From the cryptic murals in the opening credits to the patterns that cloak the characters, there is no detail too small to pore over for “White Lotus” fans — including the clothing.
Over the past three seasons, costume designer Alex Bovaird has provided a visual feast for viewers to dine on. For the third season, which picks up in Thailand and follows a new crop of travelers — as well as some familiar faces — as their vacation morphs into a waking nightmare, Bovaird went bigger than ever. You can see the results in the fourth episode of Season Three where Chloe (Charlotte Le Bon), the girlfriend of Greg-slash-Gary (Jon Gries), looks like a walking postcard in a pink, bodysuit, sheer skirt and wide-brimmed hat — all of which were custom-designed by Jacquemus designer Simon Porte Jacquemus.
The look is one of two that Bovaird collaborated with Jacquemus on, and was years in the making. “I have really loved seeing Jacquemus from the beginning, and tried to work with them on Season Two, but it kind of fell through the cracks,” Bovaird explained to WWD of the “White Lotus” collaboration. “Simon [Porte] reached out to me on social media and said he loves Season Two and if I wanted to do anything that he’d be up for it.”
“White Lotus” character Chloe wears a Custom look by Jacquemus.
Stefano Delia/HBO
After reading the script for Season Three and determining that Chloe’s character “would be the one to wear Jacquemus because she’s young, travels a lot, and probably spent a lot of time in Saint-Tropez,” the duo exchanged inspiration photos of vintage swimwear from the ‘60s and ‘70s, as well as references to Bangkok. Bovaird also shared a palette of “black and white and metallic,” which comes across in the polka-dot bodysuit paired with a striped sequined skirt that Chloe wears in episode one when she meets Chelsea at the bar.
“We came up with these looks to make her look striking, but not overwhelming,” Bovaird explained. “[Chloe] has a bit of a nautical vibe. But also she’s so strong and just doesn’t give a heck.”
Jacquemus custom looks for Chloe on “White Lotus.”
Courtesy of Jacquemus
For Season Three of “White Lotus,” Bovaird not only combed through archives of ‘60s and ‘70s resortwear “when people went on holiday [and] had a whole wardrobe for it,” she also turned to the present day on Instagram. “The research is a lot of real pictures and a lot of sleuthing around the internet,” Bovaird shared. “With social media these days, it’s quite easy to pop in the right hashtag and or location and look at what everyone’s posting at these resorts, like Four Seasons Resort Koh Samui or Mandarin Oriental Bangkok. Everybody is putting their best selves forward in those pictures. That’s what we try to do with ‘White Lotus.’”
If Chloe’s sculptural style seems like a foil to the maximalist flair of Tanya (Jennifer Coolidge), that’s not coincidental. “She’s like the opposite of Tanya,” Bovaird said. “She’s much younger. She’s using Greg, who’s going by Gary in Thailand, whereas he was using Tanya. So the dynamic has shifted: She’s sort of grifting on him, she has his credit card, and she’s upfront about it. It’s almost like an agreement that they have — you know, an arrangement. In dressing, she wears black, and her silhouette is sleek and fashion-forward, whereas Tanya had a lot of flamboyant and flowy, Bohemian getups.”
“White Lotus” character Chloe wears a Custom look by Jacquemus.
Courtesy of HBO
Meanwhile Greg/Gary is on his own sartorial journey throughout all three seasons of “White Lotus.” “He starts off in Season One pretty un-stylish, just like an average Joe,” Bovaird shared. “And we wanted to make him a little more chic as he goes along. We wanted to give him some good-looking clothes in this season because he’s got lots of money. So Zegna and Isaia, as you know — he packed all that stuff up from Europe — but also has some louder shirts. When they go out on the yacht, there’s a bunch of these Losers Back Home that we got to put all our fun shirts on.”
When asked how she approached crafting the visual identity of the “LBH,” or “Loser Back Home” as Chloe refers to it while introducing Chelsea to the concept in the first episode of the third season, Bovaird recounted, “We were out in Thailand, so they were all right in front of us, especially when we were in Phuket and Bangkok. You just have to walk around at night, and there’s lots of men of a certain age who either live in Thailand or spend months at a time in Thailand — and they get to enjoy their life in a way that they can. No further comment on their lifestyle, but their dress was very prevalent. They wear loud prints and shorts and flip-flops, and they kind of just look like they’re permanently on vacation. And we did a little bit of that with Gary.”
“White Lotus” character Greg/Gary.
