Photographed by Fabio Lovino. Courtesy of HBO Max
How do you build a wardrobe that tells a story? Vogue Philippines chats with The White Lotus costume designer Alex Bovaird about how she builds characters through clothes.
One look at Saxon Ratliff on The White Lotus (played by Patrick Schwarzenegger), and you know he’s trouble. Maybe it’s the leather loafers, the tucked in polo shirt, or the sports sunglasses strapped around his neck, but he immediately gives off “finance bro”: wealthy, rude, and probably plays golf on the weekends.
All the work to construct an outfit that can send these messages to the viewers is the work of The White Lotus costume designer Alex Bovaird. Vogue Philippines chats with the show’s seasoned stylist to talk about telling stories through clothing in Thailand.
How do you build costumes that tease out the story of the characters in the show?
It’s a fine balance, and I’m lucky that Mike [White] and I always seem to agree, so I don’t have to sort of fight my corner or anything like that. And I love storytelling. I probably love storytelling and film more than clothing and fashion. So I feel like I’ve come at it from the page.
I love working with Mike. He’s such a good writer that it’s really fun to underscore his stories and his characters. And I feel like Mike and I are always agreeing about how to do it and how to [decide] what each person should look like. […] I think a lot of it’s taste. Like, you know, [figuring out] what is too much, what is not enough? And with the costumes, you’ve got to get it right. What we do is a little bit stereotyping because, especially on the White Lotus, we’re sort of being like, “Oh, I know that person!” We’re trying to sort of nudge [the audience] a little bit, but we don’t want to go too far, whereas it becomes a broad comedy.
How do you build a wardrobe that makes the characters feel like people you already know?
I try to shop from a lot of different places and imagine if some people kind of want to stick to one thing, and some people do that, but by and large, on holiday, I think people wear different kinds of things. So, I always try and shop at a wide variety of places and have a lot of choices, and put things together as if this is a person who’s been shopping all their life, instead of, you know, just two days. [It’s also] going to the places that you imagine they might go. And you’re trying to, you know, put your take on it. And then you meet the actor, and they’ve been thinking about [who their character is] so it becomes a collaboration.
Are there any designers that you think are a fit for you in this climate?
When we got here, we discovered some Thai designers that were great. There’s a company called Jim Thompson, who is amazing. They do great men’s pants, wonderful scarves, and beautiful, colorful silks. And the kind of silk that they use here is called Thai silk. It’s much more breathable, much more light. Everything that’s made for the Thai market seems to be my new best friend.
And then we’ve got our usual suspects that we use every time. Valentino has been someone that really seems to be in cohesion with us, because they just do beautiful and romantic, sumptuous evening wear and resort wear. We’ve got some amazing Valentino swimsuits [this season].
Have you worked with Thai designers this season?
I did meet a couple [designers] who we talked about doing some custom stuff in Bangkok. There’s a guy in Bangkok who’s made us some custom designs, but also [what we did was] just going around the department stores and learning about different brands and finding different stuff. Like when we dress Mook, we’re finding something local.
[Lisa] plays the character Mook, who is a member of staff, but she does have a couple scenes where she’s in street clothes. We always try to make it look authentic. So if they’re, you know, if there are local Thais, then we go to the mall and get stuff there, and vice versa. If they’re fancy actresses coming on a beautiful, expensive vacation, we try to imagine if they’ve got the money to throw down on Valentino, Lanvin, or Jacquemus. We try to be a little real, with a [creative] license.
Do you have a favorite costume in the whole series?
I really liked Mia and Lucia from season two. [Dressing] young girls is in my wheelhouse, like they’re really fun, so I’m prejudiced towards them. From season one: Sydney [Sweeney] and Brittany [O’Grady]’s characters Olivia and Paula. I think they’re like young, rebellious girls. I’m still a young, rebellious girl, so I get to keep dressing them.
Is there anyone from the cast who dresses as polarizing as Portia, the frantic assistant from last season?
Will there be a character this season [with a wardrobe] that is as dissected as Portia? I hope not, for my sake! Portia was a very specific character […] She was sort of haphazard and trying things on, and it wasn’t always working, and she was an assistant. Aimee Lou’s [character], Chelsea, she’s an English girl, so she’s a bit more experimental, you know, a bit more bold maybe, but she’s also quite casual. She doesn’t dress up quite as fancy as everyone else, so I guess we’ll see. We’ll see what the internet decides is good or bad costuming!
Do you pay attention to people on the internet dissecting your character’s outfits?
I really like talking to journalists and then seeing what’s written about it. Yeah, it’s fun. I think when people were talking about Portia for a minute, there were some articles saying, “This person is the worst dressed person on television.” And then there were articles saying, “This is the best costume design that I’ve ever seen.” So I was like, okay, well, I guess it’s balanced, so it’s okay. I did get a glimmer of what it might be like to be an actress, and, you know, maybe some of the criticism they have to face. So, I guess that was very insightful. I thought it was fascinating. And in the end, I thought it was cool that Portia became this critique of costume design, I thought in the end. So that was quite good for me and my peers to have costume design sort of examined like that, and whether you thought her outfits were cool or not. I think it was a lot of people who really liked her clothes and a lot of people who really didn’t. So, it was interesting to see why it was so polarizing.
This interview has been edited and condensed for brevity.
The White Lotus Season 3 can now be streamed on Max and is available on HBO.
