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As fabulous, fierce, and full-throttle determined as Anna Delvey is in Shondaland’s Inventing Anna series now streaming on Netflix, she is nevertheless a dramatized version of the fake heiress who conned the elite of New York City out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Meaning that, for costume designer Lyn Paolo, it was crucial to really amp up the character’s fashion sense as she strutted her way through NYC high society.
Over the course of the nine-episode series, Anna, played by Julia Garner, evolves from a naive impostor to a chic socialite, eventually transforming herself into a fashionista dripping in designer duds. That may not have been quite as true for the real-life Anna, but in the show, costumes were essential to building her character’s story on-screen.
“She was pretending to be something she wasn’t — we all know that now, and there are so many different levels to that,” Paolo says. “I don’t think she was that glamorous in real life. We do an elevated version of her, a Shondaland version of her. Shonda writes these amazing stories about these amazing women who have an amazing fashion sense. So, we’re presenting our version of Anna, but there are so many Annas. The whole story is about how there are all these Annas. At each moment in the story, each Anna was different, and you can see that in her fashion choices.”
Paolo created thousands of looks for Anna, purchasing 90 percent of the costumes or, if she couldn’t buy them, borrowing items like several of the Birkin handbags. In each scene, Anna is a slightly different version of herself, showcasing one of the many sides of the woman Anna sought to portray.
“We were trying to have her appeal to several worlds, including the fashion world, which was the Nora Roberts story line,” Paolo explains of the character’s stylistic range. “Because if she didn’t know fashion, the ladies who lunch in New York were never going to accept her, and they were the entrance to the husbands, who are the bankers and the lawyers. Then there was the business world, where she would be more suit-y. And then there was the Goop world, where you see her on the yacht.” The result is a fashion feast for the eyes made up of the more than 3,000 outfits Paolo designed for Anna.
Here, Paolo breaks down 10 of her favorite Inventing Anna looks, from Oscar de la Renta jewels to Dior handbags to that Valentino cape.
“This was one of our fashion-world looks. We wanted to go with Jonathan Simkhai, who designed the dress, and Sarah Jessica Parker for the shoes because it’s such an iconic thing to wear her shoes in New York. And then you can’t really beat Oscar de la Renta right now for jewelry — [they’re] doing amazing stuff. Julia doesn’t have pierced ears, so we had to find a designer that would work for her with a clip, which is pretty tricky. That was one of our first designer looks for the fashion show. We also knew that all we were going to see was mid-chest up on Julia because of the seating in that auditorium, so that beautiful pink next to her skin was lovely. This is a wee bit more fashion-forward — not street fashion — and a bit less conservative. That’s why I love it: So many of her scenes are about getting financing.”
“This is a Ralph Lauren blazer and a Milly jumpsuit. Julia can carry off that sort of asymmetrical line across the front, and I also like mixing all these designers: Ralph Lauren, Milly, the Chanel purse, the shoes are Dior, and the earrings are Michael Kors. That’s the thing of a real fashionista. He or she does not just wear everything as it was on the runway. If you really know what you’re doing with fashion, you mix it. And these are all some of my favorite designers anyway. I love the idea of her being competent enough to be able to put that together.”
“We literally shot this in San Pedro. We were in Morocco, we came back to New York, and we found out that Covid had hit so we couldn’t go [to Europe]. We moved the whole production to L.A. and shot this in San Pedro. We had Christian Dior embroider the bag with her name. They got it done really fast even though Italy was shut down. We just wanted that feeling that this was her To Catch a Thief moment, when Cary Grant is driving the car and Grace Kelly had that gorgeous scarf wrapped around her head. We wanted that very iconic moment in the sea boat heading out to the yacht. We actually found the Alexander McQueen dress in Orange County at the mall and built the whole costume around that. I had all these Hermès and other iconic scarves, but none of them were long enough — they were all that square shape. So, we had our digital guy do the work, and then we had it silk-screened. It’s a Lyn Paolo design, but we took elements of a classic Hermès scarf and Versace and a little bit of Gucci.”
Anna’s flowing Etro caftan represented who she was in that particular scene. Paolo wanted to showcase how Anna shape-shifted depending on whom she was trying to impress. “We’re presenting our version of Anna, but there are so many Annas,” she says. “The whole story is about how there are all these Annas. At each moment in the story, each Anna was different, and you can see that in her fashion choices.”
“Isn’t this great? I just loved that season of Dolce & Gabbana. It felt very rococo in a way. I loved that collection. We used a lot of Dolce on the show because they were just knocking it out of the park that year. I personally bought a bunch of their shoes. I think Julia looked amazing in that brand, especially when she was trying to present herself as a rich heiress but also as a person who should be considered a businesswoman. It was about being conservative but also keeping it fun.”
“The Valentino cape. This is when she walks into 281 Park, and she’s giving the tour. She’s got the Dior bag. I loved this cape because it felt fun and youthful. It’s before she gets a lot of her financing. The Celine booties were amazing because they had the metal cap toe. We mixed our metals, which I don’t normally 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 real Anna wore a lot of chokers. And it was usually just a piece of velvet ribbon. So, we added that into the story as we went on.”
Anna wears a coat by Dries van Noten as she boards a private jet, although the overall costume mixes various designer pieces. “There would always be something a tiny bit more fashionista and less conservative on every single one of her outfits,” Paolo notes.
Paolo selected a chic black-and-white dress by Maje for Anna’s flight, a perfect mix between classic and fashion-forward. The look was also a nod to Paolo’s ongoing obsession with black-and-white ensembles. “I also love black and white, and people expect me to do a black-and-white costume in every story that I do,” she says.
Paolo brought in a second Dries van Noten coat, this time in crimson and black, for Anna to wear as she courts her New York City friends. The look reflects how Inventing Anna’s version of Delvey is elevated compared to the real-life fake heiress. “There are just so many story points in there: this young woman who starts out not looking like a fashionista and then becomes one,” Paolo explains about the character’s fashion evolution. “She was pretending to be something she wasn’t, ultimately — we all know that now — and there are so many different levels to that. I don’t think it was that glamorous in real life.”
For the courtroom scenes, Paolo re-created the real Delvey’s outfits, including this black Michael Kors dress paired with a black choker. The outfits have been documented on Instagram, which made Paolo’s job easier. “It was exactly what she wore,” Paolo confirms. “Which is insane, isn’t it? That’s what she wore, and she refused to go into court until she had something to wear. I have to respect the chutzpah. It tells you so much about her.”
Emily Zemler is a freelance writer and journalist based in London. She regularly 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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