The Beauty Costume Designer on Bella Hadid, Isabella Rossellini, and the Show's Wildest Looks

The Beauty opens up with a bang. Upon entry into episode one, viewers immediately take a front row seat at a fashion show in Paris. The presentation design is clearly modeled after Balenciaga’s spring 2023 runway, with models stomping through mud. The show even confirms it’s a “Balenciaga” collection, but while the looks are slightly more tailored than what Balenciaga’s then-creative director Demna was producing back in 2023, the brand was still on Evelyn and Murphy’s mood board.

“Ryan knew it was going to be in the mud and referential to Balenciaga,” Evelyn says. In addition, the duo also turned to the 1983 vampire flick The Hunger for inspiration. “We wanted to bring in that sense of ’40s for ’80s for now.”

For Evelyn, that meant “big shoulder, little waist,” which is epitomized in Bella Hadid’s ensemble. Another model wears a long, flowing cape, at Murphy's request. “Ryan is a guy that's all about flow and movement,” Evelyn says.

Near the end of the first episode, Jeremy Pope’s character (conveniently named Jeremy) receives a visit from a woman referred to as Claire. She is a black market purveyor of The Beauty drug, which can be transmitted sexually as well as through injection. But Claire is no run-of-the-mill sex worker, and her ensemble conveys that. The woman, portrayed by Chanel Stewart, saunters into Jeremy’s hotel room in a shining, floor-length black puffer coat like a black widow ready to attack.

“We knew Claire had to be amazing,” Evelyn recalls. The black puffer was an ode to Moncler’s 2019 collaboration with Pierpaolo Piccioli, famously worn by Sarah Jessica Parker in And Just Like That. When Claire arrives at the hotel room and drops the coat on the ground, she reveals a black corset covered in a lace-trimmed veil that falls around her head and drags behind her on the floor. “We wanted to make this creature look ethereal, evil, sexy, and strange,” Evelyn says. “There’s something insect-y about her, and that wasn’t necessarily on purpose. Looking at the whole show now, though, there are themes of bodily fluids, and life and rebirth, and insects are related to that.”

Any fan of Murphy knows he has an affinity for Versace. In 2018, he even made a whole show about Gianni Versace’s untimely death. It’s possible, though, that there are more Versace-adjacent designs in The Beauty than in The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story.

If ever Kutcher’s Byron is not in a well-tailored suit, he’s in Versace-like underwear or silk robes. Even his sons take after him, following their own beauty transformation in episode eight.

“Where else are you going to go for rich loungewear?” Evelyn asks. She admits, they could have opted for subtler designs, but “every detail needed to be over the top.”

While Versace was clearly on the mood board (and in the wardrobe), not every patterned gold loungewear piece came from the Italian house. Using silk was very important to both Evelyn and Murphy (remember, clothing’s movement is key for the latter), but they couldn’t always find silk robes in the desired colors. So, Evelyn was tasked to make many of the pieces while maintaining that southern Italian look.

One of the most shocking sartorial moments comes during the flashback in episode five when Byron takes The Beauty. While the rest of the billionaires wear padded, hooded robes to get pricked, Byron enters the lab in a coat. “What in the fuck are you wearing?” Julie Halston’s Kitty asks Byron. “It’s my Burning Man outfit,” Byron explains. “I’m a burner.”

The line actually provides a peek into the process of creating Byron’s character. Evelyn explains that when Kutcher discussed Byron with Vincent D'Onofrio (who plays Byron pre-The Beauty), they decided he was a frequent attendee of the Black Rock City festival.

“You have two actors sharing a character, and they're trying to figure out what their DNA is,” Evelyn explains. So they decide Byron is a burner, and they pitch the idea to Murphy, who loves it and brings the concept to Evelyn. She dove into the world of Burning Man, researching burners' wardrobes, and came across a man wearing a coat made of teddy bears. “Or maybe it was baby dolls,” she questions. Either way, it was inspiring enough to have her tag gun dozens of poor stuffed bears onto a coat for the scene.

