In the fourth season of Only Murders in the Building, everyone’s favorite amateur detectives, played by Selena Gomez, Martin Short, and Steve Martin, take their investigative skills from New York City’s storied Upper West Side to Los Angeles. With the change in scenery comes a shift in style—most notably for Gomez’s sardonic true crime podcaster Mabel Mora.
“The theme of the season is Old Hollywood,” says the series’ Emmy-nominated costume designer Dana Covarrubias, “so all of [Mabel’s] inspirations were based on classic Hollywood films.” Here, Covarrubias breaks down how Mabel’s wardrobe speaks to her fish-out-of-water experience as a New Yorker navigating sunny, smiley Los Angeles.
Old Hollywood in Technicolor
While Mabel’s unlikely sleuth pals—the chronically name-dropping Oliver (Short) and TV cop Charles-Haden Savage (Martin) are used to schmoozing with Los Angeles bigwigs, a meeting with Paramount brass with the aim of turning their scrappy podcast into a big-time movie is new experience for her.
Mabel’s definitely not in Kansas—well, Manhattan—anymore, as she tentatively walks into a Hollywood Hills industry party in a glittering, sequin-covered teal green mini-dress by Rotate.
“That was a nod to The Wizard of Oz and the Emerald City,” says Covarrubias, also referencing the visual shift in the classic film when farmgirl Dorothy lands in Oz. “It’s almost like a black-and-white to color transition for her. Mabel’s going into a world that’s all glam and money and bigger than anything she’s ever known.”
Sequin-Embellished Mini Dress
Semi-Professional
Mabel, still reeling from the meeting with Paramount, is led by over-caffeinated studio exec Bev Mellon (Molly Shannon), who delivers bombastic pitches in a Barbie pink power suit by Alice + Olivia. Skeptical, the New Yorker armored up in her most professional “classic Mabel” version of a suit: a khaki Jacquemus cropped linen jacket and pleated Aritiza mini-skirt that speak to David Lean’s 1962 desert-set epic, Lawrence of Arabia, plus a black Helmut Lang turtleneck sweater and thick Wolford tights.
As Bev describes Mabel in a logline, she’s “traumatized, homeless, jobless, mumbling millennial charm, stuck between these two old dudes.”
“So we didn’t want her to look too put together,” says Covarrubias.
Turtleneck
Olive Micro Skirt
Seeing Triple
To the trio’s surprise, their big-screen counterparts have already been cast with A-listers, including Eva Longoria (as a hilarious version of herself) playing an “aged up” Mabel—since a focus group found the trio’s boomer-millennial dynamic to be “creepy.” (Longoria, Eugene Levy and Zach Galifianakis roasting themselves to play Mabel, Charles and Oliver, respectively, supply the best running joke in the season’s Hollywood send-up.)
A dedicated professional, the OMITB’s version of Eva shadows an exasperated Mabel and goes method, sartorially speaking. “A lot of actors tell me—and I know from just being in a million fittings—that the clothes are really such a huge part of becoming a character,” says Covarrubias. “We took a bit to an extreme, of course.”
Corvelle Ginger Cropped Faux Fur Jacket
Vegan Leather Inara Mini Dress
When the actor and subject first meet, Eva debuts her interpretation of Mabel’s trademark faux fur, Beats and yellow beanie look. But, the former Desperate Housewives star wears a power-shouldered and cropped marigold coat by House of CB, a skin-baring Nanushka vegan leather mini-dress and strappy Giuseppe Zanotti stilettos. “‘Eva’ would decide to wear stuff that was slightly sexier, a little more revealing and a little tighter than Mabel would ever wear,” says Covarrubias.
In episode three, Eva, Eugene, and an aggressively apathetic Zach drop into the trio’s Arconia building to study the detectives in their element. Mabel remains all-business at the murder board in a black-and-white buffalo plaid Akris miniskirt and buttoned-up and collared Wilfred jacket. Eva, sipping on 10 am wine, attempts to pay rapt attention, dressed like The Tethered version of Mabel: a sheer cropped 3.1 Phillip Lim top, with languid long-sleeves, and Area houndstooth pants—with slashes under each butt-cheek.
“Every time [Longoria and I] had a fitting, it was super fun to figure out, ‘Okay, how are we gonna ‘Eva’ this? What is this sillier, sexier version of Mabel?’” says Covarrubias. So obviously, Eva’s twist on Mabel’s outerwear involves faux leather dusters, like her tan one by Each Other and an army green coat by Alice + Olivia in episode seven.
New Noir
Speaking of outerwear, Mabel’s chic Sandro trench, with delicate pleating and statement epaulets, also pays homage to Old Hollywood. In a pivotal early scene in All About Eve, Bette Davis underestimates the title character as “the mousy one in the trench coat.” It’s a fitting tribute, as Mabel always defies the expectations of everyone, including herself.
No spoilers, but Mabel’s finale costume circles back to her first night in Oz, aka Hollywood. “Oliver is wearing a Scarecrow-esque look, and Charles is the Tin Man, and she’s Dorothy,” says Covarrubias, teasing the climactic moment when Mabel and her boomer sidekicks successfully unmask the killer of yet another murder in the building.
Vino Pleated Trench Coat
