Oscar-winning costume designer Colleen Atwood had to make between 200 and 300 leather bomber jackets for AppleTV+’s World War II series “ Masters of the Air. ” Despite having more than 80 credits to her name, Atwood had never done a WWII drama and was delighted to finally be tackling the era. She dove deep into researching the period, collecting photos of the young men on the military bases so she could create individual styles for the actors and their characters.
She even got samples of the original uniforms. Her biggest challenge, however, was recreating aviator jackets of the era. It took her six months to complete the task, which ended up becoming a global undertaking.
Leather specialist Gary Eastman provided Atwood with the material, but she needed period-specific zippers, which she had shipped in from Japan. The sheepskin for the shearling linings came from Scotland and England. “We had to shave the inside of the jacket, so it wasn’t as thick.
Otherwise, they’d look like the Michelin man,” Atwood explains. To make sure the jackets looked appropriately worn, “We put them in a cement mixer with a vat of rocks to beat up the leather.” The large ensemble cast features Austin Butler as Maj.
Gale “Buck” Cleven, Callum Turner as Maj. John “Bucky” Egan, Anthony Boyle as Lt. Harry Crosby and Barry Keoghan as Lt.
Curtis Biddick as U.S. bomber pilots based in the U.
K. who fly dangerous missions targeting key positions in German-occupied Europe. Atwood gav.