Gabrielle Union and Freida Pinto are teaming up for Dressed in Dreams adaptation.
The duo are developing a series on Tanisha C. Ford’s memoir, Dressed in Dreams: A Black Girl’s Love Letter to the Power of Fashion.
Dressed in Dreams was released in 2019 by St. Martin’s Press to critical acclaim, landing on numerous notable lists and garnering praise from nonfiction and feminist spaces. In her book, Ford uses fashion as a through-line for time and identity. She addresses fashion that includes afros and dashikis, go-go boots and hotpants of the ’60s. As well as hip hop’s baggy jeans and bamboo earrings, and the #BlackLivesMatter-inspired hoodies of today. These symbolic garments also represent her own life, as a Black girl coming of age in a Midwestern rust belt city.
“I am so excited to have my book in the hands of these incredibly talented women. Gabrielle and Freida have been such champions of my work and I am so ready for the next step in this journey of the power of fashion,” Ford said.
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The adaptation will come in under Union’s first-look production deal at Sony Pictures Television via her company I’ll Have Another. She also in partnership with Pinto’s Freebird Films Entertainment. Their respective partners, Holly Shakoor Fleischer and Emily Verellen Strom, will also oversee.
“Tanisha’s memoir brought up so much for each of us being women of color. Fashion is such a huge part of one’s self-expression and to this day plays a major part of how we each operate in our daily lives,” said Union and Pinto in a joint statement.
“For us, growing up with such unique and specifically cultural pieces of fashion helped shape our lives and we think it can be the driving force that tells the story of what it means to grow up being a proud woman of color. We have been friends for a long time and we couldn’t be more excited to have the opportunity to develop something alongside a force as brilliant, funny and fierce as Tanisha Ford.”
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Union’s I’ll Have Another is currently in development on six series with buyers ranging from HBO Max to Apple to Quibi. Pinto’s Freebird Films is currently in development on eight projects in both the television and feature film space.