Campbell Bain and the iconic hoodie from 'Takin' Over The Asylum'

...a last post before I go on hiatus

Yesterday I received a question from a mutual on Tumblr who asked me a question about Campbell Bain’s iconic color-blocked hoodie.

They asked:

In Takin' Over The Asylum, David is seen wearing that iconic colour-block hoodie. Many have remade the hoodie themselves almost to an exact match, and it got me wondering about the man, James Keast, who was responsible for the costume design for the series.

Unfortunately he passed in 2020 as records say online, but I'd like to know if this hoodie was actually handmade or if it was a part of David's personal wardrobe due to budget for the film series.

I didn’t know the answer to that question, because even though I do know a little about Mr. Keast, I knew nothing about his work on Takin' Over The Asylum.

So I did the only thing I could think of doing: I took a chance and reached out to Takin’ Over The Asylum's director, David Blair. I wasn’t sure if he’d remember anything at all about the hoodie's origin story, but I thought it was worth an ask.

I got a reply from him this morning, and I wanted to share it with everyone before I went on hiatus to deal with all the business which follows after a family member’s death.

He said:

The first thing to tell you is that although I've just noticed it says so on IMDB, James Keast was NOT the Costume Designer on the show. The only show we worked on together was Tess of the D’Ubervilles in 2008.

The Costume Designer on Takin’ Over The Asylum was Sally Pearson, who sadly passed away many years ago. What Sally and I discussed in pre-production was to find subtle elements in Campbell's garb that reflected his more manic episodes; slightly mis-matching of colours and so on. Having said that, the budget for the show was low, so I’d guess the hoodie would have been a purchase rather than being specially made.

Sorry I can’t be more specific but I hope this helps.

All the best,

David

I hope this answers some lingering questions for fans of Takin' Over The Asylum about the hoodie.

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You may have noticed I mentioned a hiatus. Yes…and I’ll be making another post which will explain that in more detail.