Eulyn Hufkie: Hollywood Costume Designer (The Walking Dead, The Purge, The Collection)

Eulyn Hufkie is a Hollywood costume designer who's worked on more than 3 dozen films and TV series. With a penchant for horror and the macabre, her credits include The Collection, There's Something Wrong with the Children, The Passenger, If You Were the Last, The Purge (TV series), Mayans M.C., 24:Legacy, Black Box, The Joneses, and The Secret Life of Bees. A former model from Cape Town, South Africa, Eulyn made her way to the States after college and worked on commercials for Nescafé and M&M's. Eulyn has worked on AMC's hit zombie show The Walking Dead – the most popular TV show in cable television history – since 2011.

Episode Highlights

Can you imagine the creative process that goes into dressing over 450 zombies for a TV show? Or the skills needed to bring a character to life through their attire? Brace yourself for a thrilling journey into the world of costume design with our guests Eulen Hufkie, the extraordinary designer from South Africa who transitioned from crafting glamorous commercials to Hallmark movies to turning some of TV’s most beloved characters into brain-eating undead.

Eulyn gives us a blow-by-blow account of the challenges and joys of dressing characters on the hit show The Walking Dead, creating unique styles for each character and collaborating with actors and the prop department. Additionally, we delve into the horror genre as this designer from The Collection discusses her love for Halloween, the tradition of creating group costumes with her colleagues, and the challenges of staying creative within the film industry's boundaries.

Finally, we switch gears and look at the world of costume design from the perspective of a successful actress. We discuss her journey, the importance of diversity and representation in the entertainment industry, and the message she wants to send to young girls who may feel like they don't fit in. Stay hooked with us till the end as we wrap up with a heartfelt acceptance speech for a Lifetime Achievement Award, where she thanks those who have hurt her and encourages others never to give up on their dreams. It's time to immerse yourself in this enthralling voyage that takes you behind the scenes of the intriguing world of costume design.

In this episode, we cover a lot of ground including:

• The specific skills required to be a costume designer (it’s WAY more than just shopping and sewing!)

• The importance of reading the script, researching, and communicating with the director and actors

• Innovative ideas for creating Zombie clothing, and the challenges of dressing 500+ Zombies

• Creative names for bodily fluids paint colors

• The camaraderie between cast and crew on The Walking Dead

• How the actors’ real-world personalities can influence costume choices

• The secrecy around the final episode of Season 6 and who Negan killed, and so much more!

Listen

Read the Complete Transcript

Shane

Hello, everyone! Welcome to the Live2cre8 podcast, coming to you from Nashville, Tennessee. I am your host, Shane Almgren, and I am joined today from Atlanta, Georgia, by Eulyn Hufkie. Eulyn is a film and television costume designer originally from Cape Town, South Africa. Eulyn made her way to the States after college and worked on commercials for NESCAFE and M&M’s. She did the costume design for the 2012 horror film The Collection and has spent the last six seasons on AMC's hit zombie show The Walking Dead, the most popular TV show in cable television history.

Well, Eulyn, thank you so much for doing this. This is awesome. I'm very excited to have you on today.

Eulyn Hufkie

Thank you for having me.

Shane

So I want to start out. My first question is: How does one go from South Africa to costume designer for one of the biggest TV shows in America? There's a lot of steps in between those. Let's take some of those steps.

Eulyn Hufkie

Well, I didn't know much about the film business or that there was even a career to be had in this business growing up in Africa. But we offered a cheap place for people to shoot commercials and to shoot films eventually, and now even TV shows. We have the TV show Black Sails. It’s shot there right now. And I was a model in Cape Town. So one day I decided I needed a real job outside of modeling—another job when I got a bit older—and the woman dressing me asked if I could shadow her. Shadow means, to us, working for free, and I did that for one day, and it just clicked. It just absolutely felt right to me. I could get paid to dress people up, and play with clothes, and shop, and draw and paint, and get messy, and then be glamorous. [Inaudible] I got to do research and travel all over the world, travel back in time, travel ahead, you know, come up with ideas for futuristic things.

Anyway, I had quite a good old time in Cape Town doing all of that, and then I moved to the States after much encouragement from many people who I met there who were from America said, “Oh, you'd love LA. You should come over. We'll help you out.” And I came over, and they did. And then, moving—you know, I start all over again. After ten years in the business, I started absolutely from scratch in LA. You know, struggling artist all over again, but I think with my work ethic and the experience that I had, I worked my way up through the ranks pretty quickly.

Shane

What was your first job, your first paid gig, doing this in South Africa? And then, same question for once you got to LA.

Eulyn Hufkie

When I first started in South Africa, my first job was on a TV commercial, and it was a glamorous television commercial with all these beautiful models at a beautiful home up in the mountains overlooking the ocean, and everybody was in bikinis, kind of strutting around the pool, you know, very sexy, very chic, and beautiful. Of course, the job right after that I was chasing people for India—Pepsi India—shot in a—or the Coca-Cola India shot in Cape Town. And then I did Saudi Arabia Ramadan for Pepsi, you know. So, like, it changed every week; there was a different place.

