From the Baywatch One-Piece to Tommy Lees Thongs: How Pam and Tommy Costume Des

 Posted on July 16, 2024  |  6 minutes  |  1272 words  |  Abbie Anker

Hulu’s “Pam & Tommy” has set the internet alight as viewers tune in each week to see Lily James and Sebastian Stan take on the wild antics of Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee. Not only are audiences talking about the amazing transformations, but they’re also buzzing about the costumes, or in some scenes, the lack of.

Costume designer Kameron Lennox worked on nailing the signature looks such as that iconic red “Baywatch” outfit, as well as tailoring outfits to fit the prosthetics needed on Stan as he struts around in thongs.

Lennox broke down how she pulled off some of the show’s outfits.

The Baywatch Outfit

Pamela Anderson shot to international stardom while playing C.J Parker on the hit series “Baywatch.” She became synonymous with the red lifeguard bathing suit worn by her character.

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Lennox says that out of all the outfits she created, this was one she needed to nail because it was so specific to Anderson. “It was important for me to make sure we had the right shade of red, that ‘Baywatch red’.”

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During her research, while watching the show, each person had a bathing suit specific to their body type. “On Pam, the way that it was cut was very sexy. The leg was high-cut to elongate her leg and cut low on the sides to accentuate her bust,” says Lennox.

In the end, she found the company that made the original outfits, TYR. Not only was she able to find the exact fabric, but she was also able to match the precise red that had been used for the show. “In the end, we had three for Lily, some extras and some for background. We had a hero outfit for when we were doing close-ups.”

Pamela Anderson Meets Reporters in Cancun

Early in the series, Anderson goes to Cancun for work, and Lee follows her there. In one scene, Anderson has to meet the local reporters and dons a white dress with pink flowers. Lennox says, “It’s her meeting a bunch of men. The idea behind that was how would she dress to fulfill their wildest imagination of who she was.”

Lennox says Anderson was someone who knew how to sell herself. She wore a vintage Vivienne Westwood outfit. “I did a deep dive into who Pam Anderson wore at that time – and that was very important. She was known to wear a lot of Vivienne Westwood, Dolce e Gabbana and Versace. Those were designers that I tried to find for her.” Adds Lennox, “With that Westwood dress, I shortened it a bit to make it a little bit more like Pam would wear it.”

During that time, Anderson also sported a lot of latex dresses. Lennox was able to find the company that made those outfits. “We had them custom-make a bunch of colors because she was known to have latex dresses in every color, and place them where we thought that it was the most fitting.”

While Anderson is on the Cancun trip and parties all night, Lennox thought it fitting to outfit her in a red latex shiny dress as she and Lee search for a priest to marry them. “It just felt very iconic for that moment.”

Recreating the famous Playboy Shoot

Anderson was a Playboy cover regular, appearing numerous times over the years. Making her debut in Oct. 1989, she made history when she appeared over the magazine’s cover for the 13th time in January 2011.

For the 1989 debut, Lennox calls it the most fun since she had to source vintage lingerie. “I found that piece at Palace Costume in LA. They have great vintage lingerie.”

Lennox worked closely with hair department head Barry Lee Moe and the makeup team, as well as the prosthetics team since James wore a breast plate that had to be accounted for. “Luckily for that lingerie shoot, we didn’t need chest prosthetics, but we did bump up the bra area to make it look like Pam did at the time.”

Tommy Lee and His Thongs

The visual of Tommy Lee strutting around his mansion in thong underwear was in the script. Lennox’s first thought was that the cut had to be right. “The one thing I didn’t think about was how large the prosthetic would be.”

Lennox found vintage cheetah print thongs on eBay, but they weren’t as easy to procure. She admits, “I did get into a little bit of a bidding war with somebody else that was trying to buy that same thong, and I did end up winning because I was very determined.”

Leopard print, silk, satins and different colors went into his thong drawer. But Stan’s prosthetic penis caused a last-minute challenge. “The final prosthetic came in, and we put the thong on Sebastian and it was too small. We had to do an emergency cut, so we created a pattern and customized it more. I found anything with a little bit of pattern was better. When it was a solid color, things did seem to look bigger than they were.”

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