A Fitting Moment

After 30 years as a Hollywood costumer, it takes a lot to surprise Patricia McLaughlin ’75.

McLaughlin, who’s dressed and decked casts on mega-hits from NBC’s Golden Girls to Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and HBO’s Big Little Lies, has seen every twist and turn play out both on-screen and behind-the-scenes. She’s weathered last-minute production and casting changes, long hours, cutthroat Tinseltown competition, and even one daring on-location trip through Florida’s Alligator Alley where she had to keep 60 ball gowns safely tucked away in the back of her rental car.

But in fall 2017, McLaughlin got one of the happiest shocks of her life: a Creative Arts Emmy for her work on Big Little Lies. She’d been previously nominated for her work on ABC’s 2000 production of Annie, making this win even sweeter.

“Oh my gosh—you know it's really cool to win an Emmy after you've been nominated once before and you didn't win it,” McLaughlin says. “The full circle and the gratification of the accomplishment is such an honor. To be honest, there are a lot of good costumers that do really difficult projects, and there's so much luck involved in being nominated for an Emmy. I just happened to hook up with a really great project, you know, and going into it...I had no idea.”

McLaughlin’s Emmy came in the category of Outstanding Contemporary Costumes for a Series, Limited Series, or Movie, beating out Netflix powerhouses House of Cards and Grace and Frankie, Fox’s Empire, and Amazon Video’s Transparent. McLaughlin says her team, which included costume designer Alix Friedberg and assistant costume designer Risa Garcia, was happy just to be in the running for the award.

“What was so amazing was, first of all, just the nomination, which is incredible,” McLaughlin says. “And then the recognition that the show (Big Little Lies) got, it kind of took us all by surprise.”

The Emmy win also meant McLaughlin, who spends her days worrying about making sure every single thread of fabric is screen-ready, got to show off her own wardrobe for a change.

“And for the Emmy nominees, it's a great party. You get to dress up,” says McLaughlin. “But I also had an opportunity to thank those costumers backstage.”

It was a fitting moment for McLaughlin, whose career—literally—has taken place behind-the-scenes. As a costumer, she’s charged with clothing every cast member, from the stars and their stunt doubles to the sea of extras that swarms through the background.

While McLaughlin’s role has varied over the years—as she’s moved from movies and sitcoms to more episodic content—her workweek has typically consisted of long hours breaking down scripts, doing research (if a production takes place in a historic time period or locale, for example), managing manpower and inventory, and making sure every thread and button is placed perfectly before the camera starts rolling.

“The most stressful thing is to have camera waiting on you,” says McLaughlin, as you can almost hear her apprehension through the phone. “That has not happened very often, but everyone will point that finger right at you. But it doesn't happen very often—I like to feel like my department's pretty much got the stress under control.”

McLaughlin knows a thing or two about meeting tough deadlines: she graduated from Trinity in only three years.

McLaughlin, née Patricia Thannisch, ended up attending Trinity after meeting a Trinity music professor John Seagle and several Trinity students at a Seagle Music Colony in upstate New York. Originally a soprano singer with plans on being an actress, McLaughlin also fell in love with costume-making, makeup, and other production skills at the New York music enclave and carried those passions onto Trinity’s theatre department as a drama major.

“At Trinity, I feel I was challenged with every aspect of theater,” McLaughlin recalls. “I was asked to do lighting design; I worked in the costume department, I acted. Here, you're encouraged to look at every single aspect of what you're doing ... in a way that, even now, I find myself having those tools to approach each project here in Los Angeles with a creative look. My eyes were kind of opened to that process when I was at Trinity.”

After taking 20 hours of classes for three straight semesters, McLaughlin returned to New York as a Trinity graduate a year ahead of schedule in 1975. She immediately broke into the theater scene there, dressing and shopping for Broadway shows. During her 13 years in the Empire State, McLaughlin eventually had a daughter, decided she “didn’t want to raise her in New York,” and moved west to Los Angeles in 1988.

“I really had to start from square one here in California,” McLaughlin recalls. “There was no credit given here, even though I had been supervising Broadway shows. Instead, there was a lot of competition between the New York and L.A. (entertainment communities). So I served my time paying some dues here.”

Those dues included stints at “costume houses”—big warehouses full of clothing. Here, McLaughlin spent her days helping other costumers fill orders for their productions, waiting for her own big break.

And boy, did she get one.

“I had worked there for a little while when someone came in asking if someone would like to work on a sitcom called The Golden Girls,” McLaughlin recalls. “So I did that for their last season and went on to do some spinoffs (the Golden Palace and Empty Nest). I was the one who dressed (actresses) Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty.”

Doing this show in front of a live audience gave McLaughlin experience with the rapid-fire costume changes and tweaks of sitcom filming. That eventually translated into a supervisory role for two seasons of Witt/Thomas Productions’ The John Larroquette show. From there, McLaughlin took on feature film Matilda in 1996, and her career was humming.

McLaughlin at work in her office.

She’s gone on to work about 50 different projects, mostly episodic TV shows, but with “a few movies thrown in there,” McLaughlin adds.

“I feel like I pretty much don't have the surprises I used to have,” she laughs, “because I've had so many things happen to me before, and I know better.”

That’s not to say the job doesn’t still keep McLaughlin on her toes.

“For instance I did a movie in 2007 called Parker, with Jason Statham and Jennifer Lopez, and Taylor Hackford was the director,” McLaughlin recalls. “And I got the challenge of driving solo through Alligator Alley in Florida in a rental car with 60 ball gowns to go meet up with people I didn't know, and do pre-fits for a big party scene that was going to be shooting on location there.”

Shooting on-location doesn’t always have to be stressful, McLaughlin notes.

“We were up in Oklahoma for August: Osage County, and every night I got to drive back 40 miles through pastures with horses galloping alongside me,” she recalls blissfully.

Beyond the locations, the actors and actresses can present their own challenges to the costuming equation.

“I'm always amazed at how an actor’s persona that the public may see is quite different from what they are in real life,” McLaughlin muses. “They are actors, you know. But part of my job is being able to understand them, to give them what they need. I’m trying to make them comfortable, but also get them to wear what they're supposed to wear. Sometimes they change their mind at the last minute; they don't want to. So it's all the psychology.”

Despite the challenges—from script changes to alligators—McLaughlin says she’s happy she’s been able to balance her workload with family life. Along with her daughter and her husband of 25 years, Tim McLaughlin, Patricia McLaughlin says she feels “tremendously supported.”

“First of all, this a difficult profession to go into,” McLaughlin says. “It's a difficult profession to survive, to keep your reputation and have people still want you to supervise for them, and also to be able to have a family life.”

While McLaughlin can rattle off a lengthy list of her projects—she’s got her own IMDB page, if you’re wondering—she’s not taking her time in the spotlight for granted.

“With L.A. costumers, it’s a very small community,” she notes. “And the fact that after each new project, I still have people coming up to me and asking me to work for them. To me that's telling me that I'm doing the best job I can, probably even more than receiving an Emmy.”

While McLaughlin, who’s still booked with Agents of Shield for at least one more season, playfully hesitates to even mention the word “retirement,” she does have a new career perspective after taking home an Emmy.

“I'm kind of feeling like I've done all I need to do,” McLaughlin admits.

But if another “big break” comes up? A show or movie that surprises her, even after 30 years of twists and turns?

“If something amazing comes up… I would definitely take it on.” McLaughlin chuckles. “But it would have to be a pretty great project.”