Younger's Costume Designer: Final Season Fashion

For seven seasons, fans of Younger have tuned in to keep up with the lives of glamorous young professionals working in the world of New York City publishing. As you might expect from a Darren Star production, the TV Land series is splashy, indulgent, and not the least bit realistic. After all, what mid-level editor can afford a wardrobe filled with Missoni and Proenza Schouler?

Suspension of disbelief aside, with such great fashion on the show, it's no surprise that the costumes have practically become characters all their own. From architecturally over-the-top necklaces worn by marketing exec Diana Trout (Miriam Shor) to the age-bending designer duds that Liza Miller (Sutton Foster) sports throughout the seven seasons, Younger has gifted audiences with countless memorable sartorial moments over the years.

While filming the last season, however, costume designer Jacqueline Demeterio faced a host of creative challenges. First, there was COVID. When production resumed last fall, the pandemic was still in what she calls "the scary part of COVID."

"We started shooting in September and we were being tested every other day," Demeterio tells InStyle. "But we didn't know so much at that time. Things were just very scary. Cases would pop up in certain departments, and we'd have to shut down and quarantine."

When it came to managing wardrobe, she took the approach of getting as many looks together at the beginning of the show and scheduling larger-than-usual fittings.

"I told all the actors, I want to do large fittings with you," she recalls. "Usually I can grab them and have numerous multiple fittings throughout filming. I didn't know how that was going to work, so I did these very large fittings and they were great."

Another challenge for Demeterio in the final season was designing around Hilary Duff's growing baby bump. The actress, who plays Kelsey Peters, was pregnant with her third child at the time, and with COVID in the mix, there were frequent schedule and scene changes, which meant she was racing against time.

"Because obviously every week when you're pregnant, you're getting bigger and bigger," Demeterio says. "There'd be something she had already [worn] when her bump was small, but the scene wasn't shot out."

Weeks later, Demeterio and her team would have to jump into action — quickly.

"She'd text me from her camper and be like, 'Uh oh, this doesn't fit anymore,'" she recalls. "There was a lot of that happening. I had my tailor constantly putting in gusset on some sides of pants, adding panels, that sort of thing."

As the series comes to a close and the finale airing on June 10, we sat down with Demeterio to chat about big style moments from the final season and take a walk down Younger fashion memory lane.

Hiding Hilary's Baby Bump

"I had a lot of these dresses — these beautiful, flowy dresses that were Givenchy or Balenciaga — that had a lot of fabric and a lot of movement that seemed to work. That black and red one was from Balenciaga. I think she actually posted that when we were shooting on her Instagram. She's like, 'Jackie has now resorted to putting me in beautiful drapes or whatever.' I'm like, 'Well, you look beautiful.'"

Finding Diana's Statement Necklaces

"I found a lot of her jewelry at New York Vintage. Shannon, the owner, is a friend of mine. I would look online, on eBay, on 1stDibs. And there was this designer Iradj Moini. A lot of our necklaces came from him because he has those beautiful pieces. There's a store called Farajo — it's right next door to where Opening Ceremony used to be on Howard Street. He gets a lot of things in Asia, so I find pieces there. In Los Angeles, I would call my shoppers out there and they would hunt and send pictures. And sometimes Gucci had something in their new collection."

Making Maggie Really Shine

"I think we got to a place, especially this season, where it was like true Maggie Amato. We'd always wanted, and [Debi Mazer] did too, to get into that masculine feel where she's this artist from Brooklyn. There were a lot of those three-piece suits. And her hats and leather shirts and trousers — it was beautiful. The masculinity we were trying to achieve over seasons finally landed where we wanted it to. She wore a lot of Loewe this season because I felt like they were really hitting the note for Maggie. They had all these great high-waisted trousers and button-down shirts or blouses. Debi is great with headpieces like scarves. And she does her own hair and makeup — she's fabulous."

Establishing Josh's #GirlDad Style

"The character of Josh has always been sexy in his clothes. We tried to keep him classic Josh, but I think he's evolved over time too with being a father. And this season he definitely has much more responsibility. He's showing his success with his tattoo business. He's really grown up. He started out young at the beginning — when I look back at photos from the first season, he looks like a baby."

Playing Up The Angel-Devil Dynamic Between Liza and Quinn

"There has always been this thing with Liza in white when she's with Charles. Early on, she walks out of The Carlisle and she has that little white dress with the fringe. Then that moment with him when they confess their love for each other, she's in whites. At the airport with Quinn and Charles, there's a scene where Liza comes in. I had gotten a new white Gucci coat I wanted her to wear. It's this nod of innocence, especially next to Quinn, where Quinn is always in black or red. It's the angel/devil thing. I've always done that deliberately."

Transitioning Liza's Wardrobe From 20s to 40s

"She's definitely had one of the biggest style evolutions on the show. Starting her out at the beginning, when she was 28, she was using every trend and piling it on top of her on purpose. Because this is what she thought she should look like. She got more sophisticated throughout the series. This season, I've put her in some suiting, but with culottes instead of a regular trouser. There's a spin of Liza on it, but a more sophisticated Liza. She wears that gray culottes suit, and I put that Proenza Schouler orange under it to add a little quirk of Liza."

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