Breaking Down Anna Delvey’s Style in ‘Inventing Anna’

As wonderful, intense, and entire-throttle determined as Anna Delvey is in Shondaland’s Inventing Anna collection now streaming on Netflix, she is nevertheless a dramatized version of the bogus heiress who conned the elite of New York City out of hundreds of 1000’s of bucks. This means that, for costume designer Lyn Paolo, it was very important to genuinely amp up the character’s trend feeling as she strutted her way by NYC high modern society.

Above the program of the 9-episode series, Anna, played by Julia Garner, evolves from a naive impostor to a chic socialite, finally reworking herself into a fashionista dripping in designer duds. That may not have been rather as legitimate for the actual-life Anna, but in the demonstrate, costumes have been necessary to building her character’s story on-display.

“She was pretending to be one thing she wasn’t — we all know that now, and there are so a lot of various concentrations to that,” Paolo states. “I do not imagine she was that glamorous in actual existence. We do an elevated variation of her, a Shondaland edition of her. Shonda writes these astounding tales about these wonderful women who have an awesome manner feeling. So, we’re presenting our model of Anna, but there are so lots of Annas. The complete story is about how there are all these Annas. At every instant in the story, each and every Anna was unique, and you can see that in her vogue choices.”

Paolo designed countless numbers of seems to be for Anna, getting 90 percent of the costumes or, if she couldn’t get them, borrowing products like many of the Birkin purses. In every single scene, Anna is a a little bit various model of herself, showcasing a person of the several sides of the woman Anna sought to portray.

“We have been hoping to have her attractiveness to numerous worlds, together with the vogue entire world, which was the Nora Roberts story line,” Paolo explains of the character’s stylistic array. “Because if she didn’t know fashion, the women who lunch in New York ended up by no means going to take her, and they were the entrance to the husbands, who are the bankers and the attorneys. Then there was the business enterprise globe, wherever she would be additional accommodate-y. And then there was the Goop entire world, wherever you see her on the yacht.” The result is a vogue feast for the eyes designed up of the a lot more than 3,000 outfits Paolo intended for Anna.

Right here, Paolo breaks down 10 of her favorite Inventing Anna seems to be, from Oscar de la Renta jewels to Dior handbags to that Valentino cape.

DAVID GIESBRECHT/NETFLIX

“This was one particular of our style-earth appears. We preferred to go with Jonathan Simkhai, who intended the costume, and Sarah Jessica Parker for the shoes because it’s these an legendary detail to don her sneakers in New York. And then you cannot definitely conquer Oscar de la Renta appropriate now for jewelry — [they’re] performing wonderful stuff. Julia does not have pierced ears, so we experienced to locate a designer that would operate for her with a clip, which is pretty difficult. That was a single of our very first designer appears to be for the manner clearly show. We also understood that all we were heading to see was mid-upper body up on Julia due to the fact of the seating in that auditorium, so that wonderful pink upcoming to her skin was charming. This is a wee little bit a lot more style-ahead — not road style — and a little bit less conservative. That’s why I adore it: So several of her scenes are about finding financing.”

DAVID GIESBRECHT/NETFLIX

“This is a Ralph Lauren blazer and a Milly jumpsuit. Julia can have off that type of asymmetrical line throughout the front, and I also like mixing all these designers: Ralph Lauren, Milly, the Chanel purse, the footwear are Dior, and the earrings are Michael Kors. That is the point of a authentic fashionista. He or she does not just have on all the things as it was on the runway. If you seriously know what you’re accomplishing with trend, you mix it. And these are all some of my favored designers anyway. I adore the thought of her currently being skilled more than enough to be capable to put that together.”

