Before The White Lotus season three, you worked on True Detective: Night Country—quite a shift from tropical vacations. How did working across such different genres prepare you for creating these heightened yet believable vacation wardrobes?
Night Country came right after The White Lotus season two, and yes, it was a dramatic shift from fluid florals to police uniforms and Inupiaq furs! But every project has its unique setting and characters—you dive into the world through research, collecting ideas and images, then plan how to gather everything you need. Real life is the best inspiration; everyone has a style or preferences, even if unconsidered. Every project trains me better in imagining what my characters might wear. For The White Lotus, we always include an element of logic: What did they pack? How did they envision their week evolving—dinners, poolside, adventures?
How has your approach to resort fashion evolved from Hawaii to Sicily to Thailand? What signature elements carry through all three seasons?
Each location has its own distinct flavor. In Hawaii, you can’t escape the Aloha prints, and everyone’s more laid back. For Italy, we incorporated shopping finds into the characters’ looks—most Americans want to do some shopping there—and dinner time becomes more formal. Thailand still leans into its sense of place: linen shirts, treasures from local markets, and clothes that work in the heat. But across all three seasons, there’s this concept of dressing to impress and imagining who we want to be on holiday—more daring and defining than we might be in our regular lives.
Can you walk us through your Thailand sourcing process?
We sourced globally, pulling pieces from the UK, US, and Italy before shipping everything to Bangkok, which is actually a mecca of shopping malls. Once there, we continued acquiring everything from luxury brands to backpacker staples from local markets. We worked with antique dealers, bought Thai silks and upholstery fabrics, and created many pieces in-house. Our traveling warehouse kept growing until we finally headed to Koh Samui for fittings.