When I got to LA, my first job was on a Hallmark movie of the week, my first paid job. I did a few other things. And I think I worked with horses, and it snowed on that show, so that was quite different. I had to go all the way up into nearly where Big Bear is, and I had my first snow outfit, and I was chasing people in the snow. It was very cold, but the only thing that was sticking out was my nose, so I didn't feel it all that much.

Shane

I'm very curious about the technique and the preparation that goes into costume design. A few minutes ago, you said it takes research, but you also—you mentioned some things that I wouldn't expect to hear. You said painting and cutting, and you're not just sewing stuff. It sounds like you're—it sounds like you have a whole art supply studio going on.

Eulyn Hufkie

Yeah, I do have an art supply. Yeah, like the art and craft, for sure. Well, the first—the very first step is you read the script, you break it down, and you decide how you'd like to dress the characters, how you see them, and then you talk to the director, who gives you more insight into what he or she sees for the characters, who they are and together, and, you know, you realize their backstory before the audience meets them. So, I would then come up with a look for each character.

If it's a contemporary show, I'm shopping. I can pull images from online. Sometimes I'll do a presentation that looks like a magazine or portfolio, and sometimes, if it's a cool, like, hip-hoppy-type deal, it would be a poster. I would do a poster. If it's something very glamorous and stylized, I would do, like, a PowerPoint presentation with music, you know. And then everybody looks at it and goes, “Yes or no,” and then by the time the actor comes on board, we already have something to present and clothing is in-house and made, and then they try it on and the character comes to life, or we tweak until it does. So, there's a lot of preparation that goes into the final decision about how it's going to look.

Shane

So, if you're working on a feature film or something that's movie length and you've got an average-sized cast, from the time you read the script until the costume decisions are finalized, what kind of timeframe are we looking at there?

Eulyn Hufkie

Well, it depends. Every film is different. It depends on how much money they have. You know, with the more money you have, the bigger the prep time. Even on a show as big as The Walking Dead, the prep time wasn't always very much. When you do a series—and the way we shot it—while we're shooting, we're prepping the next episode. So while I'm shooting episode 601—let's talk about last season, 601—where we had thousands and thousands of walkers and new characters in a new town, we were also then prepping for the second episode and sometimes the third. So that's really, really hard work and a lot of—it's a big rush. You know, you’re just constantly chasing time. I always used to say time is my enemy—you know, my best friend and my enemy.

Shane

On The Walking Dead, how much time does each episode take up in the calendar?

Eulyn Hufkie

Seven shooting days, and sometimes an eighth day of a second unit, which means additional, you know, fill-in shots, close-ups, and things like that, or [inaudible], or whatever is necessary. And then we were—in that time of the seventh day of shooting, I was prepping for the next seven days. We really didn't get a day off, or a day in between, or any of that sort of thing. It was constant.

Shane

How did you handle that when you had thousands—because you weren't just dressing the main characters, you were also dressing the zombies, right?

Eulyn Hufkie

Yes, all of them, every single one.

Shane

So if you've got a scene with—I mean, I assume they were doing some of the zombie CGI to duplicate them.

Eulyn Hufkie

Yeah, there's definitely a huge department that does the CG zombies, but for all the ones that are close and personal and everything, you know, we dress about 450 of them, 500, maybe more, and then in the deep, deep, deep background, they were multiplied, and that's also a special thing. That's when second unit comes into play because you're dressing maybe 10 to 15 walkers against the green screen, and then they multiply them. So they have to be sort of generic.

Shane

How do you find 400 outfits in a week?

Eulyn Hufkie

[Laughs]. Well, given that we're in season six, I actually had lots of leftovers from the previous five seasons, and I guess we just got really good at it. Honestly, dude, we just got so good at it. We got good at making clothes for zombies, but it took a lot of us doing a lot of laundry and a lot of painting. Sometimes, I would lie it all out on the floor and then just, like, spray them, spray everything on the floor, and then flip it over in the sun and spray the other side. And then, once the people have it on, I literally would go through the—they line up, and I go through every single person and tweak them. I mean, I have a team of people that do.

Shane

What are you spraying them with?

Eulyn Hufkie

What do I spray them with? Well, we make a special paint. I have different colors. The yellow one is puss, and then we have grass stain. You know, bodies seep when they die. So we made up our own colors and our own little gross names for each one. I would say, “Hand me some more puss, or bring me some dirt, or, hey, this one needs more blood.” You know, we had—we had it all.

Shane

One of the things you guys have been great at is that, as each season progresses, the zombies get more and more deteriorated.

Eulyn Hufkie

Yes, absolutely.

Shane

So are you—each season, are you revising the costume process? Are you putting the clothes through additional—like, chopping them up?

