Think pink. One of the many iconic things about the Reese Witherspoon movie Legally Blonde, now celebrating its 25th anniversary, was the signature style of its central character, Elle Woods — who had the widest array of clothing in every shade of pink imaginable, and whose generally cheery demeanor is reflected in what she wears .
That idiosyncratic style sense is reflected in the new Prime Video dramedy series Elle, which traces the titular character, played by Lexi Minetree, back to high school in 1995. Costume designers Sophie De Rakoff and Sara Byblow were tasked with creating over 70 looks for Elle across the eight episodes of the first season.
“I thought it was brilliant,” De Rakoff tells Gold Derby about the idea of exploring an origin story with Elle. The London born and raised New York transplant, who evolved from a culture writer to a fashion stylist before becoming a costume designer, started her journey with Reese Witherspoon on Legally Blonde, also designing for Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde. “How clever of all these guys to have come up with that, and that that’s where they landed to expand the universe and continue to tell the story.”
Though Byblow was new to the behind-the-scenes world of Elle Woods, she was a fan of the film. “As costume designers, we’re so used to coming in and having these characters that we don’t know where they end up long term and we don’t know what their backstory is,” she says. “For this, it was so special because we have this picture of who she becomes. It was more so looking at that picture and then trying to find the puzzle pieces that would turn her into the woman that she became.”
Because Elle is set in 1995, making its namesake just 16 years old, the designers had to not only make age-appropriate choices for their leading lady, but they also want to make the character her own while giving glimpses of familiarity. There are moments throughout the season that nod to the world of Legally Blonde, from Elle lounging in a pink bikini to her all-pink ensembles to her matching wardrobe with the ever loyal chihuahua Bruiser, who’s just a wee pup when he joins the Woods family in this series. Elle even shows up at a pool party as the only one dressed for the pool, much like the film’s costume party where she showed up as a bunny and was the only one in costume.
“We never want to recreate the movie,” says Byblow. “There were definitely moments that we pulled from. The bikini moment was something that our director, Jason Moore, was so excited about. We wanted it to feel nostalgic to Elle without recreating it entirely.”
Byblow also points out the red Bottega bag that Elle wears in the movie that makes an appearance in the TV series. “We wanted to tell a story with that, so we ended up putting that on Eva, her mom, in the pilot,” she says. “For us, that was a little Easter egg that her mom would have passed down to her through the years, and then you see it later on in the movie.”
Elle opens with a Sweet 16 party for Elle Woods in full swing. It’s the first time we see a teenage Elle at home in Los Angeles, fully in her element, surrounded by adoring family and friends. It also showcases the first piece that De Rakoff and Byblow worked on together, after spending two weeks in L.A. to build out this world before being joined by the costume team.
“That dress came out of those first moments of us together, just sketching and taking every single bit of inspiration that we were looking at,” says Byblow, calling that costume their favorite of the season. “We took these specific motifs and put them into that piece that really, for us, defined who she was going to be at 16 years old.”
The designers also had a furry good time dressing Bruiser. Even though there are times when he’s not in full costume, matching his human, something as small as his collar was given due consideration.
“The collar has a little pink heart on it, and that heart is actually the same heart that is on Elle’s Sweet 16 dress that Sophie and I designed,” Byblow says. “That is a custom piece that we had hand-poured to get the perfect clarity.”
Inside Bruiser’s closet (exclusive photos)
Over the course of the series, the Woods family need to leave Los Angeles to escape a scandal, transplanting the otherwise sunny Elle to the perpetually gloomy Seattle. It’s a difficult adjustment for her, without her equally fashion-minded friends and in a place where she just doesn’t seem to fit in. But her optimism keeps her from giving up, and she slowly starts to break through and form friendships that make her initial plan to get back to L.A. as soon as possible seem less important.
The longer Elle is in Seattle, the more she warms to the idea of plaid, eventually donning her own pink plaid flannel. “That was such a special point in the script,” says Byblow. “Even though it plays in the last episode, Sophie and I were talking about the plaid on day one. It is a moment where both Seattle and Elle are seeing each other for who they are deep down. It’s this moment of really accepting each other for who they are as people. It was this beautiful olive branch that brought the two worlds together.”
Along with its sea of plaid flannel, Elle also represents Seattle with its fair share of band T-shirts. In one particularly memorable moment, Elle shows up at school in her redesigned Nirvana tee, which leads to so much disdain from her classmates that it sets back any progress she’s been making in winning them over. The lesson that she learns from her mistake is that the locals care less about superficiality and more about authenticity.
While Seattle might have cheerleaders, they care more about cheering for themselves than putting on a show. Where they might have a pool party, the water has been emptied so they can use it as a skateboarding ramp instead of a chance to show off their bikinis. And when they are convinced to have a school dance, they’d rather move it to the hangout where bands perform.
“For the mosh sequence, the original music was written by Anna Waronker, who was in a band called That Dog, which was a ‘90s L.A. band that was part of that scene,” says De Rakoff. “She gave us some of her original T-shirts to use. All the different departments are telling their own stories and bringing their own things in and just weaving everything together to subtly create this world.”
If you grew up and went to high school in the ‘90s, it’s likely that you remember the D.A.R.E., aka Drug Abuse Resistance Education, program and their black T-shirts with red letters. In a particularly fun moment of nostalgia, Liz, one of Elle’s new Seattle friends, takes the stage to perform with her band while wearing that shirt.
“We were all screaming and howling when we decided to do the D.A.R.E. T-shirt,” says Byblow. “There are so many pieces throughout the season that I hope people see and have that nostalgic feeling of, ‘Oh, my gosh, I had that.’ We do live in our own Legally Blonde universe. We’re not specific to an exact time frame. But we did want to have these little bits of these feelings of nostalgia that people could see and be inspired by. All of those choices were so carefully thought out on our end.”
There is still more story to tell between the end of the Season 1 finale and when Elle’s story picks up in Legally Blonde, which will be covered in Season 2, which has already finished shooting. “Being able to work with Sophie at the beginning of all of this and really set our tone and build out our world was so special.,” says Byblow. “It’s almost sad that we only have this time frame from her Sweet 16 to when we meet her in the movies. I can’t wait to get my hands on her again if we’re so lucky.”
