Costume designer P.C. Williams has steadily built a reputation for her inventive approach to contemporary storytelling. Beginning her career in music styling and commercials, she transitioned into narrative projects like “Lady Parts” and “Frank of Ireland,” honing a skill set that combines visual flair with a keen understanding of character. That path has now led her to one of her most ambitious assignments yet: shaping the look of Searchlight’s “The Roses,” written by Tony McNamara and directed by Jay Roach.
“The Roses” stars Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch as a couple whose picture-perfect façade fractures when the husband’s professional dreams collapse. With a supporting cast that includes Allison Janney, Kate McKinnon, Andy Samberg, Ncuti Gatwa, and Sani Mani, the film is at once darkly comedic and emotionally turbulent, a fertile playground for Williams’ thoughtful costume work. “In long form, whether film or TV, you actually have the time to become invested in a character and to communicate ideas that aren’t around selling something,” she explains.
Central to Williams’ task was dressing two dapper Brits living on the California coast, balancing their European sensibilities with the realities of American life. Colman’s Ivy, an artist with food who evolves into a culinary mogul, required a wardrobe that could chart her arc without ever losing her essence. Early looks are playful and eccentric, full of mismatched prints, artisan jewelry, and bohemian silhouettes. As her empire expands, the clothes become more structured, culminating in pieces like an embroidered dress worn aboard a private jet. Yet even at her most powerful, Ivy retains that quirk and vitality.
For Cumberbatch’s Theo, Williams leaned into a restrained palette that suggested quiet luxury, building with brands like Loro Piana while transitioning him into softer separates as his domestic role shifted. “His style becomes about grounding and practicality rather than dressing for an office,” Williams notes. That practicality extended to the children’s wardrobe, which gradually migrated from Ivy’s colorful influence to Theo’s uniformity, epitomized by custom-made matching tracksuits. It’s a subtle but poignant way of showing how responsibility, and style, transfers over time.
Color, Williams emphasizes, became a storytelling tool in itself. “I just wanted it to be fun,” she says of dressing Colman outside the confines of period or navy-toned roles. By contrasting Ivy’s vibrant palette with Theo’s muted grays, blues, and khakis, Williams ensured that the couple never fought for visual space on screen. Their looks breathe independently yet reveal the gulf growing between them. The embroidery on Ivy’s dresses even tied back to production design choices, with motifs echoing the wallpaper and textures of the family’s California home.
Beyond the central couple, Williams’ work extended to an ensemble of comedic heavyweights, where she leaned into British and Scandinavian labels to craft distinct silhouettes. Among the film’s most memorable sequences is the chaotic cake fight, for which she collaborated closely with a food specialist to create garments that could withstand the sugar-fueled spectacle. These details underscore Williams’ philosophy that costume design is most powerful when it supports the story without drawing undue attention. “When I’m not noticing the costume because everything feels so real, that’s when you’ve done a great job,” she reflects.
In conversation with Awards Focus, Williams discussed her transition from music styling into narrative work, the process of dressing Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch for “The Roses,” and how color became a central tool in shaping the story’s emotional journey.
Awards Focus: I’d love to start with a bit of your background and journey. Your work in film and TV really started picked up about four or five years ago? How did you transition into this world and what was the turning point that led you into film and television?
PC Williams: I actually did my first feature around 2013. That was the first time I was doing anything like that because before then I was styling, working as a music stylist. It took me a little longer to come back into the narrative space. After that film, I threw myself into commercial work and really enjoyed it. I like to be busy and commercials kept me going. I felt fulfilled, so I wasn’t desperate to carry on in narrative work.
It wasn’t until around 2018 or 2020, when I did the pilot for “Lady Parts,” that I thought maybe this was the next thing. It just felt like the timing was right for where I was in life. It took a couple of years for both pilots I worked on, “Lady Parts” and “Frank of Ireland,” to get picked up. Once they were, it was all systems go.
Music styling and commercials really prepared me for this life: learning how much things change when you’re shooting or prepping, how to delegate, and how to work with larger teams. I needed to learn all that in advertising before bringing that knowledge here.
AF: What would you say is the biggest difference between commercial or music video work and long-form television or film?
Williams: The storytelling. In music, it’s about performance, and while there’s nuance, it’s really about the artist performing to an audience. In commercials, you can only tell so much in 60 or 90 seconds, especially when the focus is a product.
In long form, whether film or TV, you have time to invest in characters, to tell stories, and communicate ideas that aren’t about selling something but about emotional escapism. Each project has its challenges (budget, crew, location), but those are different from dealing with client feedback on a pair of shoes in a mobile phone ad.
AF: How did you first come onto “The Roses?” Did you have any prior connection with Tony McNamara or the creative team?
Williams: This was my first time working with Tony and with Jay [Roach]. I had worked with Benedict before on “We Start From,” which his production company Sunnymarch produced. That was the connection.