Eulyn Hufkie

Absolutely, I am. Yeah. Because when it first started, I mimicked each season's walkers after the comic book cover. So in the first season, I—in the season at the farm, for example, I used a lot of yellow and brown and earth tone. And at the prison, we, well, introduced a lot of Georgia clay. So, I incorporated more of those colors. But by the end—by now, when I finished with them in Season 6, they became all the herds. I think the danger with them is in the numbers. So we took away the individual colors from the costumes and made them all blend together, just as a herd of a mass of grays and browns. I think it's creepier, and it enhanced the makeup more. So we took the clothing colors away. So that was the plan. I hope it worked.

Shane

What's more enjoyable to you: working on the zombies, which seems like a ton of fun, or working with the actual stars of the show?

Eulyn Hufkie

Oh, it's different challenges, but I love—I guess what I didn't mention earlier is that part of dressing any character is being an intensive character study. I have to do an intensive character study to determine who this person is and to be able to make decisions for them when I'm shopping. So, for example, you know, with Rick, he was a police officer, so I always dressed him like a gentleman. You know, he's always in a white T-shirt. like a police officer would be, or he was in his western shirt, but always tucked in, you know, with his belt and the gun showing, always still presenting himself as the gentleman that he is in a scene. And then, of course, when he lost his mind, presenting him completely opposite to that. Even with Michonne, for example, I think that she purposefully dresses like—am I allowed to say, badass? [Laughs].

Shane

Absolutely, if that's what it is.

Eulyn Hufkie

She dresses herself like a badass on purpose, like a warrior, as a warning, when she goes up into the world, into this apocalyptic universe. People know not to mess with her because they're looking at her, and she's warning them just by appearance, you know, back off because I’ll probably kill you, you know. And I think that the different characters each have their own personality, and each of them have their own style, and I have to come up with that style according to how their brain works, you know?

Shane

How closely do you work with —

Eulyn Hufkie

— And I think that’s the largest —

Shane

— I'm sorry, go ahead.

Eulyn Hufkie

How closely do I work with the actors?

Shane

No, with the prop department.

Eulyn Hufkie

Oh, prop. Oh, my gosh, so closely we—I actually ask for the props when I dress people, so I have the guns in the room and stuff. I don't like messing with them too much. I don't mind the knives, but I'm not so into guns. But I would also have them in the room, so I could dress the clothing with the props.

Shane

So how much input—you said there's a couple actors that did sort of come up with their style.

Eulyn Hufkie

It's a collaboration, for sure. It's a collaboration. There are certain things that, as people, we feel more comfortable wearing, whether, you know, somebody will be like, “Oh, I don't like tight pants,” or—so then I have to take that into consideration, but without detracting from the overall appearance.

Shane

And you can't say to the actor, “Hey, this is not you; this is your character, and your character wears tight pants.”

Eulyn Hufkie

You absolutely can say that, but I try not to discourage actors’ inputs because together we enhance the character. So, I feel it's a collaboration. I don't like to be bossy unless it's absolutely necessary, and the only time a costumer is—I know not the only time, but one of the times as a costume designer that we can be bossy about it is when it's, like, we’ve really researched and it's a period piece, you know, because you'd be like, well, they didn't wear that in the ‘20s. This is how they wore it, but in this show, it's been futuristic; it's been contemporary, futuristic, and period all at the same time.

It was almost nice to sometimes use actors’ personalities. For example, Glenn—he's the other character, Glenn. He, in real life, he even used to love to, like, roll his pants and wear skinny jeans and skinny pants. So, I used that for his character too. We always rolled the—a little quirk, I think, makes a little bit of difference in a world where we're just wearing pants and tops, you know. Yeah, sometimes, but again, it's such a collaboration. I certainly don't go in guns blazing and—excuse the pun—but I don't go in, like, guns blazing, telling everybody what to do. I love getting inputs from everyone and then being able to make the final choice, you know.

Shane

Which character on the show was the most challenging for you to figure out?

Eulyn Hufkie

Gosh, I would have to say Daryl, because he's such a complex character, and when we first meet him in Season 1, he's a hunter, and, you know, for lack of—they called him a redneck. He's the redneck of the group, but by Season 2, he's actually a biker. He has such a hectic story. There's a beautiful episode where we discover his past with his brother and his abuse, and what he'd been through, and why he detaches from people and the group because he doesn't want to love anyone. He wants to be on his own. That's what he's used to. That’s how he feels comfortable, and that was a beautiful story to be able to tell through his clothing. And then, eventually, I think, by the end of—when I left him in Season 6, I think we really get a sense of who he is. He's already, you know, our little man in black, our Johnny Cash, guardian, and dark angel.

Shane

So, he was the most challenging one. Which one was the easiest? Was there anyone that you would just, like, just instantaneously —

Eulyn Hufkie

— Oh, gosh. I really—I think, for me, it was Beth. I just loved her little character. She was so sweet—so sweet and gentle and kind and simple, you know. And the little girl in her I could relate to. I sewed all her clothing myself. I would add little things to it—little embroidery or make her jewelry. I made all of her jewelry. Just—I could relate to that character. She was this caretaker, so for me, it was easy—not because it was an easy task, but because I could relate to her so easily. Like, I'm a caretaker, and she was—I always imagined she was the one sewing Hershel’s buttons or looking after her daddy, making sure her sister was okay. So, yeah, that's a great question. No one’s ever asked me that before.

