Teens in the ’80s ‘were actually getting ready’: Kaia Gerber embraces lavish style in ‘The Shards’

In FX’s “The Shards,” a group of friends at an elite prep school in Los Angeles are entering their senior year — and the stakes are as high as their opulent wardrobe budgets . The year is 1981 and shoulder pads are all the rage. A serial killer named “The Trawler” prowls in the background, targeting fellow high schoolers. In classic Ryan Murphy directorial style, the TV series is so much more than a murder mystery — it is a testament to ‘80s fashion, music and popular culture.

Take, for one, an extended dance-off sequence midway through the season that finds the central cast shimmying, grooving and whipping their hair to “Super Freak” by Rick James. For these teens, played by a cast that includes actor and model Kaia Gerber and budding musician Hayes Warner, there are concerns more pressing than reports of missing kids –– like ensuring they are dressed to the nines and securing a place on the Homecoming Court.

“The attention to detail is what makes it so incredible,” Gerber said in a video call, the spitting image of her mother, Cindy Crawford. She pointed to the elaborate mood boards by costume designers Joshua Marsh and Lou Eyrich and the many vintage pieces pulled for the characters from the era. “It’s such a specific moment in time.”

The series is rooted in the perspective of narrator Bret Easton Ellis (Igby Rigney), named after the author of the 2023 horror autofiction novel that inspired the show (Ellis is also co-creator and co-showrunner). Bret is a Joan Didion-obsessed aspiring writer and a senior at Buckley prep school, surrounded by a tight-knit group of friends. Among them: his girlfriend Debbie Schaffer (Warner), who dons Blondie-inspired platinum hair and blood-red lipstick, and Susan Reynolds (Gerber), class president and a perfectionist whose boyfriend Thom Wright (Graham Campbell) is a football star. The wildcard is Robert Mallory (Homer Gere, son of actor Richard), a new student who upends the fragile harmony between the two couples. “The Shards” stands out in Murphy’s TV empire as a campy, suspenseful romp that doesn’t take itself too seriously — except when it comes to the lavish ‘80s aesthetics.

Gerber and Warner grew close while the show was in production, spending upwards of two hours in the makeup trailer together each morning and running scenes. It’s there they transformed into picture-perfect students. In some cases, the actors got so attached to their ‘80s styling they continued it even after filming. In her real life lately, Warner has been opting for jackets with shoulder pads — some gifted from Gerber’s closet — and they have both been finding themselves wearing their hair in a side part. The “more is more” approach stayed with Gerber off-camera, even if it’s not necessarily an endeavor she seeks out day-to-day.

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“Post-pandemic, effort is very minimal, which I love,” Gerber said. “I don’t want to spend two hours on my hair for my everyday life, but I appreciated that teenagers in high school in 1981 were actually getting ready. We now have pimple patches on our faces.”

A fan of the source material, Gerber was attached to the project early on in development, but admitted she was still crossing her fingers it would all work out.

“I was in such denial that it was going to happen,” she said. “I didn’t fully celebrate until we all got drinks a week before we did our camera tests.”

Over nine episodes, it’s difficult to imagine anyone else playing Susan. The character is a type-A perfect student who never has a single hair out of place — a way of being that Gerber has stepped into after years in the fashion industry where perfection is often equated with sublime beauty.

“Just because something is on paper the perfect thing to do, does not necessarily mean it’s the thing that will make you feel fulfilled and happy,” she said. “I relate to her journey in figuring out what her desires are outside of that pressure.”

A bookworm and co-creator of Library Science, a book club project that launched in 2024, Gerber has even given thought to what Susan might have been reading at the time. She thinks a spot on her nightstand would be given to Scott Spencer’s 1979 romance novel “Endless Love,” a turbulent love story between two teenagers — not too far removed from Susan’s eventual dynamic with Thom.

While Gerber brought her seasoned runway walk and poise to Susan, Warner, an acting newcomer, had a different set of tools to work with as a musician with a pop-rock edge . Getting cast as Debbie — after writing Murphy a letter during what she called “seven months of mania” in competing for the role against other blonde actors — allowed her to tap into multiple facets of her creativity. She recorded original songs for the series, and got to witness singer Troye Sivan, who also appears on the soundtrack, in the studio.

“The fact that Ryan allowed me to make and write music for the show is him seeing me as a full creative person,” she said, referring to Murphy. “I really felt like I got to put every aspect of myself into it.”

