Early in her career, Holly Pierson mostly designed costumes for historical reenactment projects. But it was a contemporary TV series that led her to creating the look for Mary Todd Lincoln in “Oh, Mary!” Pierson first crossed paths with writer-actor Cole Escola on the set of truTV’s “At Home With Amy Sedaris,” and the two became frequent collaborators—most recently on Escola’s hit Broadway comedy. Though the show plays fast and loose with the facts of Mary and Abraham Lincoln’s lives, Pierson’s costumes tip a (stovepipe) hat to the styles of the 19th century.
In Escola’s version of history, Mary cares very little about her first lady duties, yearning to return to her glory days as “a rather well-known niche cabaret legend.” After debuting Off-Broadway in February 2024, the show quickly made the jump to Broadway. Escola originated the role, later passing it to Betty Gilpin, then Tituss Burgess, before stepping back into Mary’s bouncy hoop skirt earlier this month.
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Just try taking your eyes off that voluminous black frock when Mary first bursts onto the stage; its exaggerated swooshing punctuates jokes and highlights her larger-than-life persona. Though this look is typically associated with mourning, Pierson’s interpretation adds playfulness while also taking into account the demands of the show’s physical comedy. A bold blue gown that appears later in the play lets Mary’s star truly shine.
“It’s very satisfying for the audience to know immediately who someone is based on their costumes,” Pierson says. Here, she breaks down the intricate details that went into creating Mary’s iconic look.
Did you look at material from the 19th century when you were conceiving the costumes for the show?
Definitely. The visual design team—scenic and wig design, as well as myself—did a lot of historical research; but then we threw it out the window. Cole said they wanted us to imagine that we were playing regional theater designers for this show. No shade to regional theater designers at all, but I think the idea is to have this idea of what it should be, and it’s not exactly accurate. The ball gowns really were that huge [in the 19th century], but they would never have a short style. That skirt shape that all of the Marys have is accurate, but it would never be almost 10 inches off the ground.
There’s a silliness about the shortness, and it also tells us who Mary is as a person: She’s a bit of a rebel, and she doesn’t care about what she’s supposed to look like. She may be the first lady, but she doesn’t give a shit that someone might think that that was inappropriate.
How did the physicality of Cole’s performance impact your designs?
We’ve learned a lot along the way. Our budget was so small downtown that we didn’t have the luxury of really changing things, although that put us in a world where we were using premade petticoats.
Once we were uptown, we did a lot of trial and error with the petticoat fabric. An accurate petticoat of that time would be a top skirt with ruffles, and then the hoop would be a separate piece underneath. For ours, it’s all one piece, and we changed out the ruffles on top multiple times to get the lightweightness. All of the Marys are doing these crazy feats of acrobatics on the stage—jumping up on the desk, falling on the floor. We had to make sure that the hoop material was collapsible so it wouldn’t injure the actors.
With the material for the hoops, the lighter the weight, the better it could swing around and be this whirling thing. It’s almost like a character in itself; the Marys learn to swoosh it around so it’s this ridiculous sort of thing. They all want to show off their little heart bloomers.
What was the inspiration behind those bloomers?
That was all Cole. They’re handpainted, since I couldn’t afford to have the fabric printed because we were on such a small budget. That continued into the Broadway show; we handpaint them for every single Mary.
The original inspiration for the bloomers came from one of the characters in Disney’s animated “Alice in Wonderland.” The inspiration is literally a cartoon, which is apt for Mary. And the wig references “Cinderella”—bouncy, ridiculous, bratty girls.
The choice of boot is key to the visual whenever Mary’s skirt bounces up. What did you have to consider when it came to comfort and safety, as well as the aesthetic?
It’s like a can-can boot. We went with LaDuca to have them build custom shoes for all the Marys. There are different variations of what a woman of that time would have worn, and that’s one of them. It’s also a lot more secure in terms of the ankle; it has a lot more support.
The blue gown Mary wears to Ford’s Theatre is a huge contrast to her previous look. What was your thinking behind choosing the color and style of the dress?
This is where Mary has a bit of a turning point, a bit of a revelation. That dress for me is like: “Here’s who I really am; here’s what I want to show to the world.” There is a blue velvet dress [the real] Mary Todd Lincoln wore—not that night to the theater, but it was a big inspiration for me with the color. Our color is this aqua, which is also this classic 1970s, midcentury color.
I [drew from] photos of Cher in her showgirl costumes, and that was one of the colors she happened to wear. It was a Bob Mackie outfit that was a bright teal-turquoise kind of blue. It’s such a striking color. It’s so different from anything else we’re seeing onstage, and it’s such a contrast to the gold curtain behind them. It’s loud.
What do you hope audiences take away from your work in the show?
It’s thrilling if people can find so much more information about the characters from what they’re wearing. That’s a costume designer’s full aim. The actors are able to infuse the characters with so much, but your first impression of the character gives you, hopefully, a complete idea of who this person is.
For instance, with Mary’s Teacher [originally played by James Scully], we went a few different ways before we settled on this kind of Disney prince outfit for him. We want to understand who this person is the second he walks through the door and Mary says, “Fuck!” It’s certainly not historically accurate, but there’s something about it that’s like: Oh, he’s the love interest.
You wouldn’t make these obvious choices necessarily with a drama; but what I’ve learned from working in television comedy is that it’s very satisfying for the audience to know immediately who someone is based on their costumes. There’s a lot of leeway we took in terms of accuracy and things like that, but it’s all in service of telling you who this person is.
How did it feel to see so many people dress up as Mary for Halloween last year?
The ultimate honor for a costume designer is that your costume gets copied by tons of people who want to emulate that character for their Halloween costume. I am thrilled people love it so much, because it’s been so fun to work on. I think Cole’s a complete genius, so it’s been great to see them get the recognition that they deserve.
What advice would you give to an inexperienced actor coming into the fitting room?
I’d say not to be too much of a yes-man. Tell the costume designer what you’re comfortable with, because we want to be able to give you a costume that you’re going to be comfortable doing what you need to do in. That’s absolutely necessary communication [you should have with] the costume designer. Please don’t say yes just because you think we can’t make a shift for you.
This story originally appeared in the Apr. 10 issue of Backstage Magazine.
Holly Pierson headshot credit: Pierson/Matthew Manning