Inside The World Of Costume Designer Janelle Carothers

Being the costume designer for some of the most beautiful women and biggest names in entertainment sounds like a dream job, and Janelle Carothers does just that. Dressing big names like Cassie, Ne-Yo, and Chris Brown, she is no stranger to getting up close and personal with celebrities. Janelle’s role in film greatly impacts the characters wearing her clothes. She looks into the finest details to create the perfect look, whether it’s for print, live performances, or commercials.

It comes to no surprise that she was born fashion savvy. Her personal style is self-described as “tomboy-chic,” with pieces that we can find in our very own closets. “So my day-to-day fashion consists of layers to pop on and off as I go in and out of meetings, in and out of malls, on and offsets, in and out of fittings. My fashion staples are, leather jacket, white T, great fitting jeans, boyfriend blazer, long scarf, big shades, shirt dress – I can get a million looks out of those 7 items. My personal go-to brands are Celine, Madewell, Rick Owens, Adidas, Acne, Alexander Wang and of course I love piling on my SLATE accessories. I love to be comfortable and look effortless.” Versatility is key when it comes to picking out pieces for herself.

An outfit tells a story about the person wearing it, and Janelle keeps that in mind each time she is on set. By studying the characters, she figures out their personality, their occupation, and so on, so she can style them accordingly. “It’s more about How can I help the actor and the director tell this character’s story without saying a word. Does she make a lot of money? Is she happy? Is she insecure? What does she do for a living? All those things have a “look”. What is that look? That look may or may not be “fashion”. But, my job is to keep you entertained. Executing the vision of the powers that be into making you believe this character is who they say they are.” Her passion stems from the ability to tell a story through clothes, not just for fashion’s sake alone.

Though her livelihood is her dream, it did not come without obstacles along the way. “The challenging part was all the different catch 22’s. Get a job to get experience, no one will hire you until you have experience. Get into the union. Can’t get in the union unless you find a union job. Can’t get on a union job because you’re not in the union. It’s almost like it’s designed to make you quit, but you can’t. But, every obstacle you overcome bears a new obstacle. This is life. I look back and see how far I’ve come, I look ahead and see that there’s still so much more to do.” Janelle has faced what many millennials are also facing today. Finding a career proves to be difficult, no matter the industry.

As an entrepreneur, she has worked tirelessly to get to where she is today, each day to improve the next, setting up her future with each move. Creativity and entrepreneurship come hand in hand, especially in the costume design industry. “This is something that you have to choose over again, almost every day. So many things are going to come along (bigger, better, prettier, EASIER), don’t jump ship, stay the course. Know that all days on this journey are not created equal. You got to take good with the bad. Keep going. Don’t give up.” She began her career assistant a stylist for Chris Brown before he was a big name. When he blew up, she followed him on tour for three years. Her perseverance paid off, time and time again, as she has elevated her portfolio with television, music videos, working with Director John Singleton, and much more.

One of her most popular projects was working on the movie The Perfect Match, starring Paula Patton, Terrence J, and Cassie Ventura. Watching the film, you can tell that each piece was meticulously thought out and chosen according to the personalities of each character. “Great and talented crew. I’m grateful the director, Bille Woodruff, entrusted me with his vision. And, I mean Cassie, Lauren London, and Dascha Polanco are too gorgeous and you can’t make them look bad even if you tried. So all in all, when projects like that come around you just say yes one thousand times.“

While there is no such thing as a typical day for Janelle Carothers, she stays humble and expresses her gratitude for being able to work in the competitive and demanding industry that is costume design and styling. She stays grounded by her son, who motivates her to continue chasing her goals. “ Knowing that God chose me to take of him. Knowing that I’m his sole emotional, physical and financial support. Knowing that God allows me the opportunity to feed us and provide us a great life by doing something that I love so much. That alone is worth its weight in gold. The least I can do to show God my ENTER all gratitude is to stay motivated and keep going.” She has many more surprises in store, and whether we realize it or not, we’ll be seeing her work everywhere we go.