It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call The Idol the most talked-about show on television at the moment. It seems everyone has an opinion on the HBO series’ graphic sex scenes, Abel Tesfaye’s rat tail, and Sam Levinson’s creative choices. The Idol was not made for the faint of heart, and a sordid feeling seeps into every scene and stylistic decision, from the intrusive camera angles to the teeny-tiny tops Lily-Rose Depp’s pop star character Jocelyn plucks from her closet for a day of lounging around the house. It all plays into the seedy, highly sexualized universe Tesfaye and Levinson have created, but according to the show’s costume designer, Natasha Newman-Thomas, it’s not all male gaze and under boob. Jocelyn’s wardrobe choices actually illustrate a strength in her character and a reclamation of her physicality.
“The costumes Jocelyn wears definitely tell a story of her power and how she’s harnessing her sexuality,” Newman-Thomas tells W over Zoom. In the first episode of the series, we learn Jocelyn has been the victim of revenge porn when a graphic selfie of the pop star leaks online. It’s not only Jocelyn’s indifference toward the incident (“I mean, I feel like it could be a lot worse,” she says with a shrug before heading to her in-house sauna), but also the way she presents herself that proves she has a firm grasp on herself as a sexual person. She bops around her house in barely there bralettes and impossibly low-rise jeans that invoke at least physical confidence. “If you’ve got it, flaunt it,” says Newman-Thomas, who worked with Depp to confirm her comfort level before dressing the character. “There’s an energy to Jocelyn that she is very comfortable in her body and showing that amount of skin, and that’s reflected in the wardrobe.”
Jocelyn spends a good amount of time in episode one wearing a silky red robe, both when shooting her album cover in the show’s first scene and when entertaining Tesfaye’s character Tedros later on at her home. At first, the piece seems like your basic boudoir robe, but when she turns around, a completely open back allows for an added element of surprise. For Newman-Thomas, this specific design was an important one. “It’s part of the seduction,” the costume designer says. “We wanted the back to be just as sexy as the front, which is very Jocelyn to think about.” Newman-Thomas designed the piece and worked with Muto-Little in Los Angeles to have it made. “They have a very deep understanding of construction, which was nice because architecturally, a backless robe is a difficult thing to make.”
The reveal of the open back comes as Jocelyn leads Tedros down the hall of her beautiful mansion. It’s one of the few moments in the series when the pop star exacts any power over the club owner. Later, though, that same robe is used against her, choking Jocelyn during one of the show’s graphic sex scenes in a moment when power dynamics are very blurred.
The robe isn’t the only piece of clothing in Jocelyn’s wardrobe that turns from a symbol of power to an instrument of pain. In episode two, we see the pop star don a metallic pink bodysuit to film the music video for her comeback single, “World Class Sinner.” The piece, created in collaboration with Los Angeles-based designer Nusi Quero, features a resin bralette, corseted bodice, and beaded panties—a beautiful and powerful, yet seemingly painful, combination. As Jocelyn records her intricate dance routine over and over, her level of discomfort increases until she’s unable to continue.
“We wanted to create something that would actually play into the scene and have that restrictive quality,” Newman-Thomas says. And yes, the bodysuit was just as uncomfortable in real life. “Nusi works primarily in photo and doesn’t really have a background in stage or dance. So there was a little bit of reality reflected in the art.” Newman-Thomas calls Depp “a trooper” for performing in the bodysuit, despite the restrictions. “It was definitely a challenge, but I think that fed into the scene and heightened the point we were trying to get across.”
Many have qualms about various aspects of The Idol, but it seems one of the public’s biggest hang-ups is separating Tesfaye’s extremely popular musical persona, The Weeknd, from the creepy, parasite-like character he plays on the show. Luckily, a similar issue hasn’t occurred when it comes to Depp and her portrayal of Jocelyn—and Newman-Thomas is at least partially to thank for that. Depp herself has become one-to-watch in the world of fashion over the past decade or so, namely as one of Karl Lagerfeld’s many muses; to this day, she is still loyal to Chanel. When it came to dressing her pop star alter ego, however, Newman-Thomas wanted to make sure a distinction was made between the actress and the character she portrays. While the actress wears the French brand almost exclusively, the only Chanel moment on the show so far has come in the form of a pair of sunglasses her character wears in the first episode. Like Depp, however, Jocelyn seems to have an affinity for vintage, as she’s seen wearing archival pieces throughout the series.
“In episode three, there’s a pretty iconic Margiela piece,” Newman-Thomas teases. Discerning eyes will also be able to point out Nicolas Ghesquière-era Balenciaga shoes, and some vintage Prada as well. Newman-Thomas’s favorite vintage moment, however, was a quick one, appearing when Jocelyn shows her team the “World Class Sinner” remix in episode two. The pop star bumps and grinds to her moan-filled track in a pair of original Alexander McQueen bumster jeans. “I was really excited about that find because those are very, very rare.”
And while the low-rise jeans paired with a super-crop top created another now-signature risqué Jocelyn moment, those may soon become a relic of the past. As the season continues, we will see Tesfaye’s Tedros continue to sink his claws into Jocelyn as he takes over control of her life, including her wardrobe. Newman-Thomas wouldn’t reveal exactly how Jocelyn’s look will change under Tedros’s tutelage, but she hinted that the pop star might move on from skin-baring pieces. “There’s a new sense of maturity that comes with that transformation,” she says. “I’ll just leave it at that for now.”