The White Lotus S3 Wardrobe Included Over $1 Million Worth Of Jewelry

Another season of The White Lotus means viewers are introduced to a whole slew of unknowns: a new locale (Thailand), a fresh band of wealthy, privileged guests checking into the fictional five-star resort, and at least one imminent homicide. What isn’t new this season, however, is the show’s signature “noisy, chaotic luxury.”

“We don’t like quiet luxury,” says costume designer Alex Bovaird of the aesthetic of Mike White’s dark comedy. Part of the reason why she’s enjoyed working on the series since Season 1 is because “everyone is extra fancy.” She says, “The characters are almost dressing like they’re postcards. Everyone’s putting on a show.” A style show, that is.

Case in point: Three episodes in, viewers have already been treated to hyper-maximalist trends (like logomania) and the flashiest status symbols (read: countless designer bags and watches). “We’re very big on accessories because they accent somebody’s style and pinpoint how much money they have by virtue of how much they cost,” says Bovaird.

The value of the jewelry alone is enough to place the characters in the top 1 percentile. “We borrowed from jewelry designer David Webb; they lent us over $1 million dollars [worth] of jewelry,” the costume designer says. “When we traveled, we had a bodyguard who would sit next to us on the plane.”

And the lucky one with the most expensive accessory this season? Parker Posey’s Victoria Ratliff. (Note: Bovaird didn’t say which piece featured the most eye-watering price tag, so it should be a fun guessing game for eagle-eyed viewers.)

Though the Lorazepam-addled Ratliff family matriarch wore the most expensive bling, it was Michelle Monaghan’s Jaclyn Lemon who packed the priciest suitcase. “She wears so much designer clothing,” Bovaird says. “She has an expensive Hermès watch that is beautiful and has the most bags.”

The character’s celeb status helped justify her wardrobe. “Because she gets sent things as an actress, we [internally] had a little story point that maybe she bequeaths some on her friends, too,” Bovaird adds. “So we imagine that some of Kate’s designer pieces were handed out by Jaclyn.”

As the season’s progressed, fashion girls seemed to have entered a White Lotus fever dream. Viewers are ID-ing pieces from the show and wearing White Lotus-core in their day-to-day. Brands, too, are catering to the demand, producing White Lotus-inspired collections. Bovaird herself partnered with H&M for one, and it’s nearly sold out.

Below, the costume designer talks White Lotus-level luxury, how she made Saxon’s (Patrick Schwarzenegger) clothes as obnoxious as he is, and whether Jaclyn spends more than the iconic Tanya McQuoid (Jennifer Coolidge).

Quiet luxury has been such a big trend in recent years. What can The White Lotus costumes teach us about luxury dressing?

You don’t have to shop particularly high-end. I mean, Season 3 allowed me to reach out to designers I thought were eye-catching, like the Valentino Escape collection and the Hermès line in general. Hermès has some absolutely amazing resort wear that epitomizes White Lotus. It has a vintage flair, but it’s also modern.

But you can also piece together a romantic and aspirational look from looking at vintage items, getting inspired by the ’60s and ’70s when people did put themselves together for dinner, and just bring a little more elegance and refinement to your style.

You said Jaclyn has the most expensive wardrobe this season. Between her and Tanya, who supposedly spends around $63,000 a day, who do you think spends more?

They both spend a lot of money. Since we were in Thailand, there’s less clothing. It’s so hot there. Sleeveless slip dresses or walking in your bikini top and a skirt all day is preferable. So maybe Tanya has the edge because we were in Italy, and the climate allowed more clothing.

Online, there’s a lot of thirst over Walton Goggins and his unbuttoned Hawaiian shirts. Could you talk about his styling?

Walton is such a great fashion muse. He’s really easy to dress and wears clothes so well. Costumes become iconic when the characters are iconic, and the performances are iconic, and the show is iconic. So when everything works perfectly, that’s when we’re like, “Oh, what a great outfit.”

We custom-made some of those with some vintage fabric with a shirtmaker in New York called Cego, so everyone can go make their own custom-made pieces. It’s based on a ’50s pattern, so it’s a bit shorter. We found vintage fabrics, we made our own print, and then some of them are found in the markets and rental houses, so they go from the ‘50s to brand-new to custom-made. Or the one he arrives in, we got in Bangkok. There’s a huge vintage market in Bangkok. It’s good for men to mix it up a little bit.

Saxon’s character is really despised. How did you bring out his arrogant personality via his wardrobe?

I live in the South and am married to a Southerner, so I used the clothing brands that I saw people wearing and just made him a little more obnoxious. I didn’t soften him too much — just made sure he looked like a bro and slightly douchy in a funny way.

He’s still very attractive, but his shorts length isn’t perfect. His polo fit isn't perfect. He’s gotten the clothes off the rack, and nothing’s tailored. And we gave him flip-flops so that he shuffles; flip-flops make you walk a certain way that’s not that cool compared to a slide. It’s a subtle thing. He’s got cool sunglasses, but they’re kind of obnoxious.

People are also talking about Lochlan’s “reality check” T-shirt, wondering whether that's going to be an Easter egg.

That's a little tongue-in-cheek for sure, because it seemed to really fit his character and his personality. My husband’s from the South, so he knew that that was a bank. It’s from Charlotte, North Carolina, so he got that T-shirt; it’s a bang-on meta reference.

Is there a surprising behind-the-scenes story you can share?

We lived where we worked, so we had to borrow and bring all our stock with us and not return it until the end. It was like our own little Bergdorf Goodman. So we did borrow the costumes. I myself used some of the bags to go around the resort in, and the cast would sometimes borrow the hats.

There was one time we were freaking out because we couldn’t find a hat. You must keep everything together for continuity. If suddenly somebody doesn’t have their earrings on anymore, then you've ruined the whole episode. So when we couldn’t find a hat, we were all freaking out. Then, a couple of weeks later, we saw the actress walking to breakfast in the hat. And there was another hat that somebody really, really wanted to keep, too, but I had to return it. Hats were a hot commodity, for sure.

Are you able to share which hat this was?

I don’t want to incriminate anyone in the great White Lotus hat theft. What happens in Thailand stays in Thailand.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.