Not Your Father's Henley

If you go to the Aether Apparel website and look for a long-sleeve waffle Henley shirt, the only color that is completely sold out for both genders is slate blue.

That's because Quantico costume designer Samantha Rattner bought the entire stock to create an FBI uniform that lets her hard-bodied actors show off their contours and still look badass holding a gun.

"We call them the classroom uniforms," she says. "It's their basic-training uniform that they wear on campus: a Henley and cargo pants."

Why a Henley? After series creator-executive producer Joshua Safran hired Rattner — they'd worked together on Gossip Girl almost 10 years ago — she realized that coming up with a stylish, yet realistic look for an FBI uniform would be a challenge.

"Actual FBI recruits wear navy blue polo shirts with khaki cargo pants," she says. Instead, Rattner opted for a Henley — essentially, a more fitted, collarless polo that could provide a sexy, modern look.

"I tried J. Crew, L.L. Bean, Eddie Bauer, American Apparel — all of your go-to places," she says. "But I didn't find something I loved. So I had to go outside the box."

That's how she came across Aether, a small California technical-wear company that makes street-worthy designs. She ordered several of the all-cotton shirts, tried them on the cast and found they flattered every body type. Indeed, the signature shirt — which reads on camera as a sensual cornflower blue — clings perfectly and adds a steamy undercurrent to the action.

Originally an undergarment, the Henley is said to have become popular in the English town of Henley-on-Thames, where 19th-century rowers wore them in regattas.

Each Quantico actor has about six Henleys. Rattner also stocks enough for a core group of about 50 extras — though some days there are more than twice that number. So she bought Aether out — at full price. The men's shirt runs 85 dollars, the women's 80. "That's a lot," she says. "But we use them so often — it was an investment that had to be made."

The actors wear the garment in various ways that help define their characters. "Shelby wears her buttons closed and her Henley completely tucked in — she's a little proper," Rattner says. "Caleb wears his half tucked in because he's a cockier guy — his buttons were open in the pilot, but he's trying to put in a little more effort [after getting kicked out of the Academy then returning], Ryan is a military man, but he also has to have sex appeal. So he wears two buttons open."

And Alex Parrish? "Priyanka pushes up her sleeves. And she wears three buttons open because she's a little more sexy." However, the placket is stitched closed between the last two buttons. "If we left all three open, it would be a little too much."

This article originally appeared in emmy magazine, Issue 5, 2016