If there’s one thing I’m going to miss about Never Have I Ever, it’s the outfits. With Season 4 — the series’ last — out now on Netflix, I was incredibly excited to see what new wardrobe pieces Devi and her friends would wear walking down the Sherman Oaks High halls as they get ready for their senior year. Even if Devi has gotten caught up between two boys like Paxton and Ben in previous seasons, it hasn’t stopped her from having a killer wardrobe. For the show’s costume designer Glinda Suarez, the world of Never Have I Ever was both a joy to tackle during the final season.
Never Have I Ever wasn’t Suarez’s first project with creator Mindy Kaling. After previously working on the first season of The Sex Lives of College Girls, Suarez became the lead costume designer for the final two seasons of Never Have I Ever. Suarez says there were differences between designing wardrobes for high schoolers and college students: “The characters [on Never Have I Ever] are nerds, and they haven’t quite figured out who they are yet,” she tells Her Campus in an exclusive interview. “They try to follow fashion trends, while the college girls each have their own unique looks. Even though the Never Have I Ever girls have their own unique look, it’s cohesive and very grouped together, so they can borrow pieces from each other.”
Throughout the series, we have seen a clear style evolution from the main characters throughout their past three years of high school. For Suarez, Eleanor was the most fun to experiment with during the season. “She’s so eclectic, she’s an artist, she’s an actress, and I think she takes more risks with accessories. In Season 4, she’s not a virgin anymore, so she’s showing more skin and feeling herself. We got to have a lot more fun that way,” she explains.
Fabiola, on the other hand, was more challenging. “She’s a bit of a nerd, but we wanted to experiment more [with] that cute nerd aspect. By Season 4, she’s already out of her shell and we got to experiment with that. She’s now come out as gay and she’s been in a relationship, so if you notice, there’s a little bit more pattern and [she] wears more cooler stuff. … The evolution of Fabiola was more challenging, because it’s wondering how much of a risk she would take because she’s so nervous,” Suarez recalls from the early process of styling the characters.
At the core of the group, Devi had to show the most evolution in her style throughout the final season. Throughout the past three seasons of Never Have I Ever, audiences have seen Devi grow from being a shy harp player, who had no experience in dating, to a more mature and confident Devi who doesn’t just want to have sex. Her style had to reflect that.
“She has always strived to be the popular girl, so she’s always had fun with fashion. It almost happens serendipitously for Devi, so we always mixed patterns. She’s also a character who has always had cool sneakers and cool jackets. Season 4 was more of that, but trends came in. We made her pants baggier, but also showed a tiny bit of skin,” Suarez shares. “We went for more form-fitting tops, but in a way that was styled so that way Nalini [Devi’s mother] would not tell her to change when she leaves for school.” Suarez reveals that Devi wears primarily Free People and Urban Outfitters throughout the fourth season. By taking inspiration from what teenagers in The Valley were wearing, Suarez was able to create Devi’s final looks.
Putting together the prom looks for Devi, Eleanor and Fabiola was the highlight of styling Season 4 for Suarez. “We really wanted Devi to have her princess moment, similar to how Devi had a moment at the end of Season 2 when she kisses Paxton,” she explains. “We decided to do a peachy dress, and when we tried it on, Maitreyi [Ramakrishnan] was like, ‘This is it!’ It was almost like an homage to when she kisses Paxton.”
Suarez also loved putting together Fabiola’s outfit, and left a small easter egg into Fabiola’s accessories. “We put these studs on her ear, and one of them had a small planet to represent Fabiola’s love for science.” Actress Anna May Wong was the biggest inspiration for Eleanor’s prom look, and a photo of her helped with the planning process. Suarez wanted Eleanor to have an old Hollywood look, reflecting on Eleanor’s dreams of being an actress.
One of the minor easter eggs from Season 4 is actually one that audiences will need to pay close attention to. Costume designer Salvador Perez created bracelets for the three girls that say “Besties” on them. At times, the girls wear them all together or individually. When Suarez took over as the lead costume designer during Season 3, she decided that she needed to incorporate them sporadically throughout the final two seasons of the series. “Devi usually has bracelets on, and one of them says Ride or Die, so all three girls have the same friendship bracelets,” Suarez recalls.
As a final parting question, I have to ask who Suarez wanted to end up with Devi throughout filming for the final season. Was she Team Ben or Team Paxton? She laughs. “I think I was always Team Ben. They just have so much in common!”