Kathleen Detoro


Kathleen Detoro is an American costume designer. She has worked mainly in television, most famously on AMC's Breaking Bad. She was also the costume designer for films like The Guest and Hard Rain.
She has been nominated twice for Costume Designers Guild Awards.

Education

Detoro graduated from the Pratt Institute and studied costume design at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute.

Career

Detoro is best known for her work on the first four seasons of Breaking Bad, which included the pilot. She helped select clothing, color palettes, and elements like Walter White's alter-ego Heisenberg's black hat. The hat came about after actor Bryan Cranston asked for a way to avoid the sun on set and show creator Vince Gilligan saw a pork-pie hat that he liked. Detoro then had a custom black pork-pie hat made for the show. In 2017, The Hollywood Reporter called Detoro's Walter White costume one of "The Best TV Costumes From the Past Decade". Detoro was also responsible for other elements of Walter White's costume like his Clarks Wallabee shoes, of which she would buy over 60 pairs per season for the production. This inspired the company Clarks to later create a special shoe release in honor of the character.
Detoro has said costume designers "tell the stories through color, shape, and silhouette,"
To describe her costuming on the TV show Blood & Oil Detoro said, "Where there's oil, there's money, and where there's money there is fashion." Detoro has said in multiple interviews that she was excited costuming the show, especially because she was able to work with model and actress Amber Valletta. She noted that sometimes Valletta's past as a fashion model allowed the show to get designer pieces they "wouldn't otherwise be able to get".
She also worked on the feature film Hard Rain in 1998. In television, she worked in the costume department of the show Ally McBeal in the early 2000s and was nominated for a Costume Designers Guild Award for her work.

Accolades

Filmography

Film

The Guest They Come at Night Dead Man on Campus Hard Rain Overnight Delivery Scream 2 Univers'l Venus Rising The Foot Shooting Party Rooftops

Television

House of Fame Echo 3 Council of Dads Castle Rock The Crossing Training Day Blood & Oil Chop Shop Vegas Grimm Breaking Bad Necessary Roughness Scoundrels Flashforward The Cleaner Justice Threshold Close to Home Skin Commando Nanny Ally McBeal in the Costume DepartmentGet Real Work with Me The Boys Are Back Space Rangers Likely Suspects Parker Lewis Can't Lose

Television films

Kim Possible Scalped Cocked Identity Masterwork Animals Legally Blonde Firestarter: Rekindled The Darkling Invisible Child My Last Love Donor Unknown The Great Mom Swap Betrayed: A Story of Three Women A Place for Annie Message from Nam Star Battling for Baby My Son Johnny The Marla Hanson Story