Dan Levy's 'greatest gift' for fashion passion
Dan Levy has admitted 'Schitt's Creek' was the "greatest gift" for his love of fashion.
The 41-year-old actor - who co-created the series with his father and co-star Eugene Levy - used to spend "all year round" searching for his dream costumes for the programme and was very hands-on when it came to putting together looks for co-stars Catherine O'Hara and Annie Murphy.
He told the Daily Telegraph newspaper: "I feel as a storyteller you can say so much through how someone chooses to dress. And 'Schitt’s Creek' was obviously the greatest gift.
"I got to find pieces from collections I’d loved in the past to dress Catherine or Annie in.
"I got to touch and feel clothes that when I was younger I had admired from afar. We had no budget when we started, so I was on Grailed and eBay.
"Everything came from some kind of designer consignment site. I would search all year round.
"And then I would bring all the clothes into our costume department, we would unpack them, and then myself and Debra Hanson, the costume designer on the show, would take the clothes that I had bought and style them."
Dan was interested in fashion from a very young age and even used to go home from school at lunchtime so he could try a different outfit for the afternoon.
He said: "My parents, I think, had a suspicion that I was gay from a young age, but there’s just something about fashion that I’ve always loved.
"My mom tells a story – although I can’t remember this – about when I was in elementary school and I’d head off to class in one outfit, come back at lunchtime and get changed then go back to school in another outfit for the afternoon."
The actor even used to give his parents an "approval check" over their outfits before they went out anywhere.
He laughed: "Apparently I would give them both an approval check each time they left the house. They were going out for dinner or something and I would look at what they were wearing and give them a yes or a no.
"And my dad tells the story of how he was leaving to go on a trip once and he was wearing jeans and a shirt with a tie and a blazer. Apparently – I was like six or something – I told him, 'From the waist up, great. From the waist down, gross!' Even at that age I felt there was something inappropriate about wearing denim with a shirt and tie and a blazer."
Asked if his dad changed his trousers, he replied: "No, I don't think he did."