AARON EPSTEIN/NETFLIX

“We actually shot this in San Pedro. We have been in Morocco, we came back to New York, and we uncovered out that Covid had hit so we could not go [to Europe]. We moved the complete production to L.A. and shot this in San Pedro. We had Christian Dior embroider the bag with her title. They got it completed actually rapidly even even though Italy was shut down. We just desired that experience that this was her To Catch a Thief second, when Cary Grant is driving the car and Grace Kelly had that magnificent scarf wrapped about her head. We preferred that pretty legendary minute in the sea boat heading out to the yacht. We in fact identified the Alexander McQueen gown in Orange County at the mall and created the total costume close to that. I experienced all these Hermès and other iconic scarves, but none of them have been long plenty of — they had been all that sq. form. So, we had our digital guy do the get the job done, and then we had it silk-screened. It is a Lyn Paolo structure, but we took components of a basic Hermès scarf and Versace and a minimal little bit of Gucci.”

AARON EPSTEIN/NETFLIX

Anna’s flowing Etro caftan represented who she was in that unique scene. Paolo desired to showcase how Anna form-shifted relying on whom she was trying to impress. “We’re presenting our variation of Anna, but there are so numerous Annas,” she says. “The entire story is about how there are all these Annas. At every single instant in the tale, every single Anna was diverse, and you can see that in her style decisions.”

DAVID GIESBRECHT/NETFLIX

“Isn’t this excellent? I just loved that year of Dolce & Gabbana. It felt very rococo in a way. I cherished that selection. We utilised a lot of Dolce on the display for the reason that they had been just knocking it out of the park that calendar year. I individually bought a bunch of their footwear. I feel Julia seemed incredible in that brand, specially when she was striving to present herself as a wealthy heiress but also as a particular person who must be viewed as a businesswoman. It was about being conservative but also keeping it fun.”

NICOLE RIVELLI/NETFLIX

“The Valentino cape. This is when she walks into 281 Park, and she’s providing the tour. She’s got the Dior bag. I loved this cape for the reason that it felt entertaining and youthful. It is right before she receives a good deal of her financing. The Celine booties had been awesome because they experienced the metallic cap toe. We blended our metals, which I really do not usually do, but we did on this [look]. The Dior bag has gold and silver, and then the cap toes on the boots are silver. The serious Anna wore a large amount of chokers. And it was commonly just a piece of velvet ribbon. So, we included that into the tale as we went on.”

NICOLE RIVELLI/NETFLIX

Anna wears a coat by Dries van Noten as she boards a private jet, although the general costume mixes several designer parts. “There would generally be a thing a little little bit much more fashionista and much less conservative on each individual one a person of her outfits,” Paolo notes.

Nicole Rivelli/Netflix

Paolo selected a chic black-and-white gown by Maje for Anna’s flight, a excellent mix amongst classic and style-ahead. The search was also a nod to Paolo’s ongoing obsession with black-and-white ensembles. “I also enjoy black and white, and persons be expecting me to do a black-and-white costume in every tale that I do,” she claims.

Courtesy of Netflix

Paolo brought in a 2nd Dries van Noten coat, this time in crimson and black, for Anna to use as she courts her New York Metropolis mates. The search demonstrates how Inventing Anna’s version of Delvey is elevated in comparison to the serious-daily life bogus heiress. “There are just so several tale factors in there: this young lady who starts out not seeking like a fashionista and then will become 1,” Paolo describes about the character’s trend evolution. “She was pretending to be something she wasn’t, in the end — we all know that now — and there are so several distinct amounts to that. I really do not think it was that glamorous in real lifetime.”

NICOLE RIVELLI/NETFLIX

For the courtroom scenes, Paolo re-created the true Delvey’s outfits, together with this black Michael Kors gown paired with a black choker. The outfits have been documented on Instagram, which created Paolo’s occupation a lot easier. “It was specifically what she wore,” Paolo confirms. “Which is insane, is not it? That’s what she wore, and she refused to go into court right until she had some thing to wear. I have to regard the chutzpah. It tells you so substantially about her.”

Emily Zemler is a freelance writer and journalist primarily based in London. She often contributes to the Los Angeles Times, Rolling Stone, PureWow, and TripSavvy, and is the author of two books. Follow her on Twitter @emilyzemler.

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