White Lotus costume designer reveals hidden easter eggs in Tanya’s wardrobe

The White Lotus season two has come to a close, but viewers will always remember some of the iconic – and eccentric – looks worn by its beloved characters in Sicily, Italy. Now, the show’s costume designer has revealed some of the clues hidden in each guest’s wardrobe, which may have pointed to season two’s dramatic conclusion.

This article contains spoilers about The White Lotus season two finale.

Costume designer Alex Bovaird revealed how The Godfather dress worn by Tanya McQuoid (Jennifer Coolidge) hinted towards her shocking fate in a new interview with Page Six. At the end of season two, Tanya realises that Quentin (Tom Hollander) and his entourage are out to kill her in an effort to secure her billion-dollar inheritance. When Quentin’s yacht docks close to the mainland, his friend Niccoló (Stefano Gianino) arrives at the yacht in a small speedboat to escort Tanya back to the hotel. She notices Niccoló is carrying a suspicious black bag, and steals it on the way to the bathroom only to find masking tape, trash bags, a rope and a gun.

As Niccoló and Quentin are furiously banging on her bedroom door, Tanya shoots both Niccoló and Quentin, but not without confronting Quentin about his affair with her husband, Greg (Jon Gries). When Tanya attempts to escape the yacht and jump onto the anchored speedboat, she missteps and hits her head on the edge of the speedboat, dying in the water.

Throughout the finale episode, Jennifer Coolidge’s character wore a floral dress which many fans believed was identical to the one worn by the Apollonia mannequin at The Godfather museum in episode three. In the iconic film, Apollonia was killed by a car bomb intended for her husband, played by Al Pacino.

“I was pretty surprised by the internet sleuths’ ability to put things together,” Bovaird recently told Page Six. “When I saw the Evan Ross Katz tweet showing Tanya’s death dress on The Godfather dummy, I was very impressed.”

However, Bovaird revealed that the easter egg moment “almost didn’t happen” when Coolidge’s version of the dress was accidentally returned from set.

“We were towards the end of the show, and it got sent back to Rome the previous night by mistake! Somebody had to catch a plane with it back in the early morning and it made it to camera,” she said. “Just your typical costume department mayhem.”

Bovaird – who’s led the costuming for movies like Nope, American Honey, and Thoroughbreds – also explained some of the inspiration behind Portia’s Gen-Z style and Harper’s chic Italian fashion.

Since season two of The White Lotus premiered on HBO on 30 October, Haley Lu Richardson’s character of Portia has divided fans with her eccentric – or just weird – fashion sense. Portia, Tanya’s personal assistant, was often seen wearing mismatched patterns and clothing items.

Bovaird admitted she wasn’t expecting to see such a mixed reaction to Portia’s fashion looks.

“At first I was a little taken aback by the reaction online to her costumes, but I’m happy that my and Haley Lu’s work on her character has gotten so much attention,” Bovaird said, noting that Portia’s style was inspired by Los Angeles “it” girls “who are continuously mashing up clothes and styles” in “audacious and uniquely creative” ways.

“Portia is not nearly as cool or self-possessed, and the idea was that she wouldn’t always succeed with her styling,” Bovaird added. “We loved putting her in different moods and modes according to her state of mind and circumstance, and making her a bit ‘off.’”

Meanwhile, Bovaird looked to iconic actress Audrey Hepburn as the “style muse” for Harper (Aubrey Plaza) in season two, specifically Hepburn’s fashion in the 1953 film Roman Holiday.

Bovaird explained that Harper’s fashion “evolved based on how confident she’s feeling” in each episode, noting how she arrived in Sicily wearing “a pristine white suit, very guarded and sharp”.

“When she starts to unwind, her costumes get more lively,” the costume designer added. “We actually had her mirror a Daphne (Meghann Fahy) look at the winery, and she did wear one of Daphne’s dresses at the Noto villa – the white-and-blue printed Poupette St Barth dress.”

The White Lotus finale is currently streaming on HBO Max in the US, and Sky On Demand and Now TV in the UK.