Shane

We try to do things creatively around here.

Eulyn Hufkie

Yeah, I can tell.

Shane

What has been your favorite character to work on?

Eulyn Hufkie

Oh, gosh. I think the character of the zombie herd has been my favorite character to work on because it's ever-evolving and it takes me to a place that I'm not necessarily comfortable with. Some of the research I had to do in terms of dead bodies and secretions has been absolutely disgusting. It's not something that I would normally, on a Sunday afternoon, research, but I had to go to that place, and I found that I like being challenged. So that was a big challenge, and I enjoyed it.

Shane

You worked on the movie—was it The Collection?

Eulyn Hufkie

I did. Yeah, I designed The Collection. Yeah.

Shane

So that's another horror movie. So, you've got a zombie apocalypse TV show. Are you gravitating towards the horror genre, or was that just a coincidence?

Eulyn Hufkie

I guess I am. I'm the scream queen now. I'm not sure why. Honestly, I have to close my eyes sometimes when I'm watching these things. I watched one the other day. I watched The Babadook and couldn't sleep that night. Well, I kept thinking Babadook was going to come and get me. So, I've always been a bit of a sissy when it comes to horror movies, but I've really enjoyed making them, because if it scares me, it will scare the audience, and that's awesome. That's the goal.

Shane

Do you dabble with makeup at all, or do you strictly do—is it strictly the clothing?

Eulyn Hufkie

I just do the clothing. I do—I have so much appreciation for the artistry that goes into makeup, and I have been so blessed to work with Greg Nicotero, who I think is an absolute genius. But no, that's his thing, and I do my thing, and we just make it work together. I love the collaboration, and learning from him has been incredible. I'm so grateful, but no, that's not my thing. I can barely do my makeup on my own face, so you wouldn't trust me to do it on anybody else. I promise you.

Shane

Through your whole career, what's the furthest back in time you've had to research?

Eulyn Hufkie

Gosh. Oh, my gosh. This is fun. I did research—I wasn't the designer, but as an assistant designer for years, that was my job—to do research. It was a 1920s Moroccan story called—it was The Young Black Stallion, and it was about a little girl who had to dress like a boy so she could ride the horses in a competition to, you know, win the competition for her grandfather, and it was set in 1920s Morocco, and it was also on IMAX, so everything had to be constructed and hand sewed because back in the 1920s Morocco, there were no machines, so there was no machine stitching. I had to learn how to make shoes. I made shoes—little leather shoes—because we couldn't have rubber soles.

It was incredible and really an unforgettable experience. And, yeah, that was amazing, and I can't believe that I know how to dress Moroccan Berber people. I know how to, like, dress their tents and stuff. It was beautiful. What an amazing nomadic culture! It’s what they do. They just collect things like Barbary pirates. They just collect maybe a coin or a thing or a stone, and they sew it onto their clothing and their hairdresses. It was incredible.

Shane

I remember seeing that movie. The Black Stallion—the original one—was my favorite movie as a kid.

Eulyn Hufkie

Really? Oh, my gosh. Yeah, what's not to love?

Shane

Do you ever take costumes home and wear them out for fun?

Eulyn Hufkie

[Laughs]. No, dude, I don't do that, but I pretty much dress myself, like, in a costume, as often as I can, and Halloween is a huge, big deal in my life.

Shane

That's what I was just about to ask. Let's talk about Halloween, because that's a big deal for me too.

Eulyn Hufkie

So, Halloween—I love it. I like group things, though, because it just makes it even—then I can make more than one costume. If I do a group thing, I'm making everybody’s, which I love, and I did that every year on the show. I always do, like, a theme, and it’s fun. I love it.

Shane

And everyone was willing to be roped into your month-long Halloween extravaganza.

Eulyn Hufkie

Yeah. Look, I was the boss, so they had no choice. So, I liked it. And when I came up with the theme last year, it was fairies. I thought they were going to kill me. I had a big, major coup on my hands, and I said, “No, let's just use fairies. Let's see where all you can go with that. You know, be creative. I'm not saying you need to have anything in particular. We don't all have to look like we're from The Lord of the Rings, but you have to have a set of wings.” And you would be amazed at what the kids came up with. They were incredible. I had a robot fairy, unicorn fairy. I mean, there were all different kinds. There was a beautiful biker fairy. They were beautiful.

Shane

Which project that you've worked on has been the biggest learning experience for you? Which one puts you out of your comfort zone the most?

