Emmy-Award winning costume designer Lyn Paolo is no stranger to working in the fictionalized world of the White House. With her work already featured in Shondaland‘s Scandal and The West Wing, the veteran designer knows her way around a series’ Oval office. However, Paul William Davies‘ The Residence proved to present a new, unique challenge for the designer.
“As a costume designer, I will say that it was a really fun jigsaw puzzle, because you have all these elements, all these people, but then you have all the [White House] rooms,” Paolo tells The Hollywood Reporter.
In the series, Uzo Aduba and Randall Park are a detective duo enlisted to solve the murder of chief usher A.B. Wynter, who is killed during the most chaotic night for staff: the White House State Dinner. Aduba leads the ensemble cast as Cordelia Cupp, a consulting detective for the Metropolitan Police Department. FBI Special Agent Edwin Park (portrayed by Park) is assigned to work alongside Cupp. Viewers watch the detectives travel from room to room — and maybe secret passageways — all to determine the chain of events that led to Wynter’s demise. Along the way they speak with the varied staff from the chefs to the butlers to the guests, including guest star Kylie Minogue.
A slew of iconic detectives have already graced the screen — whether it be Agatha Christie staples Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot, to Sherlock Holmes, Matlock and even the recent Knives Out sleuth Benoit Blanc. So finding the right look for Aduba’s Cordelia was essential to the show and for the character. But just as vital was a look that not only embodied a 1930s traditional detective look but one that embodied the “quirky” nature of Cordelia.
“I knew I felt connected to her through the script and through her costume when we went through those fittings and finally found that jacket,” Aduba told THR. “I understood she was coming into a world where [how] she looked was going to look completely different from everybody else living in it. But I also felt like that was emblematic of who she is. No matter where she is, she’s never fit in. And that seemed like something she leans into.”
Below, Paolo chats with THR about giving her own modern spin on a new detective and creating the costumes in Netflix’s whodunit series.
Uzo Aduba’s Detective Cordelia Cupp
Jessica Brooks/Netflix
“Early on, we went through a lot of different incarnations of Cordelia Cupp,” says Paolo. Given that she was already “a huge murder mystery fan,” the costume designer’s research focused on images of the golden age of mystery era that showcased the “classic looks to detectives” whether it be Midsommar Murders, Miss Marple, Sherlock or the American crime drama television series Columbo.
“We did play around with a lot of different looks on Uzo. We did the trench coat because every detective has an iconic piece of costume. And then as we were looking I said to Paul [William Davies], “You’re gonna think I’ve lost my mind, but I’m kind of obsessed by British field jackets.” Paolo also found the idea for a British field jacket that is normally worn for hunting fitting given Aduba’s Cordelia is a dedicated birder and she too is “hunting” but for a killer. It also spoke to the character of Cordelia who has unorthodox methods to solving the mystery.
“We went away from the trench coat and just decided this was a way more interesting look,” Paolo says.
In addition to the jacket, Uzo’s Cordelia wears a V-neck sweater and typically wore bird references including shirts that had “tiny little birds on them.” Paolo also found Hepburn pants and Max Mara brogues that had tassels on the front. “Paul loved it and just said, “I feel like this is it. This is Cordelia.’”
The series takes place on the night of the state dinner at the White House which featured a myriad of guests donning gowns and suits. So making sure that Cordelia could stand out but still blend in enough with her surroundings in some way was also key. “Because we put her in suiting, and we didn’t have her an outdoor attire, she kind of blends slightly, but then we wanted her to pop,” Paolo explains. “So when she’s with the bros, they’re either in tuxedos or suiting. If they’re FBI, she kind of melds there.”
“When she’s with the bros, they’re either in tuxedos or suiting. If they’re FBI, she kind of melds there.”
Jessica Brooks/Netflix
However, Paolo noted that costuming the show was tricky given the White House has many rooms with many colors. Paolo had to assess which colors would work for Cordelia’s attire that wouldn’t have her fade into the background.
“As a costume designer, I will say that it was a really fun jigsaw puzzle, because you have all these elements, all these people, but then you have all the rooms. And that’s how we ended up with sort of that sort of burnt orange tweed,” she says of Cordelia’s outfit colors.
Comfort was also important especially given Cordelia wastes no time in trying to solve the mystery with a bulk of the events taking place in the span of one night. “Wherever you end up, you also have to be mindful that your actors need to be able to move. Cordelia moves a lot. She’s down on her knees. She’s crawling around on the floor, so whatever she ended up in had to be something that she could use her body and be able to move and be organic, but also that her feet would be comfortable,” Paolo says.
Max Mara produced the brogues Paolo had seen in an ad (pictured above on Aduba) and were previously unavailable.
Jessica Brooks/Netflix
To complete her look, Paolo discovered Max Mara brogues in an ad, and thought, “Oh my God, these are so 1930s quirky. I’ve never seen anything like this.” However, the shoes were unavailable. But Paolo praised Max Mara for making up to five more pairs of the shoes for the series.
