’80s clothing iconography has many fashion atrocities: ladies’ jackets with shoulder pads fit for a linebacker and businessmen in glaring “power ties” that should have had radioactivity warnings. Sweatbands were considered hip if you can imagine, and the spandex stretched from coast to coast. But those of us who lived through that decade may remember a calmer period.

The American dream is on full display in Lee Isaac Chung’s semi-autobiographical film Minari. Costume designer Susanna Song’s commitment to the project was as personal as it was professional.

The A24-Netflix dark dramedy series Beef is something of a cultural phenomenon. Danny (Steven Yeun) and Amy (Ali Wong) are two strangers who engage in a road rage incident, then quickly spiral down a rabbit hole of obsessive retaliation. Creator Lee Sung Jin had an Asian cast in mind, but the feelings of frustration explored by the script are universal. It is the subtlety of Helen Huang’s costume design that conveys the nuances of the Asian experience in Los Angeles. “My approach is born out of the desire to show the complete personal histories and complexities of each character,” she notes. “It’s a design philosophy that recognizes Asian Americans are not a monolith. There are different ethnic backgrounds, individual family histories, and economic disparities that inform their experiences.”