Eulyn Hufkie

You know, I embrace all of them with such an open heart, and I look forward to the challenges they present that I've never had a difficult—I would say in this business, as a whole, the most difficult part is staying creative within boundaries and being okay with that, if that make any sense. Like any business, as an artist, if you're going to make money and work for a business, your ideas don't always come to fruition the way you saw them originally, and you need to be okay with changing things to appease the group as a whole, whether it's the actor, or the director, or the producer. You know, when they all see things differently and you're the one having to do the presentation, in that lies the difficulty, or therein lies the difficulty because you're trying to put on a lot of hats and trying to make a lot of people happy and hoping for the best. So, I think I find that very challenging sometimes when we're all not on the same page.

Shane

Yeah, I've been on sets before where you've got a couple different people who are in—they’re sort of in charge in their own mind and they've got ideas, and you're getting directions from three, four, five different people who haven't talked to each other. So, who has the final say? Who is ultimately—who's the decision up to?

Eulyn Hufkie

Well, on a movie, it would be the director, but on a TV show, it's the showrunner, so Scott Gimple has the ultimate say.

Shane

And how often does your vision line up with his idea?

Eulyn Hufkie

I’d like to think all the time, since I’ve been doing the show for him for so long. But sometimes—you know, he’ll always win. How’s that? He always has to win. You know, he's the boss, so you just have to make it work.

Shane

Eulyn, you've been with the show from the very beginning, and I know this is your last season now, so what's next for you?

Eulyn Hufkie

Well, lately, I get scripts, and they end in blood. So, I'm hoping that I can do something pretty. Maybe vampires. They’re sexy. Vampires are sexy. You know, zombies—not so much, so maybe something like vampires. I can stylize them sexy, and, you know, where I can get to do more drawings and less shopping. That would be a dream.

Shane

So, vampires are on the bucket list. Any particular eras or settings?

Eulyn Hufkie

Oh, no, no, I love them all. I love them all. I love all of it. I just love bringing characters to life, you know, through their costumes. Some of my favorite work has been where—a favorite time in any movie is when—I think it was Season 2, actually, on this show, Season 3. I can't remember. It was just before they found the prison. When we started the season, no one said a word. No one said one word for the entire teaser—the entire opening of the show.

But between the actors, the makeup, and the clothing, you knew exactly who they were and what they'd been through. It was unspoken, but you could tell exactly what sort of—what was going on. I think that they sat in—they opened up a kind of dog food and shared it, you know, and the clothing was all deteriorated. There was no patching on the clothing; there were just holes. They were dirty. And then, of course, look at Andrew Lincoln—his eyes—as Rick. I mean, he's just an incredible actor. And that, to me, that costume design, I’d say that whole—without saying one word, you don't have to convince the audience how to feel or how to see it. It's shown, you know. So, yeah, I guess that's what I love to do, and I'm not scared to do it any way with any character. You just have a good story, you know. That's why I started doing that. I want to tell a story—a good story.

Shane

For you, what is the most rewarding part of your job as a designer on a daily basis?

Eulyn Hufkie

I'm not going to lie. As an artist, I love it when people like my work, and they say, “Oh, I love that show. It's so cool.” I'm like, “Yeah!” It makes me feel good. Yeah, I like external validation, but also, you know, with every other costume designer, when you present a new costume on stage for the first time to not only the other actors but the crew as well. And on The Walking Dead, for example, we're such a close-knit group and such a beautiful little family. When I brought Negan onto stage, for example, everybody was just—I mean, the people patting me on the back and just like—we were all so excited because it made me know that I did a good job, not just for me as a costume designer, but for the group as a whole and for our show, you know. Our show is going to kick ass, and I helped do that, so that's always rewarding.

Shane

And speaking of Negan…

Eulyn Hufkie

Yeah?

Shane

You knew this question was coming. Who did he kill?

Eulyn Hufkie

I did, and the answer is no. I don't know. I really don't. I really don't. As you know, I'm not going back for Season 7, so I really don't know. I can't wait to watch Season 7 with the rest of you guys and be as excited, and nervous, and sad when I see what happens.

Shane

Who on set does know, and what's their phone number?

Eulyn Hufkie

[Laughs]. Ah, I reckon Scott knows. I think Scott Gimple knows. It's all in his head. All of this shit is in his head, and he doesn't even tell us. Uh, I'll give you his number at the end.

Eulyn Hufkie

Did you guys know that it was going to be a cliffhanger like that before you shot it or before it aired?

Eulyn Hufkie

We were told various things before the final decision was made. We were told different things, but, yeah, we absolutely knew by the end that that would be what it was.

Shane

Let's take a side step and talk about the creative process itself a little bit. When you get up every day, you go into work; you do stuff that you already know how to do. How much stuff are you learning? Is there a constant, like you've got to keep up with new developments in…?

