Costume designer uses old fabrics, patterns in `Ghost Whisperer'......

by Crystal Dempsey

Time to catch up on reader mail:

Q. I've seen only a few episodes of `The Ghost Whisperer," but I am really salivating over some pieces of Jennifer Love Hewitt's wardrobe. Can you find out if the clothes she wears are really vintage or if they are designed to look that way? If they are available in stores, which ones?

Since I haven't caught one episode of "Ghost Whisperer" (8 p.m. Friday, CBS) and couldn't venture a guess, I went to the source: Joseph Porro, the show's costume designer. Hewitt plays Melinda Gordon, a woman who talks to dead people and helps them resolve unfinished business. She and her business partner, played by Aisha Tyler (love her), own an antique store.

"We thought (Hewitt's character) would have an eye for vintage textiles and clothing," says Porro. He cuts antique fabrics, "some almost 200 years old," from the U.S. and Europe into sexy blouses and skirts. "I've also used old patterns done from the 1820s to 1930s and make up new original versions on some great old styles." He mixes in pieces from boutiques and "a few other designers who think on the same wavelength, and you get a very unusual look," he says.

Hewitt's jeans and some jackets come from designers such as True Religion, Elie Tahari and DKNY. "Jennifer really likes the idea that no one on television is wearing anything like her and she loves the femininity of the clothes she wears," Porro says.

Story: © 2006 The Charlotte Observer. All Rights Reserved.
Image: © 2005 Touchstone Television LLC - a Walt Disney Company and Paramount Pictures Corporation - a Viacom Company. All Rights Reserved.