Mindy Kaling Fully Embraces the College Look on This Week's The Mindy Project

“Mindy wants to go out and have some fun while at college, so keeping with her more youthful feeling, I put her in collegiate party clothes," says Perez who dressed her in a Moschino Cheap amp Chic top, a Diane von Furstenberg skirt, and a Joie jacket.

While out in San Francisco, Mindy runs into an old fame, and we're treated to a flashback complete with flared jeans. “This was a flashback to the early 90's, so we immediately thought belted cowl neck sweater and flared jeans with Chunky shoes!" says Perez.

"We were inspired by Elle Woods, so lots of pink and a girly clothes," Perez reveals. Besides a red velvet mini skirt with sequin lipsticks from House of Holland and charcoal tights, Perez kept the outfit pink.

For the scene, Perez dresses her up in a BCBG dress (above). “It was appropriate that she was overdressed for a casual dinner because New Yorkers dress up for dinner,” he says. To make it a little less “fussy,” he paired it with a Bebe leather jacket.

Perez designed the deep green dress specifically for the party scene. Wanting to make sure it sparkled, Perez commissioned for the dress to be beaded by hand. “I didn’t want embellishment,” he explains. “I wanted it to be like she had wings behind her like an angel.”

For this scene, Perez jazzed up a classic camel blazer with a bright red-orange top and a turquoise skirt. “Normally we would never use a dull camel coat, but over a color block look it made sense,” he explains.

To make this classic black-and-white Karen Millen dress festive, Perez made sure to add a splash of color. “We added the touches of red to make it seem more Christmassy,” Perez says.

The Christmas theme got a little more literal later on when Perez dressed Mindy in a red Tapestry skirt, a Theory shirt, and a red vest (below). But it was the black belt that pulled it all together. “The little black bow on the belt made her look like she was gift!”

To break up Peter's party, Perez dressed Mindy in a Trina Turk sweatshirt, Zoe Karssen leggings, and Stella McCartney for Adidas sneakers. “The mix-match patterns work when you keep it tonal,” he explains.

“She was feeling hurt by Danny, so I wanted her to be gray and neutral,” Perez says of her gray sweatshirt and black leggings. However, the look wasn’t devoid of all color. “The yellow made it more flattering and more Mindy. She lives in color!”

"This is a classic mixed prints look for Mindy," Perez says. "The tonal quality of these two pieces worked so beautifully together, and the graphic pumps added something extra."

In this scene, Mindy dresses Danny's mom in a snazzy date outfit from her closet that includes Baublebar earrings Mindy has actually worn on the show before. As for Dr. Lahiri? "This is Mindy's version of a casual afterwork look. She's a big fan of plaid. Anytime I can put her in plaid, she loves it," Perez shares.

To teach the hospital interns, costume designer Salvador Perez dressed Dr. Mindy Lahiri in an intentionally inappropriate look. “Mindy wanted to look youthful because she thinks she’s too young to be teaching,” says Perez, which explains her ultra-casual jumpsuit and plaid shirt.

For Mindy and Annette Castellano's shopping expedition, Perez dressed her bold look. “The trick to making this look work was that we kept the long sleeve blouse buttoned up to the top,” explains Perez. “So even though the skirt was short, we were able to show some skin without being sexual.”

To make ammends for accusing Danny's mom of shoplifting, she wears black. While the color choice was uncharacteristic, Perez wanted to make sure that the audience would believe it could come from her closet.

To make sure the look didn't feel to blah, Perez jazzed up the caramel coat with a pop of color. "In order to make it work it had to be a big contrast," he says.

For this scene, costume designer dresses her in a gorgeous Sass amp Bide dress and sparkling Rachel Roy earrings. “What was great about that dress was the peplum was not too poofy,” Perez tells InStyle.

“We knew the dress was going to be used when hailing a cab,” explains Perez, who chose to dress her in a cobalt Kate Spade dress and matching Prada bag (above). “We wanted something that contrasted the yellow.”

For a casual day of running errands with Danny's mom, Perez dressed Mindy in coordinating bright red pieces. "It could've just been a jeans and a sweater, but I just thought that Mindy in a red coat and red dress with that hair would be hysterical, and it was!"

“For the scene, we wanted to show their contrasting personalities,” costume designer Salvador Perez tells InStyle.com. To achieve this, Perez dressed Mindy in a Halebob bejeweled sweater, a metallic floral Kate Spade skirt, and a hot pink blazer he designed himself. “We couldn’t find a blazer bright enough, so I made it,” he explains.

Steering away from her typical hues, Perez chose to dress Mindy in more neutral tones in an attempt to make her seem less girly. "Mindy still wanted to look cute, so we found the most fabulous fitted flannel shirt from Urban Outfitters," he says.

For the scene, costume designer Salvador Perez dressed Mindy in a houndstooth Theory jacket, a paisley Equipment blouse, and a plaid skirt from Alice + Olivia, which he finished off with brightly colored BaubleBar earrings and Karen Millen pumps. “It was a quintessential Mindy outfit,” he tells InStyle.com.

You may not think much of Mindy's hospital gown, but it actually takes a lot of work! "Regular hospital gown are so unflattering," says Perez. "In fact, we spend days making the hospital gowns." Talk about a fun fact!

For her faux dinner date with Cliff (Glenn Howerton), costume designer Salvador Perez outfitted her in a more conservative and ladylike dress. "There was a fine line between dressing her up for the date, but not being too sexy because she wasn’t trying to seduce him,” he explains.

This bright look was one of our favorites of the night. "You couldn’t take your eyes off of her!” says costume designer Salvador Perez, who outfitted her in a Bailey 44 top, Karen Millen skirt, and a Topshop blazer.

Once again, Mindy proved that she's a pattern mixing master! For this scene, Perez paired a plaid top with a polka dot skirt, and it worked perfectly thanks to the underlying black and white hues in both pieces. "By taking a basic silhouette and mixing it up with a printed shirt and some bold color, the look goes from being ordinary to extraordinary," says Perez.

For the scene in the elevator with Danny (Chris Messina), Cliff, and Brendan Deslaurier (Mark Duplass), Perez chose a bright, pretty floral dress with the intention to make her look sweet and innocent. “Here she was in a elevator with three men she slept with, she had to look pretty!”

Dr. Mindy Lahiri (Mindy Kaling) was ready to impress Danny's (Chris Messina) mom Annette (Rhea Perlman) in a tailored double-breasted coatdress designed by costume designer Salvador Perez.

For the final scene, Perez put Mindy in another tailored ensemble, but this time he mixed up textures and patterns, pairing a structured vest and skirt with a floral Equipment blouse and a Joie leather jacket.

Costume designer Salvador Perez kicked off the season with a bold geometric dress by Misook. However, what caught our eye the most about the ensemble were the statement BaubleBar earrings from his upcoming collection (available October 7) that Perez paired with the look.