Courtesy of HBO
The printed shirts worn by Rick (Walton Goggins), however, signify something different. “When he’s in the resort, he’s almost a fish out of water because he’s not wearing high-end clothes,” Bovaird shared. “He’s wearing cool Hawaiian shirts that are mostly vintage, and he’s supposed to look like, ‘What’s going on with this guy?’ He wears these big, flowy linen pants that are super cheap at the market.”
In the “White Lotus” universe, Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood), Rick’s girlfriend, also picked up some of her clothes from local markets. “The idea for Chelsea was that she hasn’t been back to Manchester in quite some years,” Bovaird said. “She’s been traveling in India and Indonesia, and she’s collected things along the way. So the inspiration was kind of the backpacker vibe that you get out there — things that you could have gotten at the markets.”
“White Lotus” character Rick.
Fabio Lovino/HBO
On the opposite end of the sartorial spectrum is the Ratliff family, whose style was informed largely by Bovaird’s personal life. “I’m married to a southerner and all my American family are from the south,” Bovaird said. “They have a whole world. When I go home, there are certain prints that they wear and colors that they wear, and there’s definitely a mode of dressing.”
For matriarch Victoria, played by Parker Posey, that meant accessorizing with pieces from classic luxury brands. “She’s got two bags: a Gucci bag with a bamboo handle and a little Louis Vuitton barrel that she opens and closes,” Bovaird explained. “We knew they were going to be shown a lot, and, practically, it was important to find the right bags. And that the vintage-style Gucci bag was just so pretty. It was cream. It was going to be noticeable, and just seemed to suit Victoria, who’s old southern money but isn’t making trips to New York to get high fashion. She’s just more classic.”
The Ratliff family on “White Lotus.”
Stefano Delia/HBO
Posey’s dresses, on the other hand, hail from a well of surprising sources for her character. “There’s quite a bit of Rachel Comey, which was not something I would have immediately thought of but the collection was just so right for Victoria,” Bovaird said. “The dress she wears on the yacht is Rachel Comey. The dress she arrives in is Banana Republic. And we took a lot of inspiration from this woman I met from Birmingham, Ala. and she sells vintage caftans. She wears a couple of them, and then wears a caftan from Jim Thompson when she goes to the monastery that’s really gorgeous. It’s a company that is in Bangkok, and it’s all over the tourist resorts. They do really beautiful classic dresses. She also has a Jim Thompson dress at dinner in episode one.”
When it came to costume design for Season Three, Bovaird was also tasked with interpreting the nuances in style between the three friends: Jaclyn (Michelle Monaghan), Kate (Leslie Bibb) and Laurie (Carrie Coon). “Jaclyn is an actress, so we imagine that she has lots of branded clothing and we thought maybe she’s got a relationship with Valentino and she’s bringing all this stuff that she got sent to her for her vacation, and she’s sharing it a little bit with Kate,” Bovaird explained, adding, “I think Kate and her are the more meticulous ladies in their style, and Laurie’s trying to catch up. She, in her normal life, doesn’t care too much, but she knows she’s going on holiday with her old friends, and so she’s trying to fit in a little more. And she, you know, she still looks really great, but she doesn’t have as many pieces as they do.”
Laurie, Kate, and Jaclyn in “White Lotus.”
Courtesy of HBO
As for Easter Eggs, Bovaird is aware of the threads that have been sparked from the costume design on “White Lotus.” “There was a viral thing about the significance of Portia’s top [in Season Two] because it was from ‘The Princess Diaries,’” Bovaird recalled, adding, “I pulled that top from Disney’s rental house, so it probably did come from that actual show. But it wasn’t an Easter egg. Sometimes it’s completely unpredictable. Sometimes people just look into things in a funny way.” (Though she did share that this season “there’s Sicilian clothes that we still had that the extras are wearing.”)
When asked about looks this season that could spark similar conversations, Bovaird replied, “You can’t really predict it. I remember last season, yeah, there was a lot of talk about why is [Portia] wearing a sweater vest? It’s too hot. And I wanted to be like, actually, ‘That was a freezing cold day we shot in February. It’s cold.’ There were days that we had to cancel filming because people’s teeth were chattering.”
This season Chelsea is the one pairing knits with her bikinis, which Bovaird explained as “I like all the different textures on screen, and I think it’s really interesting to use a textured wool piece, crocheted piece, or macramé piece on top of a bathing suit. It adds a nice layer to the styling and the photography, and, really, there’s so many swimwear scenes that sometimes we’re trying to create looks out of bikinis. We love the concept of dressing up for the pool, which we went even further on this year, upping the ante as we go.”
