The Good Buy is a podcast from Harper’s Bazaar in which editors Leah Chernikoff and Lynette Nylander invite celebrities, designers, models, and tastemakers to talk shop: what they buy, where they got it, and why it matters. Come down the fashion rabbit hole and take a peek inside the closets and shopping carts of the world’s most stylish people. Learn how they use style to tell their stories.
From Uncut Gems to Marty Supreme, Oscar-nominated costume designer Miyako Bellizzi is responsible for dressing some of the most memorable films of the past decade. A longtime collaborator with the Safdie brothers—Joshua and Benjamin—she’s brought the filmmakers’ stories to life with detail-oriented styling that feels lived-in and real. Whether capturing the ostentatious wardrobe of a 2012 Diamond District hustler or crafting 1950s-accurate ensembles for over 3,000 background actors in the Timothée Chalamet–led ping-pong drama, she’s proven time and time again she has a knack for storytelling.
In her personal life, this expertise has translated into an eclectic closet full of vintage finds. Known for mixing high-end designer pieces with streetwear pulls and 1940s workwear, she dresses herself with as much intention as she does the characters you see on screen. Showing up to film this week’s installment of Harper’s Bazaar’s The Good Buy, she paired a fitted blazer from her collection of 1940s and ’50s skirt suits with shorts she made herself, Phoebe Philo flats, and sculptural silver statement earrings.
“I love costume design, I love fashion, I love film, I love it all,” she said. “I love people, so I think that’s why.”
In the episode, Bellizzi dives into everything from costuming the screen to shopping for herself. Read on for highlights and watch the show in full above.
On her love for vintage:
“I’ve always loved vintage, I think my parents put me onto it. My grandma had all these clothes from New York from the ’50s and ’60s that she didn’t want, and my dad is a big vintage buyer. Even my Barbies were vintage Barbies. But I also just appreciate well-made pieces, I appreciate good fabrics, things that you can’t find today. As a designer, it’s fascinating to see how things were made back in different eras.
“I collect vintage 1940s and ’50s skirt suits. It’s always been my favorite era, which was why Marty Supreme was a dream film for me. I think I started collecting in high school—we used to have vintage fairs in San Francisco, where I’m from. I like the shape and silhouette. This is what Mugler referenced. I’m a historical person and I love the shapes and silhouettes of Mugler, and I have a lot of Mugler, but also I know where it comes from, so I like to go to the source.”
On shopping contemporary brands:
“I don’t personally buy a lot of contemporary brands for myself, other than Phoebe Philo and the Row. I [shop there for] very classic basics, because I find all the freaky weird things vintage.”
On starting her career in menswear:
“When I was a kid, I was like 5’9” in the fifth grade. I was really tall. And we’d always have to shop in the boy’s section. When I first started, I was at Details Magazine. It was my first internship; that’s why I moved to New York. But I always felt out of place. I never felt like I fit in with the fashion girlies of that time. And so I remember enjoying menswear and learning about menswear and tailoring, and I found that was more inspiring to me than being in the women’s fashion closet.”
On becoming a costume designer:
“I was at Vice and I was doing all the fashion stories, and there was a mass exodus and it was the group that left that asked if I would be interested in doing a film. I had never done one before, and I was like, ‘Sure, I’ll try.’ Then, [with the Safdie brothers,] we had mutual friends. The film industry is very small. Everything is timing. I never thought I wanted to be a costume designer; this was not the goal when I first moved to New York. But I love it because it’s this family—you travel with your crew and you’re doing these jobs together and you live together. You’re living and breathing this alternate reality. All you’re thinking about are these characters. It’s almost like how an actor has to get into character. You have to become the character you’re creating.”
On dressing herself for the Marty Supreme press tour:
“It was tough, honestly. You have to think about yourself being presented in that way. Traditionally, most costume designers aren’t fashion girlies. I was excited for it but it was also very stressful. I remember I was working in Paris at the time and I was staying with [designer] Gabe [Semeraro]. I was freaking out. I went to a few vintage archives there, being like, ‘At least I’m in Paris. I can find a dress.’ And I did find a really beautiful red Galliano dress that I loved that I was going to rent, but I was like, ‘I don’t know, it’s so expensive.’ One night, I was home with Gabe, and he was like, ‘Babe, I’m just gonna make one for you.’ It was one of my favorite dresses I’ve ever worn or seen.”
Shop Miyako’s Good Buys
HER FIRST BUY:
“Every time I wrap a film, it feels like an achievement. I remember I was doing a film in Hawaii, and when I was there, I loved that the women wore their wealth on their wrists. They stack solid gold bangles [on their wrists], and most of times they have names of people in their families [engraved]. And they’re the most beautiful things. I figured out where to find them—at a flea market—and I got one and had it engraved. Now I’ve turned it into a thing where I buy myself a piece of jewelry or something really nice after I wrap a film.”
HER REGRET BUY:
“I am very thoughtful about what I buy for myself. I never want to spend too much money on myself. But I have made a folder on my phone of pieces I regret not buying. We were in Paris and went to Alaïa and I wanted this pink set that I didn’t buy and I still think about it.”
HER REPEAT BUY:
“Now that we are approaching fall, I live in a long sleeve. That’s my Bay area [upbringing] coming out of me. I need to have a XXXL long-sleeve T-shirt, heavy cotton. That is my comfort layer. I bring one everywhere. That and a hoodie. Those are my two hometown pieces. And when I get obsessed with something, I find a lot of them. I have a lot of Supreme hoodies, although my new favorites are 6397, because they have fun colors.”
HER DREAM BUY:
“I was thinking about what I would buy if I had all the money in the world. It’s a pair of cuffs—or, actually, anything from this jewelry designer Art Smith. It’s kind of modernist jewelry from a different era, like 50 years ago. So something like that. Sophie Buhai is kind of the modern-day equivalent. Pieces that could be in museums.”
HER MOST RECENT GOOD BUY:
“I’m going to be realistic—I did buy four pairs of shoes this week: Chanel flats [from Matthieu Blazy’s first collection] on the RealReal, a pair of [Michael Rider’s] Celine jazz shoes, two pairs of Bottega woven flats.”