Eulyn Hufkie

Well, I have an amazing crew, first of all. Let me not leave them out. They're incredible, and by the end of it, we've all been together for so long. A lot of us actually said it was a well-oiled machine. So, when you come in, things are already happening, you know. But I learn all the time. I really do. I try to stay current, try to use new products all the time, try new things, and I learn a lot from the people that I'm working with. I’m always open to ideas and will table ideas, and I learn from them. If they have an idea that they want to share with me or a new technique or something, I try to be open to it, and if my way works, they will use my way. But, yeah, part of the reason why I left is because I have been doing it for so long that it wasn't—you know, I knew how to do it all already, and I'm ready for a change, ready to try something new.

Shane

What is the bare minimum skill set that somebody would need if they wanted to get into costume design?

Eulyn Hufkie

Well, it depends on what kind of movies they want to do. But I think having good taste and honoring the characters, I think, is the biggest deal, because when you're doing a show like Sex and the City, you need to be hard-core into fashion, and have good connections, and be able to dress Sarah Jessica Parker. When you're on a show like mine, you know, I'm working with Dickies and Levi's, so you just have to honor the show. You can't come into The Walking Dead and try to dress them like you would—it's not fashion. A lot of people get confused. They think that you know it's fashion. It's not. It's about character creation. It's not about fashion, unless it's a show to do with fashion. But I don't know. I think honoring the story, honestly, and then really understanding what the job entails and knowing your place, knowing your place in the bigger scheme of things.

Shane

Do you have to be a seamstress? I mean, do you have to be able to work a sewing machine and make clothes?

Eulyn Hufkie

No, not really. That's why I didn't say any of that, because you really don't. There are people who sew, and they're great at it. That's all they want to do, and they don't want to be designers. They want to sew. There are people who age clothing. If you choose not to age—I age clothing. I love it, but you don't have to, but a lot of designers don't. If you just know who to hire and put them in the right places, and you are just the creative—you just love creating the characters, and you're good at communicating with the producers and the like—then you'll be on your way, you know, on a smaller show. Then, of course, if you are doing giant Alice in Wonderland movies or Marvel films, then you better know what the hell you're doing and have a big, solid background in design, and know how to draw and make patterns and all of that sort of thing.

Shane

I think one of the things that's cool about what you do is that it's one of those things that, if you do it well, we don't really even notice it as a component of the show.

Eulyn Hufkie

Yeah. Yes, I guess that's another skill you need to have as a costume designer, which many don't. But you need to be humble and, again, know your place in the bigger scheme of things. You know, we're not out there for ourselves, and I think that's where The Walking Dead is so good, because we're all in there for each other and for the story, ultimately. I'm not there for the fame and the glory. I'm there to work my ass off and get the job done well, and I think that's a good skill to have as a costume designer or anybody in this business.

Shane

So, where do you see yourself in five years?

Eulyn Hufkie

Oh, my gosh—an Emmy, an Oscar. I don't know. The sky's the limit. [Laughs]. I don't know. I'm kidding. I don't know. I'm just—I'm really open right now, having left such a big show, and I'm open to the next great thing, and I welcome it. I'm sure it's going to be great. I will say that I'm not sure that I'll ever do another show for that long. I just loved it so much, but six years is a long time. Traditionally, in this business, costume designers—you go from—you’re usually doing, like, three or four shows a year, you know, unless it’s a period and big movie, and then it's a year, but one show a year. But to be on something for six years is unusual.

Shane

Do you prefer film or television?

Eulyn Hufkie

I like both. I like both very much. Again, it depends on the story. I don't have a preference. Honestly, what I really enjoy a lot of the time are commercials. Those are fun, and you have to be very creative. You're telling a story in 60 seconds.

Shane

I know you've done—I mean, you did something for M&M and, I think, NESCAFE. Is that correct?

Eulyn Hufkie

Yeah, NESCAFE. Yeah. So, in Cape Town, because it's cheap to shoot, we get the whole of Europe in there shooting commercials for all over. So I've done, like, the Children's Museum in Germany. I've done NESCAFE for Russia. I have done—which was actually a play on Carmen, the opera, the Spanish opera. So I had women dancing around fire in flamenco dresses and things. I've done Ramadan things for Saudi Arabia. Just all sorts of—I've gone all sorts of places through my job and actually never been there, but yeah, that was fun. Commercials are super fun.

Shane

One of the things I'd like to drag out of you, if I can, because we're going to use this sort of as an education platform, so there'll be people tuning in that aren't just interested in what you've worked on but, like, what insights you have into the industry. So, I'm sure, you know, if you've got a team when you come in, you said you guys have a well-oiled machine. What traits do your team members have that make that machine well-oiled?

Eulyn Hufkie

Well, my team, in particular, are incredible because they have to be nice. I just don't deal with bitchiness or ego. Everybody has to be nice and polite because—and respectful towards one another because we're all there and we're all doing a very important thing, whatever it is. And my team was a good group of folks. They all were very kind to each other. We used to hang out over the weekend, and people would be like, “Why? Why are you going out together over the weekend?” But we did.

