For a show whose most tantalizing scenes hinge on shirtlessness, the smash-hit Canadian series Heated Rivalry still manages to do plenty of storytelling through its clothing.
As more and more viewers have obsessed over the show since its November 28 premiere—it’s become a fixture among HBO Max’s top 10 shows in the US, and begins streaming in the UK on January 10—it stands to reason that if the audience started watching for the six packs, they stayed for Shane Hollander’s hot-nerd reading glasses. You know, proverbially speaking.
In late December, I spoke with the show’s costume designer, Hanna Puley, about a menswear-adjacent plot point—a scene in which Shane admits to hiring a stylist. (The scene in question takes place in 2017, at the dawn of the tunnel-fit era. Travis Kelce would be proud.) Partially given the show’s shoestring budget, but mainly due to the fact that its characters are closeted pro-hockey players who are dressing for gyms and locker rooms, most of the clothes on the show aren’t especially flashy. Shane is, by design, a hapless dresser; even the most diehard Heated Rivalry fans have dunked on his frumpy duds. Meanwhile, Shane’s rival-turned-lover, Russian hockey phenom Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie), boasts a new-money wardrobe of Rick Owens drop-crotch sweats and Diesel tank tops.
Unsurprisingly, Puley had many other insights to share about the show’s costuming philosophy. Here’s more of our conversation, in which the designer spills on Ilya’s “Slavic man style,” selecting Shane’s bookish eyewear, and those slyly suggestive team logos.
As someone who often has to write about famous men hiring stylists, I had a good laugh while watching episode five, when Shane tells Ilya that he hired a stylist. As the costumer of the show, what was your perspective on incorporating that little plotline?
[Laughs] I know you mentioned the stylist point is the key because you guys are coming at it from more of a fashion angle, and that’s honestly not how I approach costume design. It’s not “fashion” to me. I wanted it to still feel like it was him, where it’s like the choices that were made were still him, and they’re kind of still boring, and they’re still very contained in this heteronormative mask that is so clearly the thing that he just feels comfortable in.
When we see that shift, that’s the only time we see him in patterns. It’s the only time that we see him in something that’s not a black suit. His general style for the whole show up to that point is tuxedos, athleticwear. His “hot” look is the white T-shirt [in episode four’s nightclub scene], where he just feels the best version of himself. I think that I kind of leaned on that because it feels so identifiable with a lot of men that I know. This is their version of looking the hottest way that they know how to.
Totally true.
Totally, right? Literally, they feel so good in just a good white T-shirt. Playing that for Shane was a choice for sure, and I leaned on it a lot, but I think it makes it feel really grounded because it is so familiar with a lot of men.
Yeah. It’s almost like a big personal jump for Shane, that scene in Tampa, even though it’s just a tan jacket and a black tee.
It’s actually a [full] white suit! [With costuming,] we create a whole story world that does get seen, all the sandcastles that we build in film. It’s wild. Even all of Kip’s friends, that birthday scene where Scott’s looking in through the window [in episode three]... Everybody looks so good, and then you don’t see anything.
Yeah, the plight of the costume designer is so...
[Laughs] I truly think it’s like we’re building sandcastles that then just get washed away by the sea. Sometimes you get to enjoy them a little longer, but usually not really.
Click here to read the full interview.
