Kimberley Spiteri & Patricia Regan On Giving Midge Her Best Look for Her Big Break on ‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’

Midge Maisel looks flawless even when she looks messy. With her porcelain skin and bold red lip, Rachel Brosnahan’s legendary character could potentially put us all to shame in terms of being described as put-together and effervescent. Thanks to Hair Department Head, Kimberly Spiteri, and Makeup Department Head, Patricia Regan, we have something to aspire to as Midge Maisel is set to take over the world.

The next time you watch the Amy Sherman-Palladino comedy take a look at the people walking in the background as the principle characters fly onscreen. Now multiply that by ten when it comes to Maisel’s fifth and final season. Spiteri knew that the last hurrah was going to be big, but she was ready for the challenge.

“We knew it was going to be big,” she admits. “They would give it to us in bits and piece so we weren’t overwhelmed. All the producers and the people at Amazon were so supportive, and they gave us whatever we needed to make it happen. Going into this season, we wanted it to be as good as it could be.”

An addition to season five comes in the form of Nina Arianda’s Hedy, an old friend of Susie’s and the key to unlock Midge’s success. Hedy doesn’t look like anyone else on Maisel. Her red lip made me think that she and Midge could be easy friends with one another, and her blonde hair perfectly frames her distinctive face.

“We took our queue from the costume department,” Regan say. “We knew we wanted her to be glamorous but approachable, and she is very perfect for the period. Nina has these fabulous eyes and great lips, and she sits down and just gets ready. I loved working with her. I was always amazing at how many great faces we worked on with this show.”

“She has such a great period face,” Spiteri adds. “She was a mystery to us for a long time, so finding that out together was a nice experience.”

Throughout season five, we see flashforwards that give a glimpse into these characters through the ’70s, ’80s, and even early 2000s. Marin Hinkle’s Rose Weissman has always seemed like a woman who found her silhouette and her makeup palette, and she is set for the rest of her life. When we see her in the 1970s, we see how she took those cosmetic ideals and saved them for herself.

“We had to look at what was going on with her character, but keep the ideals of who Rose is and translate that,” Spiteri says. “She was always fashion-forward. Like with older women of the ’70s, we did our research, and a lot of things were bigger and flow-ier. Donna [Zakowska] inspired us with the caftan that she made for her in that scene, so we went with big hair to match it. It reminded me of my mom–she always got her hair done. It was big and it was cool.”

“Rose was always done up with red lipstick,” Regan says. “That would never go away no matter what age she was. My grandmother was like that all the way into her nineties. She always wore a red lip and had her nails painted, so I saw her as that. The colors were a feast. She was in her twenties in the ’30s, and I think that’s where it all seeded from.”

Regan and Spiteri light up when they talk about Brosnahan’s final look when she performs on The Gordon Ford Show. What else is so say about it? Her hair has that signature curl, but it feels not loose but relaxed like her follicles were even prepping. She looks exquisite.

“It was the culmination of every crazy thing that happened over the last five years,” Spiteri says. “We all wanted it to be perfect. Everyone worked so hard and loved the character so much. We were this family, and we wanted to have Rachel on the pedestal that she deserved. I knew, in my imagination, what she should look like. That last look was a labor of love, and we were all very proud of that.”

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is streaming now on Prime Video.