I think that's very important. When you're working with people for 16 hours a day, sometimes 6 days a week, you need to like each other. You know, you like kind, nice people, so that's important. But then also work hard. Work hard, but work strong and humbly. Always be humble. There's no reason to have an ego. This business can often make people feel like they're important, you know, because you get the—it sounds glamorous, you know. I’m in the film business, but it's just hard, bloody work. And if you go in with the attitude of wanting to work and lightening the load, maybe, of your colleague, helping wherever you can—I mean, I do that. And if somebody's struggling or taking too long, or whatever, I jump in and help. And that's the attitude we had, and I think that's what gets the job done right and gets it done well, you know? The worst thing in the world is when you're still working and it’s midnight, and people are like, “Okay, well, bye. See you tomorrow,” you know. So, yeah, good work ethic.

Shane

So, if somebody came to you and said, “Eulyn, I want to be a costume designer. What is the secret to making it? First, how do I get into the business? And then, what's the secret to success?” What would you tell them?

Eulyn Hufkie

If somebody came up to me and said they wanted to work in costumes, I’d say, “Can you do makeup?” Your bag’s a lot lighter than the rack that we have to carry. Um, no, honestly, you'd have to have a passion for it. If you don't have a passion for it, you won't succeed, because it's bloody hard work, and you have to love it. You have to love the characters. You have to love, um, your team. You have to love the story. You know, that's the only way you can get it done. You can't half-ass this. You've got to be in it—fully, fully in it.

Um, and to break into the business? Again, you have to be humble. It's so hard to get in. Um, it is about who you know. And so, when you are PA and you're starting out, be nice, because you never know who your other PA friend's daddy is, or auntie is, or mommy is, or who you'll become. You might be a writer, and your script, you know, is the number one best-selling. Everybody’s fighting to buy it and make the movie. You were mean to him, and you'll never work again. You know what I mean. So that's the biggest thing—it’s to just be humble, work bloody hard, and remember why you're there. So, in the beginning, when you get into the business, it's so easy to get caught up, you know, in friends or whatever, um, the long hours, going out to parties after, and all of that. But remember why you're there. Remember why you're there, and it will be fine.

Shane

All right. So that's talking somebody into it and telling them advice that would be useful for them. If I came to you and I said I wanted to do it and you knew—I want you to talk me out of it. What are all the reasons that I should not pursue a career in film and television costume design?

Eulyn Hufkie

Gosh, that's a hard question because that really hits home, you know. But it’s just not a family-friendly business. So, if your life goal is to have babies and—you know, like, I'm not saying you can't do it all. You absolutely can do whatever you want in life, but it's not family-friendly. A large majority of the people—I mean, you've seen even the top, famous, famous actors. Everybody's getting divorced. You know, it's not family-friendly. It can be very—you kind of give your heart and soul to the job. You travel a lot. You never know where you'll end up or when you'll be back, you know. These are all real things. Your daddy can't always be there for soccer games. It's a very different life, and you have to be okay with that, and I'm okay with that.

Shane

If you were to quit the design business tomorrow, what's the singular experience that you will never forget and go, “It was all worth it for that one moment”?

Eulyn Hufkie

I don't know. I guess I've met amazing people, and I have—it's all been great. I've enjoyed all my time. I have no regrets about doing what I do. I really—that's such a hard question for me because I don't live my life that way. I don't love, like, one moment. It's all just been amazing. Things that stick out to me are when people were shitty to me because I always thought, “I would never act this way.” That was what stood out to me: that I can make the business different, that it doesn't have to be like that, that it can be different. It can be a more gentle business, and I think I achieved that. So, I think that stands out to me the most: That I made a difference, and I trained a lot of people and gave them careers.

Shane

I've got a final segment of questions, and we can go through these kind of fast here. Some of them are just single-word answers.

Eulyn Hufkie

Okay, single words, just one word?

Shane

Well, as many as it takes, some of them are just one. But, yeah, you use as many words as you need.

Eulyn Hufkie

Okay.

Shane

So, if your job only paid the bills and not a penny more, would you still continue to do it?

Eulyn Hufkie

Oh, please. No, I’d absolutely do it. I would do it for free, but I have bills—no fun. Sorry, I got it the wrong way around. I would do it for free. I really would, but I'm not allowed. My agent would not allow that.

Shane

What talent or skill do you not have that you wish you did?

Eulyn Hufkie

Oh, I wish I could sew better than I can on a machine. I sew really well by hand, but on a machine, I wish I could be as good as the people that I hire.

Shane

Fill in the blank. I am a success if I _____.

Eulyn Hufkie

Like myself at the end of the day.

Shane

And I am a failure if I _____.

Eulyn Hufkie

Don't like myself when I go to bed at night.

Shane

What is the single best piece of advice that you followed to get where you are today?

Eulyn Hufkie

Be humble.

Shane

What is a piece of well-intentioned advice that you're glad you ignored to get where you are today?

Eulyn Hufkie

Be tougher. Be more—oh, my ex would say this to me all the time, “You're too soft. You need to be tougher.” And I just don't think that that would—no, I just don't think that's the best advice, because I think those people are mean half the time. I think it's selfish when you're so tough that you have no compassion. I would never sleep at night.

