How The United States vs. Billie Holiday Uses Runway Fashion to Honor Its Radical Muse
More than any other artist of her generation, Billie Holiday represents the complexities of Blackness in America. She was celebrated for her one-of-a-kind voice only to be demonized once she began to use it to protest racism. Her hits remain relevant more than six decades after her death, at 44 in 1959, but Holiday’s legacy is about more than jazz.
A groundbreaking artist whose refusal to live inauthentically drew the ire of government officials, and at times the African American community, she foreshadowed the civil rights movement. Iconic songs like “Strange Fruit,” which centers on the epidemic of lynching in the American South during the early 20th century, introduced anti-racism to the era’s popular music in a period when Hollywood liked its stars inoffensive. While her peers Ella Fitzgerald and Lena Horne were celebrated for their demure femininity and spotless reputations, Holiday’s struggles with alcoholism and addiction were fodder for derogatory headlines. Scandalizing the public was one thing, but Lady Day’s issues were used against her by powerful forces eager to silence her message. Targeted by the first commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics after the success of “Strange Fruit,” she was arrested for narcotics possession in 1947 and sentenced to West Virginia’s Alderson Federal Prison Camp after her lawyer refused to represent her during trial. The conviction meant the loss of her cabaret card, then a requirement for all New York City performers in nightclubs, a blow that prohibited her from performing in the setting she enjoyed. The stress and lack of work would eventually lead Holiday to a downward spiral of heroin use and depression.
That battle is the subject of director Lee Daniels’s latest film, The United States vs. Billie Holiday. Set to premiere on Hulu on February 26, it is a stirring depiction of the last years of Holiday’s life that shows how the controversy surrounding “Strange Fruit” would ultimately destroy her career and personal life. From the start, Daniels wanted to go beyond the standard biopic; Hollywood’s first attempt at telling Holiday’s story, the Oscar-nominated drama Lady Sings the Blues, profoundly impacted the then 13-year-old director. “It’s part of why I’m doing what I do now,” he shared on the phone from California. “I had never seen two beautiful Black people onscreen like that, presented with such grace and style. What I loved most was that even though [the characters] were poor, you’d never be able to tell because they were dressed impeccably and Harlem was depicted with such beauty.”
When he began working on The United States vs. Billie Holiday, Daniels wanted to preserve that sense of grandeur while offering a factual account of Holiday’s life. “The truth is that the government took down this woman,” he says. “She was a civil rights leader, an icon in fashion, a gay woman, and a brilliant singer. Like most African Americans in that era, she grew up impoverished and had a complicated past. She did what she could do with her upbringing, but she was a hero.”
Daniels knew that the film’s visuals would have to be as potent as the story itself, particularly when it came to the costumes. Though his longtime collaborator, Paolo Nieddu, would serve as costume designer, Daniels wanted a talent from the runway world to be involved in the process and create a few key looks. The perfect suggestion came from Vogue editor in chief Anna Wintour. “There were a couple of designers I was circling, but then Anna referred me to Miuccia [Prada],” says Daniels. “She knew I couldn’t go wrong with Prada. I was going to throw myself at Miuccia’s feet as she’s a genius, but I didn’t have to. She admired my work, and I am such a fan of hers, so we were excited.”
The nine costumes created by the team at Prada capture the elegance of Holiday’s style. With marigold satin performance looks and dramatic suits for offstage moments, the pieces show that she was always Lady Day, regardless of the situation. For Nieddu, maintaining that star quality was paramount. Closely involved in the collaboration’s day-to-day aspects, he had fun revisiting the Prada archives and finding runway examples to share with the brand’s team. “I went through every single collection on Vogue Runway then started eBaying vintage magazines because I wanted to flip through a magazine rather than print an image,” he says. “We were inspired by a dress from fall 2017 and then referenced the shoulders from the resort 2011 collection [for another look]. Then we had hundreds of reference photos of Billie to select from too.”
Pouring over the wealth of imagery informed Nieddu’s designs, which comprise the bulk of the onscreen wardrobe. Within his creations, he sought to avoid overreliance on the iconography associated with Holiday’s style. “We used the flower a couple of times but not every time,” he says, referencing the white gardenias the star began adorning her hair with after a curling iron singed her curls backstage at New York jazz club Kelly’s Stables. To keep things interesting, Nieddu accessorized with vintage finds like a charm bracelet found in a Montreal boutique and extreme-cat-eye sunglasses for the scenes set in the 1950s, creating an eclectic pastiche he hopes will resonate with audiences. “With all the glamour, the film has the magic of an Old Hollywood picture,” he says. “I would love to see a new generation fall in love with Billie and discover her music, to see her differently than just as an image of a woman with a gardenia.”