Big Little Lies: Style Evolution

On screen is where many fictitious style icons are born, both in protagonists and antagonists, villains and heroes. It's where brands and trends are revived, imagined and immortalised, and where we've watched, learned and been inspired to reach new sartorial heights.

The much-anticipated second season of Big Little Lies has landed, bringing viewers back to the salt-worn shores and heady drama of Monterey Bay. With it, returned the stellar display of costumes - dreamed up by Emmy-winning costume designer Alix Friedberg - that had sparked a thousand articles exploring mum-tribes and their sartorial prowess in the previous season.

Season one saw each key character build-up her own unmistakable style, silhouette and colour palette. There was boho-babe Bonnie with her strings of beads, micro-tattoos and yoga pants, sugary-sweet Madeleine's bold prints and designer bags, Celeste's luxurious, tasteful fabrics, Renata's expensive CEO-realness and plain Jane's hoodies and combat boots.

This season, as The Monterey Five begin to grapple with shared guilt, we predict costumes will morph into emotional armour, mirror characters' changing psyches, and give clues about whats to come. We delve a little deeper below.

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Bonnie (Zoë Kravitz)

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Beautiful, spiritual Bonnie - who's bohemian wardrobe was the point of sartorial envy in season one - isn't coping so well with Perry's death. She feels solely responsible, and we're beginning to see her vintage, free-flowing kaftans and dresses replaced with tees and knits that swamp her frame, while dark glasses shield her from view. A flower-child in turmoil.

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Madeline Mackenzie (Reese Witherspoon)

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Madeline hides her big little lies beneath a well-groomed facade. She's perky, blonde and candy-coated three times over, with a love of maximalist prints and hyper-feminine shapes that mirror her rambunctious personality. If season one is anything to go by, expect magenta designer bags, pussybow blouses and cameos from Prada and D&>.

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Renata Klein (Laura Dern)



We've discovered a new adoration for Renata Klein. It was born the moment we saw her performing to Diana Ross mid photo shoot in a floor-length, metallic gown, whilst her husband staggers around a train set-filled man-cave downing whisky upstairs. She's expensive, sassy and painfully ridiculous - whilst her style reflects just that. Relying on her Alaïa and Tom Ford for confidence, as sartorial markers of her CEO realness, we expect even more peacocking to come.

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Celeste Wright (Nicole Kidman)

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Celeste was the pinnacle of elegance in season one, all swathes of cashmere and effortlessly form-fitting dresses. This season, she's cocooning herself in comfort and soft neutrals, and in scenes of her awaking from nightmares she appears to be sleeping in Perry's old clothes - physical manifestation of her grief, we think.

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Jane Chapman (Shailene Woodley)

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Jane stuck out like a sore thumb in season one - the punk-loving grit to Monterey Bay's gloss, all dressed in black and heavy combat boots. In season two, she retains her edge, but shines bright with newfound confidence, and a choppy, surfer-girl fringe.

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Read our review of Big Little Lies Season 2 here