Writer-director Bassam Tariq‘s “Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother” is one of those rare movies that doesn’t feel like anything you’ve seen before. That’s partly due to the unusual blend of tones in its premise — a devout Muslim family man (Mahershala Ali) is also a contract killer whose religion and job are in serious conflict — and partly due to its depiction of a group of people (practicing Muslims living in Houston, Texas) who don’t normally get their stories told on American movie screens.
Both of these factors had to be taken into consideration by costume designer Deirdra Elizabeth Gowan, who meticulously researched the faith and culture at the center of the film to tell a detailed story through the characters’ clothing. One aspect of the story came naturally to Gowan, however. “I was born and raised in Houston, Texas,” Gowan told IndieWire. “Reading the script, I really appreciated Bassam’s capacity for understanding how diverse Texas is, and Houston specifically.”
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When it came to Latif, the main character played by Mahershala Ali, Gowan knew she had to embrace the character’s contradictions. “This is a man who is battling his faith,” Gowan said. “I wanted to be very mindful and respectful of Muslim identity, but not fall into a prescribed idea of what a Muslim is, because there is no such thing. But there is a construct of Black Muslim style and contemporary modern life, an unabashed way of dress that is vibrant, that is rich in texture, that is rich in color and swag.”
Gowan drew upon a wide array of influences for Latif’s clothes, referencing Tuareg (particularly in the indigo color palette) and Baye Fall African warriors, as well as the more utilitarian aspects of Japanese samurai clothing. “I had to maintain a balance, because this character’s everyday life is as a father,” Gowan said, “but when we first meet him we’re introduced to him as a killer. We don’t know his backstory. So there’s a level of restraint that’s very important — I didn’t want the costumes to announce themselves.”
Several of Latif’s costumes were original designs Gowan created to reflect his daily life and emotional state. “For the funeral scene, I designed his thobe to combine a traditional tunic silhouette with the details of a tailored men’s dress shirt: micro-stripe shirting with a contrasting denim band collar and cuffs. I also designed the loose shalwar trousers in blue and white that he wears during his meditative practice with his sword. His multicolored morning tunic, with its long sleeves, reflects his attempt at optimism. Across these looks, the untucked shirts, long sleeves, and loose trousers maintain the modesty and ease that ground his everyday looks, while the individual details express different aspects of his character.”
Latif’s duality becomes especially clear in his long denim kimono coat, which Gowan created in collaboration with Daisuke Muramatsu, owner of Prospective Flow, using pieces from his collection. “It brings the warrior influences of my research into Latif’s contemporary assassin look while remaining rooted in his everyday wardrobe,” Gowan said. “The addition of his Tuareg-inspired tagelmust and the embossed leather belt holding his sword sheath changes its function and how we read him. Latif remains a father, a man of faith, and a warrior throughout that seamless transition.”
While Latif represents one approach to faith and violence, his adversary Pastor Hwan (John Cho) represents another. An evangelist cult leader in charge of a heavily armed militia, Hwan is as sincere in his beliefs as Latif is in his — and seems completely unaware of the even greater contradictions between his faith as he preaches it and his actions in practice. “My research really began with cult leaders and how they are able to draw people in,” Gowan said. “How do they identify in their dress and style?”
In addition to real-life cult and religious leaders, Gowan was influenced by the look of the John Hawkes character in “Martha Marcy May Marlene.” She then honed in on the look of militias, always with an eye on the Houston locale. “The cowboy hat was crucial,” she said. “He needed something that didn’t just sit on his head, but was subtle. The costume was very much about the details, like the iconography of crosses on the jeans. John was still searching for who the character was, and when he stepped into the fitting room, he was transformed.”
Gowan was particularly interested in how the character could use clothing to project authority and command attention. “I drew on Texas and Western iconography: the cowboy hat, boots, spurs, embellished denim, and prominent eye-catching details. The hat and boots give him an assertive, immediately recognizable silhouette. His outward display contrasts with the restraint of Latif’s everyday look.”
Hwan’s most arresting piece of clothing is a shirt he wears that Gowan bought in a store but then completely embellished. “On a Friday evening I got a note, ‘Hey, we want to do some kind of portrait of his mother or something on the back of his shirt,'” Gowan said. “This had to be on camera Monday, and we needed six multiples. I had to set about finding an airbrush artist who could hand paint and turn around some type of image of a mother in a very short amount of time, on top of embellishing the shirts.”
Fringe details and studs were added to the shirt’s placket and color, with everything coming together in a 72-hour period. “When you’re on a project like this, it’s a very short time frame,” Gowan said, noting that she only had one fitting with each of her lead actors. Luckily, her extensive research and attention to detail paid off. “When we tried all the final pieces on that day and John stepped out of his camper fully loaded with the cowboy hat in his hand, the jeans, the shirt, the black ostrich boots with the spurs, and the belt buckle with crosses on it, it just came together.”
For the film’s third key character, Latif’s daughter Fatiha (Adia), Gowan had to represent yet another approach to faith, with less latitude for overt stylization than in Latif or Pastor Hwan. “ Fatiha is somewhat wise beyond her years,” Gowan said. “She’s finding herself. She’s trying to understand who she is as a young girl who has to grow up relatively quickly, and handle a lot of responsibility for her younger brother and her newly born sister. I wanted to show a young Muslim girl’s freedom of expression through her clothing.”
With that in mind, Gowan’s research for Fatiha brought modest yet modern teenage silhouettes into conversation with roomy streetwear, track jackets, sports jerseys, sneakers, and expressive layering. One key to Gowan’s approach was the way she handled the character’s hijabs. “Her colorful hijabs were tied and styled in various ways, giving her costumes a language of comfort and a controlled sense of teenage rebellion,” Gowan said. “Her palette made room for rich mustard yellows, muted greens and blues, and lavender hues.”
Gowan was also sure to use Fatiha’s look as a point of comparison and contrast with her father. “I wanted to portray the fact that she was youthful, she was vibrant, but she was also a rebel,” Gowan said. “She was questioning her father in very direct ways, so it was important that she had an aesthetic that was very much her own. The color and silhouette gave her a different energy from her father while keeping her a formidable presence within the same grounded cultural world. Their costumes express different generations and points of view within the faith, community, and intimate family space they share.”
As with the other characters, Gowan wanted Fatiha’s clothes to convey inner conflict. “There are moments where she’s just very pared down and very simple in the home,” Gowan said, adding that one of her favorite looks comes in a scene where Fatiha steals milk for her baby sister. “She’s got this hockey jersey on, and she’s got her jeans, and she’s got her hijab, and it’s very freeing and vibrant. There’s a shot of her sitting in the mosque alone, and she’s observing, and she’s observing those around her. They’re in traditional dress, but she’s not. I wanted to show that juxtaposition.”
Gowan credits her close collaborations not only with Tariq but also with the production designer, cinematographer, and other department heads for finding a cohesive vision for the film. “I knew that the palette that I was establishing would sit within their world,” Gowan said. “I didn’t want the characters to stand outside it, and I didn’t want them to announce themselves. Everything was about balance, and that can’t happen alone. No costume designer, no cinematographer, no production designer is an island unto themselves. We work together, and we had a great collaboration.”
“Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother” is currently in theaters from Orion.