Wind back the clocks to 11:29pm ET on October 11th of 1975 in Studio 8H at 30 Rockefeller Center. Listen closely and hear the nervous swallowing and heart palpitations of the first ever cast and crew – many in their twenties – waiting backstage in the moments leading up to the first ever live broadcast of Saturday Night Live. It’s now been 50 years since that first, fateful season changed television forever. We’re honored to play a part in celebrating an institution that brims with creativity and laughs. 

We developed this capsule in close collaboration with Tom Broecker, SNL’s costume designer for over thirty years.  Along the way, Tom’s creativity and enthusiasm propelled us. He helped us dig deep into the archives and tap into the aesthetic of the earliest decades of the show. As Tom explained to us, he rarely indulges nostalgia because SNL is, at its core, about pushing the envelope and never stopping moving. He made an exception for the 50th anniversary – a milestone that warrants some reflection. Even so, the mandate from Tom was clear – reference the old, but give it a new twist.