and screaming earthwormAt an upscale vintage store just south of Manhattan’s Meatpacking District, store manager Dani Cabot offers an assortment of belts. for a moment. “
Actress Patina Miller weighed her options, but it didn’t last long. “We think high drama,” she said, as she fastened a gold buckle around her waist and smoothed the fabric of her skirt with Bill’s tiger print on her brass.
The 37-year-old Miller had a Broadway production about ten years ago. “Sister Law” After winning a Tony Award for her lead role in “Pippin,” she’s no stranger to high drama. Or tight fit.While advancing the second season of the Stars series “Power Book III Grow Kanan” Premiering on August 14, she has appeared almost nightly as the witch in the Broadway revival of “Into the Woods.” (She’ll be sticking with the musical through its latest expansion, which runs only on weekends, when the third season of “Raise Canaan” begins filming in September.)
Still, she snuck through racks of luxury vintage clothes on a recent weekday afternoon, looking for inspiration for her “Rising Canaan” character, Raquel, and herself.
“It takes hours to find something,” she says, heading to a rack of 1990s designer looks. “Sometimes I like to look around at all the colors I don’t wear.”
She wears dazzling shades including a purple gown with a cape in “Into the Woods”. Raquel prefers muted tones of mostly glossy black and blood red to convey her status as an early ’90s queenpin. (As an adult, Canaan was played in the previous “Power” series by Curtis Jackson, known as the franchise’s executive producer and 50 Cent, whose own mother inspired Raquel.)
This afternoon, she arrived in a swirl of muted earth tones, wearing her very own outfit, including brown sandals, a brown and blue sundress, a blue straw hat, and gold hoops.
She held up a purple suit that felt like a Muppet.
As she sorted through her rack, she recalled her own acid-washed 90s style, modeled after girl groups Salt-N-Pepa, TLC and En Vogue at the time. Those same looks are becoming fashionable again.
At the time, in small-town South Carolina, Miller’s clothes came from Goodwill, where her single mother, a pastor, could buy them. Miller’s mother paid for piano lessons with the money she saved to buy her clothes and encouraged her daughter to sing in her church choir. (It was thanks to her encouragement that she was able to secure a spot in Carnegie Her Mellon’s theater program, which propelled her to Broadway, after which she starred in “Madame Her Secretary” and “Mercy Street.” I was allowed to appear in the show of.)
“This is the woman who gave birth to me at 15 with no high school education, but she found a way to raise me and invest in me,” Miller said. I’m from
Is she interested in her own strength and power? “I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you,” she said. “I want to control her life. I want to be as strong as she can.”
This, at least in part, explains why she’s built a career playing strong women. A witch can curse anyone within her radius. Raquel, the Iron Fist Clothed, proudly calls herself “the last standing bitch.” Both want to protect the children from the world, but the world and the children have different plans in mind. Playing as a villain is easy, but Miller prefers other options.
they are fighting for something They are fighting to be heard,” she said. “It’s more fun playing love,” she added.
She returned to the locker room with a handful of hangers, first appearing in a Bill Blas skirt (“Oh, dress up!” she said) and a Gianfranco Ferré with grommet studs. She switched her blouse to a more restrained Calvin Klein shirt adorned with bugle beads. , lowered the waist.
“My problem is my hip,” she said. Explaining Miller’s physique as a problem seems like a stretch. But sure.
She asked for some shoes, but the store had few size 10 pairs, and when Cabot brought her a pair of Ferragamo flats, Miller described them as “a little church girl.” I cleaned it up carefully. (She actually had more than enough Church-her-Girl looks in her ’90s.) Mirror was barefoot, and in front of her mirror she made a face like Raq, Cut out her eyes and set her mouth.
“Separately, they’re both vibes,” she said of the blouse and skirt. “And this belt, it’s definitely a vibe.” Next, she tried on her 1970s Missoni three-piece. “Not Raq,” she said, taking off her coat. “But for my skin tone, it’s perfect.” Still, the blouse fit was off. Return to rack.
A Comme des Garçons blouse was too girly, and a white turtleneck was too thick for summer. Halston kaftan in sea green? “I’m very bored. I always choose black,” she said. She tried on a pale pink jacket.
“Very, very Beyoncé,” Miller said, admiring her reflection in the mirror.
She said she’s worked to find vulnerabilities in the powerful characters she plays, and to find them within herself. said. “It’s not bad to be meek. Black girls can’t do that, because that’s the best way we know how to do it. But when I see the hardness and strength of the page, I always think, What else can you say?”
So she chose softer, more colorful items from her rack. Karl Lagerfeld silk blouse in rich emerald color.
“That color will be great for you,” Cabot said.
“Oh, I know,” Miller replied.
She also decided to buy a blouse and a Donna Karan belt.
“Of course,” Miller said as he paid for the belt.
Back in her sundress, she stepped onto 14th Street. There, an image of herself as her Raq looked back at her from the bus shelter. “I am everywhere,” she said proudly.