Netflix’s Forever Authentically Captures Black Love Through Fashion

I’ve always been a capital ‘R’ romantic. I blame it on the free reign my parents gave me over their collection of disco CDs. My siblings and I would crank the old boombox up to full volume as we acted out the drama of classics like Thelma Houston’s “Don’t Leave Me This Way.” I became even more lovesick when I saw distinguishably Black love stories come to life on my TV screen. After sighing my way through piano practice, I’d slip from the drawing room that housed our Steinway to catch an episode of Romeo. The show showed me a world where Black kids could do it all: sing, rap, act and even fall in love. Watching characters who looked and dressed like me experience complicated and tender love was vital to me at an equally tender age. 

As I grew into my teenage years in the early 2010s these images faded away. And when I did see Black folk in media they were depicted through inaccurate stereotypes. 

With Forever, showrunner Mara Brock Akil acted to bring an authentic and aspirational image of young Black love back to our screens. In part, this Judy Blume adaptation is so successful in that goal because of costume designer Tanja Caldwell’s empathetic and well-researched styling. For the seasoned stylist (Insecure, Coming 2 America, Black Panther) , authentically representing Blackness has always been a passion of hers and this project is deeply impactful in that regard. 

“We need to be represented vastly and right now we’re not represented enough,” she tells me over Zoom. “I think Forever pushes that forward by seeing from a young Black man’s perspective. We don’t see enough of that in a light that’s tender, honest and genuine. And we don’t get to see Black young men be in real love.”

To portray that she worked to create looks that were authentic to the experience of young, Black Los Angelenos. For main character Keisha’s (Greenleaf veteran Lovie Simone) style of mixing oversized and waist-cut silhouettes, Caldwell drew from her upbringing and the style of her family members. Discussing the intricate simplicity of Keisha’s outfits makes Caldwell light up with passion.

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Courtesy of Netflix

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“One of the things that probably goes overlooked that I loved was putting together cute, comfy outfits for her when she was at home.” she muses. “Whether it be in the choice of scarf or head wrap, whether it be in a TLC cut-off t-shirt that she cut herself, doing her baby hairs, I love doing things like that because those were things I was doing at that age. I see my niece, those are things that she’s doing and she’s an athlete, runs track. Keisha’s an athlete, [who] runs track. I was an athlete, I played basketball and soccer. There’s a certain—without us conversing—connective tissue of certain things that we all have in common”.

What’s remarkable is seeing Caldwell’s ability to take her past and elevate it to a teenager’s present reality, dressing Keisha in playful Marc Jacobs carpenter trousers and a cropped pink varsity tee later in the same episode.

It’s a lot of fun to watch her do this with teen heartthrob Justin (played by up-and-comer Michael Cooper Jr.). In one look he’s more casual, wearing a shirt from iconic rap duo Black Star, a striped shirt jacket from RVCA, and the ‘Old Skool’ sneakers from Vans. In another scene in episode seven, he sports a pink collared cardigan from Paul Smith for a smarter look. To show a young Black man capable of owning these two styles was important to the show’s diverse vision of Blackness.

“The other layer is not wanting to see the same type of Black characters dressed the exact same way in an effort to be ‘fashionable’ or to ‘behave Black’”, Caldwell explains. This focus on defying stereotypes through fashion radiates throughout the show in the family members that surround Justin and Keisha.

Justin’s father (Wood Harris) can be seen mixing fisherman beanies with button-down shirts while Keisha’s cousin (Paigion Walker) wears a quiet pair of jeans to contrast her Jacquemus shearling cropped jacket. “I think to me, mixing high and low demonstrates whether someone has a real style or not. I think Black women, Black men, it just comes from within, like our style and our aesthetic.”

Therein lies the lynchpin of why fashion played such a vital role in Forever; styling has been integral to the Black experience for centuries. While moments like the dandyism-themed Met Gala and Paul Tazewell’s Oscar win for best costume design show that the world is finally catching up, this has always been true for Caldwell.

“It just has been a part of our culture as a people and so it’s hard for us to even explain why we do what we do,” she explains after taking a thoughtful pause. “It’s like asking an artist ‘why did you paint this?’. I just felt the need to paint it, you know, I felt compelled and inspired to do this work the way that I did it. And that’s just it. I think that’s the magic of Black people and it’s always been there and will always be there.”