The movie that was directed by George C. Wolfe resulted in great success. The costumes were created by Ann Roth—an Oscar-winning costume designer who has been in the industry for more than 50 years. The experienced designer had just 2 weeks to prepare costumes for the cast of the movie. But the short period of time wasn’t the only obstacle she had to overcome—there are only 8 pictures of Ma Rainey, making it really hard to recreate her actual costume. However, Roth had enough experience and knowledge to portray the style of that time through her costumes.