‘Another Simple Favor’ director Paul Feig and designer Renee Kalfus break down the sequel’s not-so-simple fashion

The “prison suit” entrance

Emily’s first look of the sequel—paired with a classic, shoes-first, slo-mo entrance—had to start off with a bang. It was Lively’s idea to reference Emily’s time behind bars, telling director Paul Feig, “Emily should show up in a prison suit.”

“We’re like, ‘What’s that?” Feig told Decider with a laugh. “She goes, ‘I don’t know, just something that looks like she was a prisoner in jail.’”

Costume designer Renee Kalfus rose to the challenge, with a custom piece built in-house, at Rome’s Cinecitta studio. “We found that very delicate boucle fabric,” Kalfus explained. “I designed a big-shouldered, high-necked, button-down pantsuit, which was different from her suits from the first movie.”

In addition to the horizontal stripes, the outfit referenced prison with chain-like accessories, including a chain belt and huge silver earrings. “Blake just picked up all these chains and started wrapping it around herself. It was brilliant,” Kalfus said. “In one of the costume shops, I found these earrings that looked like handcuffs.”

It was tied to together with spiky heeled boots—Christian Louboutins, of course. Lively’s long friendship with the designer meant, according to Kalfus, “the good fortune of getting almost whatever she wants,” when it came to the famed red-soled designer footwear.

The gangster-inspired plane look

It was Lively’s idea to dress Emily in menswear in the first film, which the actor has said was inspired by Feig’s signature, on-set look: bespoke, three-piece suits. Those suits went on to become one of the most beloved aspects of the film. Because Emily’s new husband (played by Michele Morrone) is a prominent Italian mafia man, Lively found a way to pay homage to her look from the original, with a twist.

“She was really hung up on, ‘I’m marrying a gangster, so why don’t I dress like an old-time gangster?” Feig recalled.

Once again, Kalfus made Lively’s dream a reality. While Kendrick’s character opts for a more traditional sweats-and-neck-pillow fit for the plane, Emily shows up in a fedora, suspenders, striped pants, and a rose pinned to her breast—like an exceedingly gorgeous version of Al Capone.

It’s a look that “references many film characters, mainly male film characters, that are in our memory,” Kalfus said. “Cary Grant was a big [inspiration]. He played in many of those movies on that coast.”

The rose halter top that was designed for Florence Pugh

For a pre-wedding garden lunch with friends and family, Emily rocks perhaps her most striking look of the film: A glittery structured rose-halter top that weighed somewhere between 30 pounds (Kalfus’s estimate) and 50 pounds (Feig’s estimate).

In fact, Feig revealed that the top was originally designed for Thunderbolts star Florence Pugh to wear to the Met gala, “but it was too heavy. So she didn’t want it to wear it. Blake found out about it and said, ‘I want to wear that.’”

For two full days of shooting, Lively endured the pain that Pugh turned down for a single evening.

“Blake would be holding [the top] up, but she wouldn’t complain,” Feig said. “I’d say, ‘I’m so sorry.’ She goes, ‘I cannot complain, because I’m the one that asked for this. So I’m going to suffer through it.’ And suffer through what she did. It was not fun.”

The top was paired with baby blue pants and a feathered shawl, all designed by Tamara Ralph.

“The sculptured hard piece was met with softness,” Kalfus explained. “With the chiffon of the robe, and the feathers, and the satin-wide trouser leg.”

As for that rose top, it was “whisked away” the moment Feig finished filming the scene with Kendrick and Lively overlooking a cliff, the director said. “It was bought by somebody. And so it went off to Dubai, or somewhere.”

The designer dress for Stephanie

There’s no doubt that Lively is the star of Another Simple Favor‘s big fashion moments, but Kendrick gets her moments, too. Stephanie’s outfit for the garden lunch doesn’t weigh 30 to 50 pounds, but it is a designer dress from Zimmermann.

“She comes [to Italy] in sweats—regular, American reluctant, travel look—but she packed the right things,” Kalfus said. “She had a beautiful dress for the garden party and that shows off just how beautiful she can look.”

And the bow that ties it all together? “We made the bows, made several bows, and went through a lot of different colors,” Kalfus said. “It was very significant.” Finally, they landed on a blue bow via “trial and error.”

The huge spiral hat

“The outfit that gets is getting the most attention right now is the giant hat,” Feig told Decider with a laugh. “Which Blake found.”

The hat in question features a Vertigo-esque black-and-white spiral and a brim that is upwards of four to five feet wide, by Kalfus’s estimate. Lively found the hat in Feig’s favorite hat store in Capri, Fiore, and knew she had to have it.

“She went, ‘Renee. You have to buy this hat,’ Kalfus recalled. “I said, ‘But how are we going to film it? It’s gigantic.’ She goes, ‘Don’t worry, I got this.’”

And she did, in fact, got this, according to Feig. “Blake is a master. I mean, watch those scenes. She works that brim.”

The hat was paired with thigh-high python boots on from Louboutin, black lace gloves, a layered black lace skirt, and a man’s white blouse.

“It was a transitional piece of black and white,” Kaflus explained. “When she’s in white, she goes into this sort of doll-like quality, [versus] when she’s black. This was the combination of both. Hence, the black lace, but you could see through it, so there was some lightness to it.”

The blood-stained wedding dress

By the time Emily’s ready to walk down the aisle, expectations for her wedding dress are sky-high. She absolutely delivers, in a show-stopping white latex dress and 40-foot-long veil dipped in blood-red dye.

Both the latex and the dye were “curveball” pitches from Lively, according to Feig. “It had to be really uncomfortable,” he said, of the latex in particular. “Blake says she’ll take discomfort every time, if she can look cool.”

Kalfus and her team made the dress a reality. The bustier and the leggings are latex, made by a New York designer, while Kalfus designed the custom-made skirt. “The use of latex for a wedding gown is unexpected and suggestive, at best,” Kalfus said. “The massive silver shot satin skirt was built at the famous Tirelli costume shop in Rome. It created a silhouette of grandeur and size that quite literally kept people away.”

Red crystals were sewn into the veil, which was dipped into a vat of blood-red dye, “as a harbinger of things to come,” Kalfus said.

The shot that reveals the veil was one of Feig’s favorite, he said. “Right as the music hits this big bass note, we reveal the bloody dye job on the end. I’m very proud of that.”

For the final touch, white roses were added to the latex bust, “to soften and tie it together.” Kalfus added that the rose through line in Emily’s outfits—found on her plane look, her garden lunch look, and her wedding look—was “a happy accident.”

The “corpse bride” in mourning

You’ll have to watch the movie for a glimpse at Emily’s most over-the-top look of all: An all-black lace get-up with a sheer black veil, silver cross necklaces, and intricate black parasol. It’s giving designer Victorian gothic, and audiences don’t even get the full picture, since much is covered by the veil.

“I wish I could have filmed that being both made, and what is under all those layers,” Kalfus confessed. “There’s sheer hands covering the breasts. I don’t even know if you can see it. Gloves that were sewn in, like Schiaparelli.”

Kalfus drew inspiration from what Jackie Kennedy wore to her husband’s funeral in 1963.

“Jackie Kennedy wore an epic, a memorable veil at the funeral,” Kalfus said. “It was this perfect triangle—sheerness, because of course you want to shoot through this. You want to see everything.”

As for the umbrella? Lively’s idea, naturally.