Last updated: 26 June, 2010
Gregg Barnes, costume designer, talks about Legally Blonde:
Legally Blonde Costume Directory
Omigod! dress. Elle is trying this strapless, empire-waisted dress on in the store when we first meet her. It is a white satin dress with pink accents and bows. Article Gallery
Serious dress. Elle eventually settles upon this spaghetti-strap, empire-waisted dress. It is a pink floral knit.
Article (coming soon) Gallery
"Shame Spiral" robe. She wears this after being dumped by Warner. It's a fluffy white robe with whimsical appliques.
Article (coming soon) Gallery
Pink Tracksuit. She wears this under her robe, and during the What You Want sequence where she begins her application to Harvard. It's a two-piece medium pink velour tracksuit. The sleeve length varies from production to production.
Article (coming soon) Gallery
Cheer Outfit. She wears this in her final bid to get into Harvard, when she performs a song and dance number for the admissions committee. It's a heavily beaded jacket, shirt, and shorts combo which she wears over white heeled boots.
Article (coming soon) Gallery
First Day At Harvard. Elle wears this ensemble for Harvard Variations / Positive. It is composed of a pink jacket/blazer, a pink tank with "HARVARD" across the front, jeans, and a phenomenal pair of go-go boots. In the West End production, Sheridan Smith wears a white blouse under the tank, making it more of a preppy vest look. Article Gallery
Playboy Bunny. Elle wears this costume to what she thinks is a costume party. (Spoiler: it's not!) It's a pink heavily boned bodice with a collar, cuffs, and bunny ears.
Article Gallery
Chip On Your Shoulder. Elle changes into a casual outfit after Emmett walks her home. Varying with nearly every actress, it's a pink top, jeans, and heels, with a jacket she throws on (and then takes off) midscene.
Article Gallery
So Much Better. Elle wears a denim jacket, lavender cami, and an awesome pink houndstooth skirt for the closing number of Act I. My personal favourite! Article Gallery
Pink & Navy Suit. Elle wears this pink & navy pinstriped suit over a white blouse and heels to visit Brooke Windham in jail. Later, she takes Emmett shopping.
Article Gallery
Bend & Snap. Elle wears a black short sleeve sweater over a white blouse & black skirt while getting her nails done at Paulette's.
Article Gallery
Legally Blonde Suit. Elle wears this basic belted navy suit & skirt when Callahan hits on her. It's very simple, significant in showing how much Elle has had to change herself to "fit in".
Article Gallery
Remix Coat. Elle wears this long flared coat over her Remix dress before Vivienne convinces her to stay.
Article Gallery
Remix Dress. Elle wears this pink dress to the final trial. In the US, this is a long sleeved, a-line pink knit dress. In the UK, Sheridan Smith wears a a close-fitting, short sleeved dress. Article Gallery
Graduation Robe. Elle, the Harvard valedictorian, throws this robe on over her Remix dress for her address, and then to propose to Emmett. Article Gallery
Curtain Call. Elle wears this bedazzled version of the Remix dress for her curtain call. It's so pretty and sparkly!
Article Gallery
Other outfits:
SF Photoshoot. Laura Bell Bundy wears this two piece magenta wool suit for some early promos. It's very Laura Bush, IMO.
Article Gallery
Album Cover. LBB wears this pink houndstooth dress on the cover of the LBTM album.
Article Gallery
MTV Photoshoot. The top five contestants on The Next Elle Woods did an Elle-inspired photoshoot.
Article Gallery
West End Promo. Sheridan Smith wears this ornate foofy dress in some Legally Blonde promo stuff.
Article Gallery
"Seeing my name up on that list:
That beats the first time that we kissed!"
The costume consists of three parts:
* A denim jacket
* A lavender lacy camisole
* The piece de resistance: a oversized houndstooth dark pink on light pink print skirt.
She wears her everpresent Tiffany's necklace and bracelet, her hair nicely and casually styled, and nude coloured shoes.
First:
The Jacket
I LOVE this jacket. I WANT this jacket. Ugh!
The jacket is light wash denim, cropped--just at the waist, no shorter or longer--and has 3/4 sleeves. There are five largish silver buttons down the front, and has four pockets: two tabbed ones right over the breast that look like they're mostly for decoration, and two underneath the other pockets. I don't know how to describe them, but they're shaped more like hoodie pockets. Her left pocket (is LBB left-handed?) is where she keeps her cell phone (Who else can I tell? Oh wait--where's my cell? Mom will fall on the floor... HEY MOM!)--you can see the tip of it poking out.
And take this from me: YOU CANNOT FIND A JACKET LIKE THIS ANYWHERE. (But if you do, let me know!). Not exactly like it. The best I found was a dark wash. Anyways, that's the jacket.
The Cami
This is one of the things that changed when Bailey came onto the scene. However, the only good pictures of the original undershirt are when Bailey and Autumn wore it on the finale show. (And this is the same as the one LBB wore.)
The cami is some kind of lavender knit with pink lace at the neck. You can see the zig zag patterns sort of in the above image, and the following ones:
and finally,
Bailey's cami is a wrap-around lavendar knit with darker purple ties, and she wears it over a light pink button-up blouse.
The Skirt
"At Harvard... they wear traditional menswear fabrics; they wear houndstooth and pinstripe and chalkstripe, so we wanted her to have a skirt that was houndstooth, but Elle-ised. So, it's pink, and it's big, and it looks like Elle."
--Gregg Barnes, on THE AMAHZING SKIRT.
What do we know? It is flared (maybe with godets, but maybe not: I can't find a seam ANYWHERE, but how do you get this kind of flare
without the help of godets? The pattern is an oversized magenta houndstooth on a pale pink background.
Bailey's version (rumoured to be a reject from the SF production brought back to save a buck or two making a new one) is a ghastly magenta on lavendar. I hate it... I was hoping it was just bad lighting in the promo shots, but youtube videos confirm the lavendar tint.
