FASHION Magazine
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Mr. Selfridge: 5 questions with the costume designer behind the opulent new period miniseries starring Jeremy Piven
Photography courtesy of ITV for MASTERPIECE See photos of the Mr Selfridge costumes »
If you’ve failed to get your guy hooked on Downton Abbey, sell him on Masterpiece’s latest costume drama by uttering just two words: Ari Gold. Yes, Entourage’s agent-with-a-heart-of-coal has gone costume. As the titular Mr. Selfridge, Jeremy Piven is the main attraction in this eight-part miniseries premiering on PBS on Sunday, March 31. If the name Selfridge doesn’t conjure up London’s Oxford-street shopping Shangri-La, then consider this your department store master class. The series charts American Harry Gordon Selfridge, a gregarious entrepreneur, as he struggles to get his namesake store off the ground in 1909. While Piven fills the dapper shoes of the retail magnate, there’s plenty of women to distract: Harry’s wife Rose, chorus girl Ellen Love who catches his eye (and maybe his heart), Lady Mae who helps him find funds, and the many shopgirls that populate Harry’s days. Dressing the man who revolutionized retail with his in-store stunts and these pretty birds is BAFTA fave James Keast, who talks to us about the intricacies of dressing such a large cast, his favourite accessory, and more.