Nash Bridges, Don Johnson Productions, Costumes Designed by Richard Van Ernst

Nash Bridges was my first experience working for a television series, which I found to be completely different than working on a feature film. We would have about three days of prep and five days of shooting, so everything had to be done at a very fast pace. I worked wardrobe on the first and third units for their second season, mostly on car chases and car crashes (I learned how to properly rig and dress anti-flame suits and to dress dummies to be thrown out of vehicle wrecks).

Season Three presented a few fun episodes like Cuda Grace (aired 4/3/98) when “Evan and Bettina go undercover in a transgender beauty pageant to trap a blackmailing murderess who pretends to be a man impersonating a woman.” I had built drag understructures for Angels in America, so I was assigned to make their wardrobe. I have never sewn so many sequins. Another episode, called Skin Deep (aired 2/27/98), featured Nash (Don Johnson) and Joe (Cheech Marin) tracking down a famous model’s stalker during a fashion show. The costume designer, Richard Van Ernst, gave me great artistic license to create some “haute couture” hats and accessories.