“It was a process,” she says. “We went around and around and around, trying to come up with something that we felt might be iconic as a look for a detective and different because she’s a gal, she’s quirky, and she’s not Matlock, she’s just the new version.”
“We gave her that sort of, ‘I’m ready to be a super detective’ [look] but also look sharp in her quirky way. I do love where we ended up. Uzo loved it. Paul loved it. So that’s our little homage but with a new spin,” she adds.
Jessica Brooks/Netflix
Aduba shared the same sentiments, crediting the look as what ultimately helped her understand who her character was. “It felt reminiscent to past storytelling of detectives, but also had this modern flair,” Aduba told THR in a separate interview about her character’s look. “The jacket was her superhero cape. It all came together for me in that moment.”
“Just thinking about iconic detectives, there’s always something you just immediately identify them with, whether it’s a hat or a suit or whatever. I really wanted that for Cordelia, but I wanted it to come out of who I thought she was,” Davies told THR. “We went through a lot of different options. I’ll never forget the day that we ended up where we ended up, and we made some slight adjustments later, but [then it was] ‘Oh, that’s it. That’s Cordelia. That feels like her.’ I think it really worked. I think it’s indelible in the way that I want.”
Randall Park’s FBI Special Agent Edwin Park
Randall Park in The Residence.
Jessica Brooks/Netflix
As the Watson to Cordelia’s Sherlock, dressing Park’s Edwin required the FBI agent to stand out from the other gentlemen also wearing suits around him whether it be the White House staff or Australian guests but also be complementary to Cordelia.
“Randall couldn’t be your normal FBI. He had to be in a color that was slightly different,” says Paolo. “In our heads, we sort of thought, ‘Well, maybe he wasn’t on assignment and he came to work in a suit that he wouldn’t normally wear to work.’ It’s sort of a really strong teal blue. It’s a mixture of blue and green and Paul loved that idea, and also it worked so beautifully with Uzo’s color palette.”
White House Staff
Giancarlo Esposito as A.B. Wynter in episode 108 of The Residence.
Jessica Brooks/Netflix
The series kicks off during a state dinner at the White House where not only the staff are present but a myriad of guests. Dressing an ensemble was no easy feat but Paolo explains that finding the unique factor that could help differentiate the characters and give them “their own unique costume silhouette or detail” that helped them “stand out from everyone else.”
She explains, “There were so many variables. Because first you have a state dinner and you have this element where so many people are in black. I really wanted all the women to be in gold and bronzes, like metallics, just to differentiate and then keep other people in sort of earth tones. The creation of the uniforms became really important because in reality the butlers are also in black, so we had to really work hard at making sure that the silhouette that they had was different than the guests.”
“Halfway through the story, Molly Griggs’ character, Lily, decides that they’re going to completely redo the whole residence. And when you come back, all the uniforms have changed.”
Jessica Brooks/Netflix
Halfway in the show, Cordelia and Edwin return to the White House to further investigate only to see that the location’s rooms as well as the staff’s looks have been revamped. That change also marked another challenge for Paolo, who described changing course as “a really great exercise.” She explains, “Halfway through the story, Molly Griggs’ character, Lily, decides that they’re going to completely redo the whole residence. And when you come back, all the uniforms have changed. So that was a double whammy. We’ve gone from the Australians and the Americans [and] this giant state dinner, then all of a sudden, a complete reinvention of the residence itself. So it was a two fold challenge.”
“That’s something she [Molly Griggs’ Lilly] would wear, and it would be very dramatic and it would stand out,” Davies said of having the character stand out in a pink dress.
Erin Simkin/Netflix
Kylie Minogue
Kylie Minogue guest stars in the series as herself, attending the state dinner but then is asked to perform after the original performer dropped out. “She’s a riot. So lovely,” Paolo says of working with the singer on the show.
“How do you balance what would you wear to an event at the White House and not be too theatrical?” Paolo said of trying to determine Kylie Minogue’s look.
Erin Simkin/Netflix
Given that in the show Minogue wasn’t expected to perform, Paolo was presented with the challenge of dressing Minogue as both a guest and performer: “How do you balance what would you wear to an event at the White House and not be too theatrical? You’re not there as an artist. You’re just there as yourself. But then how can we give you something that when you get on the stage would be visually interesting, and more like a performer?” The solution? Fringe. Paolo explains that to give her look something that would quickly make her stage ready was adding fringe to the dress, so “you get the best of both worlds.” “When she’s standing still, talking to people, she’s just in a gown. But when she’s on stage, it has a movement and sort of energy. She was a trooper!”
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The Residence is now streaming on Netflix. Read THR‘s first interview with Paul William Davies about making The Residence and the finale, and with stars Uzo Aduba and Randall Park.