Is a musical episode a possibility down the road? It wouldn’t be out of the question for the creator of “Glee” and “American Horror Story” to make use of his cast’s musical chops. “We’re ready. We’re all warming up our voices,” Gerber said, half-joking. That would, however, depend on whether the series gets renewed — which would hopefully also bring closure to a cliffhanger at the end of the first season.

By the end, the central couples are at odds, and both Gerber and Warner have picked up on the virality of TikTok edits featuring their on-screen connection — making them wonder about the possibility of exploring their dynamic in the style of Elena Ferrante’s “My Brilliant Friend” or HBO’s “Industry,” both series that focus on complex female friendship.

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“The edits make me cry,” Gerber said. “I think that you learn so much about yourself in these very deep best friendships, especially amongst two women as they’re learning who they are. And maybe in season two we could kiss.” Warner agreed, and yearns for a future of the series that sees Debbie let go of her grasp on Bret in favor of her friendship with Susan. “Goodbye to the men,” she said. “Sorry, I love them. I hope they’re still in the show.”

Outside of “The Shards,” Warner continues to work on music. Gerber, meanwhile, continues to carve out a niche in the acting world and embrace the cultural ubiquity of her name in popular culture. She’s well aware of the numerous mentions of her name on Prime Video’s teen drama hit “Sterling Point,” set in Muskoka’s Canadian lake country. In fact, she approved those scenes after creator Megan Park had her team send over the clips for her awareness. “I did actually grow up going there, it’s very nostalgic,” she said, calling the scenes a “realistic storyline.” On the speculation of a lakeside cameo, if schedules align between “The Shards,” Gerber has some ideas. “You know what? If they call me, I will be there.”

在FX电视台的剧集《碎片》中，一群就读于洛杉矶精英预科学校的好友即将升入高三——他们的生活如同他们奢华的服装预算一样，充满了挑战。故事发生在1981年，垫肩风靡一时。一个名叫“拖网渔船”的连环杀手在暗中潜伏，专门猎杀其他高中生。这部剧集延续了瑞恩·墨菲一贯的导演风格，远不止是一部谋杀悬疑剧——它更是一部展现80年代时尚、音乐和流行文化的力作。

举个例子，本季中段有一段精彩的舞蹈对决，主要演员们随着瑞克·詹姆斯的《Super Freak》扭动身躯，甩动头发。对于这些青少年来说——他们由演员兼模特凯雅·格伯和崭露头角的音乐人海耶斯·华纳饰演——他们有比失踪儿童报道更紧迫的事情要操心，比如确保自己盛装打扮，以及争取在返校节舞会上占有一席之地。

“正是对细节的关注才让这部电影如此精彩，”格伯在视频通话中说道，她长得酷似她的母亲辛迪·克劳馥。她指着服装设计师约书亚·马什和卢·艾瑞克精心制作的灵感板，以及为角色们从那个时代搜罗的众多复古服饰。“这真是一个独特的时代缩影。”

该剧以叙述者布雷特·伊斯顿·埃利斯（伊格比·里格尼饰）的视角展开，他的名字来源于2023年出版的恐怖自传体小说作家琼·迪迪恩，这部小说正是该剧的灵感来源（埃利斯同时也是该剧的联合创作人和联合制片人）。布雷特是一位痴迷于琼·迪迪恩的作家，也是巴克利预科学校的高年级学生，身边围绕着一群亲密的朋友。其中包括他的女友黛比·沙弗（华纳饰），她留着金发女郎乐队风格的铂金色头发，涂着血红色的口红；还有苏珊·雷诺兹（格伯饰），班长兼完美主义者，她的男友汤姆·赖特（格雷厄姆·坎贝尔饰）是一位橄榄球明星。而罗伯特·马洛里（霍默·基尔饰，演员理查德·基尔之子）则是一个变数，这位新来的学生打破了这两对情侣之间脆弱的平衡。在墨菲的电视帝国中，《碎片》是一部风格夸张、悬念迭起的喜剧，它并没有把自己看得太严肃——除了奢华的 80 年代美学之外。

在拍摄期间，格伯和华纳关系变得非常亲密，每天早上她们都会在化妆间里待上两个多小时，一起排练场景。在那里，她们摇身一变，成为剧中完美的学生形象。有些演员甚至对她们的80年代造型情有独钟，以至于在拍摄结束后也依然保持着这种风格。最近，华纳在现实生活中也开始穿带垫肩的夹克——其中一些还是格伯送的——而且她们俩都开始梳侧分发型。“越多越好”的穿搭理念也延续到了格伯的戏外生活，尽管这并非她日常生活中刻意追求的。

