‘Michael’ Costume Designer Reveals Toughest Look to Re-Create for Biopic

Michael Jackson’s magnetic stage presence was undeniable and elevated by his dedication to his fashion.

The King of Pop’s visual style complemented his music and dance moves, helping him embody his vision of what a superstar looked like. From embellished military jackets to his signature bedazzled glove, exposed white socks and black loafers, Michael Jackson’s visual legacy has its own moment in history.

In “Michael,” his nephew Jaafar Jackson emulates the late pop star through his voice, dance moves and, yes, wardrobe. Decades worth of unforgettable looks are shown on screen starting with The Jackson 5 era in the ‘60s and ‘70s and concluding in the late ‘80s with Michael Jackson’s “Bad Tour.”

Each era contains monumental looks, starting with a young Michael (played by Juliano Valdi) singing with his brothers before he goes solo and releases hits like “Beat It” and “Thriller” — both of which have iconic and fashion-forward music videos.

“Michael” costume designer Marci Rodgers calls the superstar’s style “truly one of a kind,” in an interview with TODAY.com where she breaks down different looks from the film.

She explains that during Michael Jackson’s time with The Jackson 5, his looks were “a bit more uniform.”

However, once he began his solo career, he quickly developed his own flair for fashion. Gina Lewis, buyer and lecturer in the Department of African American Studies at UCLA, tells TODAY.com that on his own, Michael Jackson had a “huge intent about making his mark on who he (was).”

Lewis, who teaches about the history of Black fashion, says Michael Jackson used fashion as a way “to create this vision of who he wanted to be as a rock star.”

“That attachment to what he’s wearing… becomes this crossover pop culture moment,” Lewis says, noting that fans witnessed his style evolution over the decades. “From the child star, going from the ‘60s to the ‘70s with his brothers and this youth culture, the bell bottoms and the fringe and the psychedelic colors. Then you see this stark evolution into where he really wants to make this stately image and really command his own image.”

She continues, “You see that crafted in this very military-driven styling, but still this attention to tailoring and suiting.”

Rodgers agrees, noting that in her research when creating the costumes for “Michael,” the superstar marched to the “beat of his music” with his fashion.

Michael Jackson’s longtime costumer Michael Bush echoed similar sentiments, telling The Associated Press in 2012 that the pop star wanted fashion designers to copy him.

“‘I don’t want to wear basically what’s out there. I want to push my individuality and being that my music’s me, my look should be me,’” Bush said Michael Jackson told him. “Michael’s concept was, ‘We study what’s out there, now we have to top it. What’s the next look? Where’s it going to go next?’”

The two worked together until the singer’s death in June 2009.

For the biopic, directed by Antoine Fuqua, Rodgers put together a book with over 800 pages of research on every Michael Jackson and Jackson family era.

Every item on set was a re-creation of the “Smooth Criminal” singer’s looks, as well as outfits his family members wore. None of Michael Jackson’s real clothes were used in “Michael.” While Rodgers had a wonderful team helping with the looks on set, she personally re-created all of his performance looks, from head to toe.

“When it came to the execution of my costume design, I’d say… (it was) 95% accurate,” Rodgers says, mentioning that time was a factor.

One particular look for the film proved to be a bit more challenging for Rodgers: a pair of pants from the “Victory Tour.”

Rodgers knew there was “no way” they were just simple white trousers and researched until she found the exact material. They were adorned with “little clear, iridescent bugle beads,” she says. That same material was also utilized in remaking the legend’s 1984 Grammys jacket.

The costume designer reveals her department had a running bet that the jacket was made of sequins.

“And I’m like, ‘Other than his mother’s jacket that he wore in ‘Billie Jean’ and the Pepsi commercial — that particular jacket was not made of sequin.’ And so the challenge in the department was, was Marci, right?” she says. “I was able to track down the jacket in Cleveland, Ohio, and I retrieved images of every single angle of this jacket. And once those images were coming through to me, and they were bugle beads. I was right.”

Rodgers recalls seeing Jaafar Jackson in the Grammys jacket for the first time, telling TODAY.com, “That was by far Michael. He was coming through Jaafar… That was Michael, 1,000%.”

Lewis adds that in the iconography of the artist’s career, seeing him in the blue and gold military jacket with his Grammys is “a stunning image” and “probably one of the most monumental moments in his career.”

Other significant pieces that helped Jaafar Jackson embody the King of Pop were the red “Thriller” pants. Rodgers says she “followed the same process” the original creator of the look, Deborah Landis, did, which was dying a pair of white pants red.

“But I had different variations of reds, because I had to keep in mind this is going to be shot at night. It has to be historically accurate,” she says. She also stressed the importance of Jaafar Jackson being able to move in the look.

One thing that Michael Jackson perfected was having continuity with his looks across many decades, Lewis says. She notes that despite him reinventing himself over the years, the glove, the jackets and the socks stayed consistent, cementing himself even further in pop culture. He also inspired other important figures.

“When you think about him as an artist, you know, he’s a once in a lifetime generational talent,” Lewis says. “At that level of greatness, there are so many other people, whether it’s (musicians) or other (types of) artists, who also want to channel Michael’s greatness in the way he could command an audience, command a stage (and) create these spectacular moments.”

She cites Eddie Murphy in his 1983 comedy special “Delirious” with his red leather suit, as well as Beyoncé giving Michael Jackson a nod at the 2016 Super Bowl.

“There’s the voice, but there’s the experience of Michael. And I think the dress definitely plays a huge role in that,” Lewis says.

Lewis applauds Rodgers and her dedication to detail, adding, there’s “so much virality” to his looks. “For audiences, people who care about Michael’s legacy, you want to see that replicated as closely as possible.”

From a background actor, to a security guard at the Los Angeles Dodgers Stadium to outfitting the entire Jackson family, Rodgers takes pride in the work she and her team created for “Michael.”

“Everything had to be right,” she says. “I know there are fans who were there (in those historic moments) and that’s why it was very important to get it right.”