Nothing—not even a coat of stuffed animals—feels out of place in The Beauty. Even the medical outfits, of which there are many throughout the series, look like they could walk a runway. The infected Condé Nast staffers may be throwing up and covered in muck, but they’re still impossibly chic.

“All the medical looks were very stylized,” Evelyn says. “We worked really hard on what the Condé Nast employees wear in that padded cell.” Evelyn and her team tested multiple colors and fabrics to see what would work on camera, eventually landing on nude latex. “It’s all about the shine.”

Ray (Rob Yang), meanwhile, is seen throughout the show in a lab coat fitted with almost a cummerbund around the waist. “We did want something elevated for Ray,” Evelyn confirms. “Yes, the show is contemporary, but it’s sci-fi contemporary, so we’re creating this world that relates to the present, but also goes beyond it.” For Ray, that meant making his labcoat part kimono, with a long belt that wrapped around his waist and tucked into the jacket’s back.

And then, of course, there is Isabella Rossellini, who plays Byron’s beleaguered wife Franny. A loyal couture client living in her golden cage with nowhere to wear her purchases other than her extravagant ballroom, Franny provides some of the most exciting visuals throughout the series.

Murphy came to Evelyn with a brief for Franny’s wardrobe: modernized, colorful 19th-century silhouettes. Because of that, many of Rossellini’s fittings operated like period fittings. Evelyn worked with Jonathan Knipscher—a costume designer who often designs for opera productions—to build Franny’s wardrobe.

“I got in there, I was so starstruck, I died,” Evelyn recalls of her first time meeting Rossellini. “But she's so amazing and so down to play. I felt like I was playing dress-up with my best friend or my grandma. It was really awesome building with her.”

With help from Knipscher, Evelyn made most of Rossellini’s wardrobe, though there is some Christopher John Rogers in there. “He’s so great at modernizing those old silhouettes.” Many times, Evelyn had designers in mind when creating pieces for Franny, such as a pleated coat that could easily have been plucked from Issey Miyake’s Pleats Please line.

But Rossellini’s looks go beyond the clothing. Her accessories are just as extravagant, specifically the headwear. Fauxhawks, turbans, and blooming foot-tall flowers top each ensemble. Franny is also often seen wearing the same set of costume jewelry—a large, rounded crystal-covered necklace and matching cuffs. “When you find the right piece, if you can’t beat it, I always say, ‘Keep it on.’” Evelyn says.

If, while watching The Beauty, you just couldn’t get images of Death Becomes Her out of your mind, you’re not alone. The idea of chasing perfection at any cost (which has been retold a lot recently with stories like last year’s The Substance) is similar, for sure. And the inclusion of Rossellini makes the comparisons more obvious in both. That’s why it is such a pleasant surprise when, in episode eleven, Nicola Peltz Beckham pops up as a post-The Beauty Franny. The actress is wearing a sarong-style skirt with a major statement necklace top, comprised solely of large, colorful gems linked together that drop from the piece’s high neckline. It is a direct reference to the look Rossellini wears as Lisle Von Rhuman in the 1992 horror comedy.

“That’s another brilliant idea from Ryan,” Evelyn says of the jaw-dropping reveal.

Evelyn made the ensemble, but she easily could have snagged a similar one from Sarah Burton’s recent debut for Givenchy. Clearly, Death Becomes Her was on the British designer’s moodboard as well, as she sent a comparable top down the runway of her fall 2025 show. It has already proven to be a very popular choice, as Kaia Gerber wore it in the collection’s campaign, Anne Hathaway donned it for a magazine editorial, and both Jenna Ortega and Doechii took versions to recent red carpets.

But it all started with Rossellini. Evelyn believes the Italian actor was very pleased with the homage. “She definitely loved what we were doing,” she says.