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本周最佳造型：朴素的亮片连衣裙是时尚界的伟大平等器。

“疫情后，人们花在打理头发上的时间大大减少，我很喜欢这一点，”格伯说。“我不想每天花两个小时打理头发，但我很欣赏1981年高中生们认真打扮的样子。我们现在脸上都贴着痘痘贴了。”

作为原著的粉丝，格伯在项目开发初期就参与其中，但她承认自己仍然祈祷一切能够顺利进行。

“我当时完全不愿相信这件事会发生，”她说。“直到拍摄测试前一周，我们大家一起喝酒庆祝，我才真正开始庆祝。”

在九集的剧情中，很难想象还有谁能比她更适合扮演苏珊。这个角色是个A型性格的完美学生，一丝不苟，一丝不苟——格伯在时尚界摸爬滚打了多年，完美往往与绝世美貌划上等号，她也正是凭借这种特质，完美地诠释了这个角色。

“仅仅因为某件事从理论上讲是完美的，并不一定意味着它就能让你感到满足和快乐，”她说。“我能理解她摆脱压力、寻找自己真正渴望的历程。”

身为书虫，同时也是“图书馆学”（Library Science）读书俱乐部项目联合创始人的格伯（Gerber）甚至思考过苏珊当时可能在读什么书。她认为，苏珊的床头柜上应该摆着斯科特·斯宾塞（Scott Spencer）1979年的爱情小说《无尽的爱》（Endless Love），讲述了两个青少年之间一段波澜壮阔的爱情故事——这与苏珊最终与汤姆（Thom）的感情发展颇为相似。

格伯将她成熟的T台走秀技巧和优雅气质融入苏珊这个角色，而华纳作为一名演艺界的新人，则拥有截然不同的表演天赋——她本身就是一位流行摇滚风格的音乐人。在与众多金发女演员竞争黛比这个角色期间，华纳曾写信给墨菲，她称之为“疯狂的七个月”。最终，她成功获得了这个角色，并得以充分展现她多方面的创造力。她为这部剧集创作了原创歌曲，并在录音棚里亲眼见证了歌手特洛伊·希文（他也参与了原声带的录制）的创作过程。

“瑞恩允许我为这部剧创作音乐，这说明他把我当成一个完整的创作人来看待，”她指的是墨菲。“我感觉自己真的可以把自己的方方面面都融入到这部剧里。”

未来是否有可能推出音乐特辑？对于《欢乐合唱团》和《美国恐怖故事》的创作者来说，充分利用演员们的音乐才能并非不可能。“我们已经准备好了。我们都在练嗓子呢。”格伯半开玩笑地说。不过，这取决于剧集能否续订——如果续订成功，或许也能为第一季结尾留下的悬念画上句号。

到最后，剧中的两对主角关系紧张，格伯和华纳都注意到了TikTok上以他们在剧中的互动为主题的剪辑视频的病毒式传播——这让他们开始思考是否有可能以埃莱娜·费兰特的《我的天才女友》或HBO的《行业》的风格来探索他们之间的关系，这两部剧都聚焦于复杂的女性友谊。

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“剪辑让我哭了，”格伯说。“我觉得在这些非常深厚的友谊中，你会更了解自己，尤其是在两个女人探索自我的过程中。也许在第二季里，我们就能亲吻了。”华纳表示赞同，她渴望这部剧的未来是黛比能够放下对布雷特的执念，转而与苏珊建立友谊。“再见了，男人们，”她说。“对不起，我爱他们。我希望他们还能继续留在剧里。”

除了《碎片》之外，华纳继续从事音乐创作。与此同时，格伯也在演艺界不断开拓自己的领域，并欣然接受自己名字在流行文化中的广泛传播。她很清楚自己的名字在亚马逊Prime Video的热门青少年剧集《斯特林角》（Sterling Point）中多次出现，该剧以加拿大马斯科卡湖区为背景。事实上，在剧集主创梅根·帕克（Megan Park）让她的团队把片段发给她确认后，她也同意了这些场景的拍摄。“我小时候确实去过那里，这对我来说非常怀旧，”她说道，并称这些场景“很贴近现实”。对于是否会在《碎片》拍摄间隙客串出演湖边场景的猜测，格伯也有一些想法。“你知道吗？如果他们打电话给我，我肯定会去。”