As audiences walk into the Circle in the Square Theatre for the current revival of Once On This Island, they immediately step onto the titular island. Tony-nominated director Michael Arden wanted to ground the mythical story of Ti Moune and the gods in the reality of Haiti, the origin of the fable. And so Arden’s design team, including Tony-nominated costume designer Clint Ramos and Tony-nominated scenic designer Dane Laffrey, had their work cut out for them.

But what was their first task when conceptualizing their overall design? “The main job of the costumes was to portray the people of Haiti, our storytellers, honorably,” says Ramos in the video above. “It also laid out the groundwork of what we can do when we go into the the fantasy because we start in a very humble place, then we can go to a very extravagant place and in a very unique way by using all these unconventional materials.”

Read: TURNING TRASH INTO FASHION FOR A RE-ENVISIONED ONCE ON THIS ISLAND