‘Excessive College Musical’ Star Monique Coleman Says Her Character Wore Headbands As a result of The Crew Didn’t Know How To Fashion Black Hair
It could’t be confused sufficient–illustration is so essential, from the producers right down to wardrobe with regards to TV and movie. “Excessive College Musical” star Monique Coleman’s story is a first-rate instance of that.
She not too long ago revealed in an interview with Insider that she got here up with the thought for her “Excessive College Musical” character Taylor McKessie to put on a wide range of headbands again within the 2006 film as a result of the styling crew didn’t know methods to work with Black hair.
“We’ve grown quite a bit on this business and we’ve grown quite a bit in illustration and we’ve grown quite a bit when it comes to understanding the wants of an African American actress,” Coleman, who’s now 40, mentioned in an interview for the film’s fifteenth anniversary. “However the reality is, is that that they had completed my hair, they usually had completed it very poorly within the entrance,” she mentioned.
Coleman mentioned crew members didn’t have a lot time to repair her hair earlier than filming started, so she urged that they “incorporate headbands into her character” and “simply make that part of who she is.”
Coleman added that she and her castmates had been “fortunate” as a result of Disney and the movie’s wardrobe division had been “very open to our suggestions.”
The look stayed along with her character all through the franchise as Taylor additionally went on to put on an assortment of headbands that completely coordinated along with her outfits within the “Excessive College Musical” sequels launched in 2007 and 2008.
Along with the scarf suggestion, Coleman lent a artistic hand in Taylor’s search for the ultimate variety of the primary film, “We’re All in This Collectively.”
She mentioned Taylor’s button-down shirt and pleated skirt had been an homage to Britney Spears’ 1998 music video for “Child One Extra Time.”
“I believed, ‘Oh, I believe it will be actually enjoyable for Taylor to type of have this type of awakening second,” Coleman mentioned. “And I believed the tie was a very cute look.
“That was so, so way back that the ‘One Extra Time’ video was nonetheless related and I believed, ‘Huh, wouldn’t it’s type of cool if Taylor’s look had a nod to that indirectly?’”
Coleman positively shared her appreciation for being a part of the movies, saying she was grateful for the chance to play Taylor and be a job mannequin for followers who not often noticed themselves mirrored on-screen.
“I’m actually grateful to have been somebody who was in a position to convey illustration at a time the place there wasn’t very a lot, and I’m so completely satisfied after I see this subsequent technology of younger artists and there simply being a lot extra room for individuals of shade,” Coleman mentioned.
She added her “Excessive College Musical” half was particular to her as a result of Taylor wasn’t a stereotypical Black character.
“It means the world to me, significantly as a result of Taylor is such a dynamic character and the neatest particular person at college and all of that at a time the place, usually, Black lady characters tended to be those who had an perspective or to be sassy,” she mentioned.
Coleman added, “And I appreciated that that wasn’t why individuals beloved Taylor. They beloved her as a result of she was good and supportive. And it positively means quite a bit to me for individuals to see her. There was Taylor earlier than the Obamas had been a factor. So we didn’t have individuals to look as much as…So figuring out that this technology acquired to look as much as her actually is particular for me.”
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