Costume designer Sara Byblow talks about dressing young Elle Woods, finding empowerment in pink, and recreating the fashion legacy of the ‘Legally Blonde’ universe for Prime Video’s ‘Elle’
Costume designer Sara Byblow is in pink. I am too. We share a chuckle on our video call when I point this out. The colour feels appropriate, given that we are sitting down to discuss our favourite ‘Gemini vegetarian’, Elle Woods.
The iconic heroine of the 2001 film Legally Blonde is starting a new chapter with Elle, a Prime Video original series that serves as a prequel. The show follows a younger Elle Woods (played by Lexi Minetree) as she leaves glitzy Los Angeles behind for grungy Seattle. Set six years before the hit film that starred Reese Witherspoon, the show chronicles Elle’s high school years.
The colour of empowerment
Much like the movies, pink (many, many shades of it) here is a main character. Sara worked on designing a wardrobe for Lexi as she struggles to fit into her new high school, the ensemble supporting cast which includes her very fashionable parents, a large contingent of high schoolers outfitted in blacks, greys and charcoal, and of course, her chic Chihuahua, little Bruiser, who gets his own Lacoste tennis outfit and Burberry raincoat.
When Elle lands in Seattle in a cute, tennis-inspired baby pink satin dress on the first day of high school, she finds herself in a sea of grey, grungy plaids and hoodies. This very visceral difference is something they actively worked on achieving, Sara explains, to spotlight Elle being a fish out of water. “We did a look test with her in that pink satin dress, against the dull lockers and grey plaids to get it right. The pink had to be the perfect shade; to show how vulnerable and lost she feels in a new place,” she recalls.
Designing for a Y2K icon
Working on the spinoff meant delving into the script and stepping into the mind of Elle Woods, a Y2K icon who Sara says is someone who makes very conscious choices not just for herself and her actions, but her wardrobe as well.
Since the show is set in 1995, Sara says she went down a rabbit hole of all the things she imagined a 16-year-old girl like Elle would be inspired by in that era. “I began to wonder about what the posters in her room would be, what music she is listening to, and what pop culture she is being influenced by,” she explains.
She printed out and circled outfits in every issue of Runway magazine from the early Nineties that she thought Elle Woods would have been drawn to. Sara also points to how that was the era when supermodels were taking over the world.
Passing the design torch
Elle begins with her sweet 16 birthday party, where she steps out in a hot pink mini dress with a large, shiny bow. This outfit was designed by Sara, with Sophie De Rakoff, who worked on the costumes for the Legally Blonde films.
“I was thankful to have the opportunity to spend time with her, ask her about working with Reese on the films, and sketch the sweet 16 dress. It felt like she was passing the design torch to me, much like Reese is to Lexi for Elle, and it was nice to have this crossover time for me to become a lot more confident with my role here,” she says.
The legacy continues
For a character whose fashion has stood the test of time over nearly two decades, Sara says they were very certain of not wanting the film to look like a documentary of 1995. Given that Elle, both in the films and the show, is never defined by one single designer or trend, sourcing for the film happened from everywhere—designer clothes, archival pieces, thrift and vintage stores and so on.
“The fact that Elle Woods is such a singular character is why her sense of style is still celebrated nearly 25 years on. We wanted to carry forward this legacy,” she explains.
As for all there is to love about pink, Sara says it has become this vision of female empowerment for her after working on the show. “I have absolutely fallen in more in love with the colour now, I feel like it has almost turned into a neutral colour for me,” she says, adding with a laugh, “I did not know how many pinks there are in the world.”
Elle is currently available to stream on Prime Video.
