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If you grow up you are obsessed withLegally Blondeand I’ve spent the last two decades wondering how Elle Woods became Elle Woods, this episode is for you. Sara Byblow is the costume designer behind itEllethe new oneLegally Blondeprequel series that takes us back to 1995, when 16-year-old Elle trades Bel-Air for Seattle and discovers who she is—pink, plaid, and everything in between. For the latest episode ofThe Ujo Shop PodcastByblow shares how she got the early 70s look for young Elle, how she used different shades of pink to trace Elle’s emotional arc throughout the season, and how she found enough plaid to dress an entire high school in Seattle—along with those iconic pink heart shoes.
To read excerpts from the full interview, scroll down.
When did you realize you wanted to work in fashion and costume design specifically?
I’ve been wearing clothes. When I was really young, I was 13, I was as tall as I am now, not too tall—I was about 5′ 3 1/2″. I was auditioning for modeling, so I did that for a very short time, and then they realized I wouldn’t grow at all. But I loved being on set and everything about that, so I started working for a fashion store then, I went to a fashion store. and I had my clothes line on the side.
Actually while I was working the other day a friend of mine, who worked on the production side of things, came in and started buying multiples of all—like three of the same shirt. I asked him what he was doing, and he said that his designer friend needed help, and he didn’t know what he was doing. I told him to give the designer my number—I was always down to help. I got a call about a week later to come to work on the show, and it just snowballed.
Can you share how you came up with that pink dress for Elle’s entrance to her sweet 16 party?
That pink dress is so special to me—it might actually be my favorite look of the entire season. Sophie de Rakoff, who designed the first films, and I met when we were preparing the show to just talk about the character. It was very important to me to understand why she and Reese chose what they did for the films, so we sat down together and actually designed that dress together. It was before any costume group even started—just the two of us drawing and showing each other pictures back and forth. We did it five or more times before we landed on one, but when we got it, we knew: This is it.
We brought it to our production team, our director, and our creators, and every single person in the room immediately said, “That’s the dress”—just what we expected. It was a special moment because the movie is iconic; it meant everything to do justice to it. In a way, Reese was passing the torch to Lexi to bring Elle Woods to a new generation, and I felt like Sophie was passing the torch to me to take it and run with it.
Were there any parameters for building her wardrobe, beyond feminine silhouettes?
There were really no parameters, because Elle Woods is one person—she is herself, and in an eclectic way. Looking back at the movies, she wore things from all genres. I don’t think Elle has ever looked at a designer and thought, well, this designer, so I have to wear it. He’s drawn to anything that makes him feel good, and that was the goal during our audition. There are archival designer pieces everywhere but also vintage finds where we didn’t even know the brand—we just knew this sounded like Elle Woods. There are modern pieces and things made just for him. It became less about needing a specific designer piece and more about hunting for a treasure trove of things that felt true to him, and then putting the pieces together from there.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
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