This Sunday, Sarah Jessica Parker steps into a brand new role—and a brand new wardrobe. She stars as unhappily married suburban mom-of-two Frances in HBO’s new drama Divorce, which follows the uncoupling of Parker’s character and her husband, Robert (portrayed by Thomas Haden Church). The role takes Parker—who also serves as executive producer on the show—far from the glamorous Manhattan streets that she famously strutted as Carrie Bradshaw on Sex and the City (and often does IRL, too). And, Frances’s closet looks nothing like Carrie’s—or Parker's, for that matter. Instead of stepping out wearing bold high-fashion looks, Frances opts for classic dresses and cozy knits. And her simple-yet-chic style was something that Parker and the series’ costume designer, Arjun Bhasin, made sure to get just right.
“When you have a new show, there are so many ways to build it from the ground up,” Bhasin recently told InStyle. “Before we did the pilot two winters ago, I met with Sarah Jessica to talk about who we wanted Frances to be. We discussed the tone of the character, the tone of the clothes, the tone of the show, and what we didn’t want the show to be.”
As their conversation continued, Frances’s look came to life—and so did the show’s vintage vibe. “We talked about ‘70s cinema and having the show be quite cinematic in a way,” said Bhasin. “We wanted it to be less of a fast-paced TV show and more of a cinematic slow-burn.” For style inspiration, they turned to classic movies from the decade. “In terms of clothing, we hit on the themes of the late ‘70s," said Bhasin. "There was one 1978 film called An Unmarried Woman that Sarah Jessica was very excited about, in particular, so we talked about that as well as Kramer vs. Kramer, American Gigolo, and some of the old Woody Allen films from the Upper West Side’s winters. We discussed how those films would influence our show and how it would have that kind of a feel.”
Craig Blankenhorn/HBO
When it came to finding the perfect pieces for Frances’s ’70s-inspired looks, the pair decided to keep things authentic. “I didn’t set foot into Barneys, Bloomingdale’s, or Bergdorf’s once,” said Bhasin, who dressed Parker in mostly vintage pieces for the show. “We just didn’t go that route at all, because we decided to take a different stance on how we were going to dress her.”
VIDEO: Take a look at Sarah Jessica Parker's Red Carpet Style
Scroll down for 9 things to know about Frances's fashion on the show, straight from the costume designer himself.
Her clothes are comfortable
“The situations within the show are quite humorous, but the characters are not humorous at all,” said Bhasin. “They're all real and they’re functioning as people do in the real world. We didn't want the clothes to be sad, but we wanted the clothes to represent what was going on in their minds. For instance, I can’t imagine that I would constantly be changing clothes and accessories or going shopping if I was having a horrible emotional breakdown. I would be referring to comfort pieces in my closet that I already owned, that made me feel good, and like myself. We wanted that emotional space to be reflected in the way that Frances was having to deal with the practicality of raising two children, having a job, being in the New York winter, and yet not be a schlub. She has good taste, she has beautiful pieces of clothing that have been in her wardrobe a long time, and she wears them.”
Her dresses are one-of-a-kind
“A lot of the dresses that we used were vintage, and that was for a couple of reasons. One, was because they are spectacular, and two, because we wanted to create that sense of history and nostalgia by pulling out old pieces. I’d fallen in love with things at vintage fairs and on eBay and on Etsy, and then we’d dismantle them and put them back together. Many of the dresses were bigger sizes and some had weird sleeve lengths or peplums, and we didn’t want it to be like she was a vintage girl who had all this vintage stuff. We wanted to modernize the pieces but make them sophisticated and simple. So we changed necklines, sleeve lengths, and hemlines—we treated them like they were just pieces of fabric, and we redesigned and recreated them.”
Her wardrobe is office-appropriate
“We wanted her looks to be more conservative, because we felt like that was in character, rather being showoff-y and peacock-y. We wanted them to be practical. She works, so she goes to an office every day. She takes the commuter train. So we wanted all of those things to be apparent in her clothing, so it wasn’t just like randomly thrown together to look appealing. They were actually meaningful pieces that she owned.”
The cold climate inspired her multi-fabric ensembles
“I just like the way softer silks mixed with woolen overcoats and wool tights come together to create a story which is feminine but also practical. I like that feeling. Also what happens in the winter time is you end up becoming so practical, that you lose sense of the femininity of it. You see people in New York, and you’re like, oh, not another black wool pant. So we tried to mix it to create a softness and a femininity.”
She has three wool coats for everyday activities
“She has two coats that she wears to work: a dusty rose coat with a puffy sleeve that I found at the Manhattan Vintage Fair and a soft dusty blue one. Then she also has a belted high-waisted rum raisin coat, which is her ‘home coat’ that hangs by the door in the kitchen. She wears it when she takes the kids out to drop them at the bus, and it’s more casual.”
She has a few dressier coats for special occasions, too
“We gave her these mid-length party coats that she wears when she goes to evening events. They’re tapestry coats, and they look like jacquard silk. She wears them over her dresses, and they’re a little fancier but still feel like they’ve been around for a while.”
Her office outfits are both masculine and feminine at the same time
“We tried to create a vocabulary for her work looks, which were a mix of things. They’re soft with wool and silk, masculine and feminine—and together, they created a story where it wasn’t like, ‘Oh she wears pretty dresses to go to work all the time.’ It had a sense of the fact that she works in a corporate job, and she would have something that has a little bit of masculinity but still has a little bit of femininity. That outfit has had to do several different things—it had many functions to serve, and we just hit on that. It really goes back to that Katharine Hepburn style of being a little bit boyish but a little bit feminine and sexy at the same time.”
She keeps her accessories simple (and Parker loved one of her handbags in particular)
“Sarah Jessica loved the simplicity of Frances’s Coach bag, which is just a simple green everyday bag from the ‘70s. I know that she really loved it because it was green. It wasn’t black, it wasn’t brown—it was just slightly off. It’s like she’s someone with discerning taste, but yet someone who’s not flashy.”
The fact that she and her husband, Robert, have outgrown each other is reflected in their clothing
“Robert is a simple guy who was once a corporate person before he began doing construction, and I think Robert’s idea of being dressed up is just throwing a tie over a plaid shirt and calling it a day. He really doesn’t care much about his wardrobe and throwing a jacket on over a pair of jeans is as formal as he’s going to be. There’s a sweetness to his character in that way, and he’s a 'bro' type of guy. You want to feel that Frances really does and did love him and they did have something special together but, in a way, they’ve outgrown each other—and we tried to show that visually. But really, I don’t think either of them are particularly mindful of their wardrobe. I think they’re more concerned about their children and their lives, and I think their wardrobes are just by-products of who they are.”
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