Shane

What character trait do you like best about yourself?

Eulyn Hufkie

I'm kind. I like that I’m kind.

Shane

And which character trait do you like least about yourself?

Eulyn Hufkie

That I'm kind. [Laughs]. No, um, I can be very tough on myself. I'm very hard on myself a lot of the time. I often don't think I'm good enough.

Shane

Fill in the blank. I believe every child should have the opportunity to _____.

Eulyn Hufkie

Paint.

Shane

If you could suggest one piece of self-improvement that everyone on earth would adopt, what would it be?

Eulyn Hufkie

Open your eyes, like, really open your eyes around you, and stop walking in a tunnel.

Shane

If you could have any superpower, what would it be?

Eulyn Hufkie

Oh, my god. I would make people's clothing fall off at random. Yeah.

Shane

[Laughs]. Best answer so far on the show.

Eulyn Hufkie

Or if somebody was being really mean, I'd just be like TING, and their pants would fall off, and they'd be like, “Whoah!” You know, it would be awesome.

Shane

And you would use it purely for good and never for evil, correct?

Eulyn Hufkie

Um, sometimes just because it would be fun.

Shane

Just for fun. Eulyn, that is the best answer I've gotten for that question yet. If you could have dinner with anyone, alive or dead, who would it be?

Eulyn Hufkie

Oh, man. That's tough because there's so many. I'd love to have dinner with my grandfather because I never got to meet him, and he's my dad's father, so I imagine he'd be awesome because my dad's awesome, but otherwise, Nelson Mandela.

Shane

A hospitable nearby planet has been discovered, and you've been recruited to help colonize it. You may take any three items with you that you wish. What are they?

Eulyn Hufkie

Oh, dude, can you take people? [Laughs].

Shane

Let's say your favorite people are going to be there, and all your needs will be met. So, three personal items.

Eulyn Hufkie

Okay. Can I take my dog? Can my dog be one?

Shane

Yep.

Eulyn Hufkie

No, my dog's already there, obviously. He's already there.

Shane

Oh, okay.

Eulyn Hufkie

Well, because he's my favorite people. He's a piece of people.

Shane

So is mine. I agree.

Eulyn Hufkie

It would have to be—I have to have lip balm. It's just a thing. And bourbon. [Laughs]. Wait, it's a planet?

Shane

It's a planet.

Eulyn Hufkie

Is there air on the planet? Like, can I breathe?

Shane

It's breathable air.

Eulyn Hufkie

You can breathe. You can breathe, and there's water. Um, dude, I don't need a whole lot, and my dog is already there. My favorite people are there. I've got bourbon and lip gloss. I'd probably be cool. Maybe… do I have clothes on, or…?

Shane

Well, unless there's somebody else on that planet who has this superpower that makes people's clothes fall off and they picked you.

Eulyn Hufkie

[Laughs]. Well, it's not like Naked and Afraid, right? Because then I would take some duct tape with me because you can make clothing out of it. Um, I don't know, maybe something like—I'd probably take a family album. I love my—I love pictures. Maybe I’d take my camera. That might be one. I’d take my camera because I'm a photographer, and I love taking pictures, or maybe a photo album with, like, all my favorite people in it.

Shane

So, you got a camera—a camera, lip gloss —

Eulyn Hufkie

— Camera, lip gloss, and bourbon. Yeah, done. Yeah.

Shane

All right. Final question.

Eulyn Hufkie

All right.

Shane

You've just won a lifetime achievement award in your field. What is your acceptance speech? There won't be any music to cue you or rush you off the stage, so you can get to all of the “thank yous” that you need, and if there's any personal cause that you want to champion, this is your opportunity to let her rip.

Eulyn Hufkie

Okay, I would say thank you to all the people who hurt me because it made me better. Um, this award is for all the little girls who didn't fit in, um, like I didn't. All the artists who don't think they can make money. Oh, now I’ve got to cry. That's so—that's it. Done. That's it. And all the mixed-race girls in Capetown who, you know, they throw away. That's a cute question. That's a cute question, but very deep.

Shane

Well, you're officially off the hot seat. That's all I've got for you.

Eulyn Hufkie

Yay, thank God! I'm going to have a sip of this bourbon now. [Laughs].

Shane

Eulyn, you are fantastic. You were great. You had fantastic answers. It was a delight talking to you.

Eulyn Hufkie

Thank you so much. I think what you're doing is amazing, so thank you for having me be a part of it. Very cool.

Shane

Well, it was great to have you. Thank you so much.

Eulyn Hufkie

All right. Bye.

Shane

Bye.

Once again, that was film and television costume designer Eulyn Hufkie from The Walking Dead. For more information on her, you can visit her website, www.eulyn.com. I'd like to thank everyone for joining me today. You are listening to the Live2cre8 podcast, and this is Shane Almgren reminding you to dream big, be inspired, and live creatively.