When I met Jay, we got on really well. My initial ideas aligned with his but also offered something different. He’s very collaborative, so having people bring ideas while keeping the process malleable works well with him. That’s how I got involved.
AF: Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch are British royalty in the acting world. How do you even begin to approach a project with a cast like that?
Williams: I focus on the story and characters. Of course I’m aware that I’m designing costumes for Olivia Colman, Oscar-winning Olivia Colman, and for Benedict Cumberbatch. But I’d worked with Benedict before, and I had met Olivia at BAFTA, so I wasn’t coming in cold.
I respect both of them immensely, but my job is to design for their characters. I bring ideas, share them, and gauge their responses. It has to be collaborative, but I’m the expert in costume design. My job is to enable the actors to perform. That means leaving my ego at the door while making sure the costumes serve both the actors and the creative intention of each scene.
AF: You’re taking two Brits and moving them into coastal California with children raised as Americans. What was your initial visual identity for these characters, and how did that evolve by the time we see it on screen?
Williams: Olivia and Benedict’s characters move to America as adults, so they already have a strong sense of identity before arriving. Their kids are American, but they’re being raised by two very British parents.
When Olivia’s character transitions from stay-at-home mom making seven desserts for three people to running restaurants across the U.S., her wardrobe reflects that change. She retains her sense of self while adjusting to professional spaces.
Benedict’s character shifts from unstructured suits in beautiful fabrics as a hotshot architect to practical modular separates (navy, gray, khaki) that fit his new life raising kids and building a home. His style becomes about grounding and practicality rather than dressing for an office.
AF: There’s an unraveling in the relationship over time, though it isn’t always clear how much time has passed. How did you portray that through costuming?
Williams: We spent a lot of time working out the passage of time, which is intentionally ambiguous. There’s a jump when the kids go from 10 to 13, but after that it’s less clear.
In California, you can’t rely on seasonal changes. So instead, it was left to the actors to show time passing emotionally. Olivia and Benedict conveyed the frustration and intensity of a relationship unraveling, something that builds over time.
AF: Colors are noticeable in this film, especially with Olivia’s costumes and even the kids. Can you talk about your use of color?
Williams: I wanted it to be fun. I had the chance to dress Olivia Colman not in a period piece and not in navy, so I ran with it. Her character Ivy is fun, a little stoner, someone who lives to her own beat.
Her prints and colors were adult, not childish, and the kids reflected that when dressed by her (mismatched prints and fun colors). With their father, they shifted to matching tracksuits and eventually athletic wear, mirroring his palette.
The distinct palettes meant that when Olivia and Benedict were together on screen, they never fought for space visually.
AF: When it comes to award recognition like The Emmys, what do you think voters look for? I’m often told that it’s much easier to do period costumes than contemporary, even though the latter rarely gets recognized.
Williams: Period pieces have set rules, so designers work within those frameworks. Contemporary design is harder because the framework is evolving and you have to set it yourself.
It’s a shame that contemporary work isn’t valued as highly. Everyone wears clothes, so actors may think they know how to dress, but it’s about what the character needs.
For me, successful design is when you don’t notice the costumes because they feel part of the world. Or, when you reflect afterward and realize how good they were. For instance, Jocelyn’s [Pierce] work on “Anora” last year was incredible contemporary design, but it was overlooked.
Those of us in contemporary design know we’re fighting an uphill battle, but we respect each other’s work regardless.
AF: Where do you imagine Olivia and Benedict’s characters shop for their clothing?
Williams: I think they go back to Europe every summer to see family. He shops in Soho at places like Oliver Spencer and APC. She thrifts in Notting Hill and finds boutique pieces. She probably has clothes she’s mended over the years.
They’re not Americana in their style. They’re Brits abroad, with clear personal aesthetics that make sense for them.
AF: Do you have a favorite outfit you designed for the film?
Williams: I love the dress Olivia wears at the barbecue when everyone tells her the marriage is toxic.
There’s also a look where she’s in a white shirt, green cardigan, and fab jeans while Benedict is burning books in dark colors. She feels alien in that space, which I love.
And I really like Benedict’s opening suit. It introduces who he is immediately.
AF: How much of those visual moments are conscious costume choices in collaboration with other departments?
Williams: I never know the blocking until the day, but from the beginning I’m in constant communication with the production designer. We share boards, fabrics, and ideas.
If they’re leaning into something for the set, I may adjust the costume so it works better in frame. It’s about collaboration so the whole picture feels successful. I loved working with Mark [Ricker] on this project. It was an amazing, collaborative experience.
AF: Congratulations on this film. Can you share where we might see your work next?
Williams: I’m designing a feature for Amazon MGM Studios called “Close Personal Friends,” directed by Jason Ali. It stars Brie Larson, Lily Collins, Henry Golding, and Jack Quaid. We’re filming now, and it was announced a few weeks ago.