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Culture > Movies & TV 2023

Where to Shop Selena

Gomez’s Outfits from
Only Murders in the
Building
Dana Covarrubias, the comedy’s costume
designer, walked us through how she curated
each look.

BY LAUREN PUCKETT-POPE

PUBLISHED: SEP 6, 2023

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or Hulu’s murder-mystery comedy

F Only Murders in the Building, costume
designer Dana Covarrubias was gifted an
arguably impossible task: Make an
audience forget Selena Gomez is Selena
Gomez. The pop icon—who had not
appeared as a series regular on a television
show since her time on Disney’s Wizards of
Waverly Place more than a decade ago—
would be playing Mabel, a young, vaguely
unknowable woman with a biting wit and
a penchant for true crime. She would, of
course, be Gomez, but she couldn’t pull
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FA S H IO N BEAUT Y CUL TU RE NEW
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Most importantly, Mabel would need to

mesh well with her troupe of amateur
criminologists, rounded out by two older
white men: The affable Steve Martin
(playing veteran actor Charles Haden-
Savage) and kooky Martin Short (playing
theater director Oliver Putman). “The
main concern when looking at the
costumes would be, ‘How do we bring
Selena Gomez, this icon, into this world
and have her physically standing next to
Steve and Marty and not look super
weird?’” Covarrubias told ELLE.com prior
to season 1.

The solution might have seemed

straightforward: Ease back on Gomez’s
signature style, perhaps drape her in dull
hues or pedestrian basics. Slap her in a
baseball cap and a tote bag. But such an
approach wouldn’t have been true to
Mabel, either. The character shoulders a
heavy burden, a sense of secrecy that
works as a warning beacon for anyone
approaching. That trauma motivates her
search for victim Tim Kono’s killer
throughout the show’s first season,
Bunny’s in the second, and now Ben’s in
the third.

“Her whole concept was basically that her

costumes were a type of armor,”
Covarrubias says. “So she’s using these
really bright colors in the same way as an
animal with a brightly colored coat:
‘Beware. Danger. Leave me alone. Back
off.’” Balancing these two competing
motivations—settling Gomez in reality,
while elevating Mabel’s own mien—gave
the designer an intriguing challenge. She
decided Mabel’s style should be
immediately eye-catching, enough that it
would draw a double-take on the streets of
Manhattan, but not so dramatic that it’d
invite further inquiry. This way, the
character could be both intriguing and
safely anonymous.

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In season 1, Covarrubias achieved this look

with a parade of flashy colors imbued in
soft textures: yellow faux fur, paint-
splattered denim, rainbow knits, pink
feathers, crimson vinyl, and white
shearling. In season 2, she returned with a
similar color palette but more adventurous
looks, drawing upon the The Hardy Boys
books that Mabel grew up reading. Bright
blues, teals, reds and golds filled Mabel’s
wardrobe—many pieces thrifted from
Covarrubias’s home borough of Brooklyn.
And in season 3, those colors are remixed
in often elegant-but-comfortable
professional attire suited for the theater
setting of the latest murder mystery.

As a result, Gomez’s fashion is

undoubtedly one of the highlights of the
wacky Hulu series, in seasons 1, 2, and the
now-airing season 3. To get a better idea
of how the best fits came together—and
where one might find decent dupes—
ELLE.com asked Covarrubias for a few
insights. Ahead, find our recommendations
for what and where to shop. As new
episodes drop in the coming weeks, we’ll
update this post with more inspiration
from the designer’s (and, of course,
Mabel’s) closet.

Season 3
Episode 5: The Farm Rio Dress

PATRICK HARBRON

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On a purely “platonic” date with Tobert in

season 3, Mabel sports this rich crimson
dress from Farm Rio, paired with a simple
Zara pearl bag. Covarrubias also made use
of a pair of Rellery necklaces that Gomez
has worn with multiple looks throughout
all three seasons of Only Murders in the
Building, as an homage to the Mexican
heritage Covarrubias herself shares with
Gomez. “The [necklaces] have two little
tiny engraved marigolds on them …
Marigolds are very important in Mexican
iconography and culture,” she explains.
“They can represent grief and resurrection,
passion and creativity.”

Farm Rio Red Shiny Flowers Mini

Dress
Now 30% Off

$206 at farmrio.com

CREDIT: FARM RIO

Rellery Marigold Initial Necklace

$155 at Rellery

CREDIT: RELLERY

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Season 2
Episode 1: The Art Gallery Look

HULU

Although it’s not Mabel’s first look of the

second season—that title belongs to the
blood-stained sweater of last season’s
finale—there’s no question this bright
orange number is her most show-stopping
look of the season 2 premiere. Slipping
into a sheer trench coat, orange shirt-dress
and pointed-toe calf-high boots, Mabel
looks perfectly at home amongst both the
stylish and the eccentric at Alice’s (Cara
Delevingne) art gallery.

Loulou Studio Ara Shirt Dress

$440 at Farfetch

CREDIT: LOULOU STUDIO

Lita Couture See Through Orange

Organza Trench Coat

$790 at seezona.com

CREDIT: LITA COUTURE

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Episode 2: The Destroyer Look

CRAIG BLANKENHORN

Right up there with Gomez’s art-gallery

look, this season 2 stunner is a triumph of
texture and pattern play. Mabel shows up
at Alice’s door in a black-and-white
collared argyle sweater, looking like a
chess piece draped in a shocking yellow
overcoat. But it’s the ribbed white lounge
pants and mulberry-colored mid-calf
crocodile boots that really seal the deal—
especially when Gomez has an axe in her
hands.

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Throughout the series, Mabel often wears

such thick sweaters while Martin and
Short opt for silk, satin or cotton. “Her
character is a knitter,” Covarrubias
explains. “So we wanted to find some
really wonderful chunky, loose knits that
looked like she could have made them.”

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Philipp Plein Iconic Long Shaggy Coat

$1,131 at Farfetch

CREDIT: PHILIPP PLEIN

English Factory Collared V-Neck

Sweater

$120 at Anthropologie

CREDIT: ENGLISH FACTORY

Vince Wide Leg Ribbed Casual Pants

$195 at Amazon

CREDIT: VINCE

Madewell ALOHAS Leather East Knee-

High Boots in Crocodile Embossed
Now 40% Off

$240 at Madewell

CREDIT: ALOHAS/MADEWELL

Episode 3: The Checkered Lime

Cardigan

CRAIG BLANKENHORN

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