. Those little, small elements are very LA, and I always like to include that. When people think of LA culture it’s a lot of khakis and white beaters and white tees and Dickies suits and plaid shirts with long shorts. People always go that route when they try to emulate LA, and they don't really put emphasis on the small details that are important. Because that's not really LA. That's a subculture of LA. That's like gang culture. But they don't really highlight other people and what LA is about. Like the Slauson swap meet. We shopped there a lot for certain things to bring all those elements into play. People don't know where to get certain things that are LA specific. We tried to do that on the show.
So a lot of the sourcing was at the Slauson swap meet?
Yeah. We did a lot of vintage shopping to add those cool T-shirts and things that feel natural. We went to Dover Street Market and Bodega to try to find all these cool brands. We like to do a lot of sourcing for independent brands. I go to a lot of the flea markets like Black Market Flea, and they have all the new local artists. I like to pull and buy from them as well. We really like to highlight up-and-comers. I think it's important because they are a part of what makes LA.
What was your favorite episode to style?
The bank episode was my favorite. It had more to do with our guest stars and background honestly. It was highlighting different types of people that would be in this bank. It was like a rich bank. That was the idea: Everyone has a lot of money that goes to this bank. But it’s not everyone in suits. So how can we break the background down into characters—a Steve Jobs type of guy, a woman who's a housewife, people maybe going to golf after, lawyer women. We wanted to make sure that everyone was seen in different ways, and I think it came across really, really well when you see it. And then we wanted to give the tellers a uniform and not just your usual polo that says “Chase” on it. So we wanted to make that high fashion and use burgundy to play off the interior. So we did this whole burgundy, cream, black story on our Bank staff. So it was really fun to do it. And I think the background actors who got to play it really got into character. It was fun to watch them shoot it because everyone was in character. And it was just a hilarious episode.
I also loved how Vince had the Marni jacket on. It’s so loud already, but it just stood out so much more in that setting.
And he's wearing that to fit in. So he's coming in like, “Oh, I have on the latest Marni, you know, a high-end brand.” So he's thinking he's doing something by coming in there in that versus how you see him throughout the rest of the season. So that was intentional, too, to have him come in like, “Hey, I'm suited and booted.” That is his idea of dressing up and trying to fit in. But he’s loud and still stands out. So that was kind of the juxtaposition for that.
What’s your favorite individual piece worn in the show?
I love the [Bstroy x] Denim Tears jacket. That was one of my favorite pieces, but I think I love the pants that Deja wore that had crayon all over them the most. I was like, “She has to wear these pants.” That was my key piece. But I really love the Denim Tears jacket as a personal favorite ‘cause that's closer to my style. When I found it, I was like, “Oh, I love this.”
