In Spain, the rain predominantly falls on the plains, yet it’s the Elsbeth costumes that truly blossom, drawing inspiration from elegant ballroom styles. We gave it our best shot!

While not every outfit from Elsbeth is tailored for ballroom dancing, the costumes in Season 3’s Halloween episode, “Ick, a Bod,” where Carrie Preston’s character dons some of her finest Eliza Doolittle-inspired attire, are perfect for such occasions.

In an interview with DECIDER, Daniel Lawson, the Emmy-nominated costume director, discussed the intricate process of creating these elaborate and multi-layered ensembles. His aim was to transform Preston into one of Audrey Hepburn’s most celebrated characters for the week.

“We constructed everything from scratch—the headwear, the undergarments, the corsets, even the jewelry,” Lawson detailed about the costumes in “Ick, a Bod.” He noted that the team had only a few weeks to prepare and had to balance aesthetics with practicality. In this episode, Elsbeth travels to Sleepy Hollow, New York, during Halloween to solve a crime, encountering a mysterious suburban mom played by Annaleigh Ashford. True to Elsbeth Tascioni’s nature, one costume wouldn’t suffice for such a grand holiday, leading to a parade of My Fair Lady looks.

Lawson revealed that executive producers had advised him well ahead of Season 3’s production to brainstorm an array of My Fair Lady costumes, sparing no expense. “It’s the Halloween episode, so let’s focus on the costumes,” he recounted them saying, “And that’s exactly what we did.”

To Lawson, who previously worked with executive producers Robert and Michelle King on Evil, The Good Wife, and The Good Fight, getting to work on the bright and colorful series set in New York is always a dream, but pulling off these specific costumes for Halloween — filmed in the dead-heat of summer, by the way –was a particular delight and challenge. Not only did they have to make the costumes

“We knew she was going to be walking a lot and running at times, we knew we needed to keep them off the floor in front so that she wouldn’t step on the dress and pull herself down as she walked,” Lawson explained of the care and attention that went into each look. At one point, they even had to make a pocket on set out of ribbon for Elsbeth to put her phone in, as she was without her trusty set of tote bags.

Another challenge came in the form of the headwear, including Eliza’s Elsbeth’s oversized white hat, which they fully attached to Preston’s head for feasibility. While it may have worked in an early fitting, the costume designer said things quickly had to be adjusted in order to keep Preston’s neck in an upright position.

“The first time that Carrie put it on, she’s like, ‘This is great!’ and then and then a few minutes later, she said, ‘Dan, I’m worried it’s going to be too heavy.’ So it was like a sinking ship and we were throwing the barrels off and stuff,” Lawson said with a laugh. The costume designer ultimately took it back to the dress and hat maker, John Kristiansen, who redesigned it to work for days of filming. “It became sort of effortless for her to wear,” he said of the second version.

“It seems like actors are so glamorous and it’s so fun and they have such a good time and stuff. I’m telling you, Carrie works really, really, really hard. And it is hard to be in costumes like that,” he said praisingly. “Carrie had to wear that outfit 12 hours a day… It’s hard work. Luckily, on this show, everybody is such a trooper and just goes the extra mile.”

The extra mile is right. While Lawson said that he came in expecting to have favorites out of the rotation, he and his entire team ended up putting so much into the garb in every scene that choosing a jewel out of the bunch would be impossible, as “each one is my child.” CBS has only released two of the looks from the episode, so fans will simply have to tune in to see the rest.

The Elsbeth Halloween episode airs Thursday, October 30 at 10 p.m. on CBS. Episodes stream the next day on Paramount+.

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