Written and directed by It-girl Rachel Sennott, “I Love LA” reads like a Gen-Z reimagining of “Sex and the City.” The eight-episode series centers around a friend group of twenty-somethings as insufferable as they are endearing, stumbling through Los Angeles with an iced matcha in one hand and Wildflower case-clad smartphone in the other. Instead of Old Money Charlotte and sex-positive Samantha, we get nepo baby Alani (True Whitaker) and bi-curious Tallulah (Odessa A’zion). Sennott’s ensemble cast is outfitted with looks fastidiously sourced and styled by Christina Flannery, the vintage connoisseur and Emmy-nominated costumer behind “The Righteous Gemstones” and “Christy.”

Flannery’s secret to creating a quintessentially Gen-Z wardrobe was perhaps counterintuitive. Rather than swapping cigarettes for vape pens and claw clips for Labubus, the costume designer looked to the past to fashion the present. “There's so many amazing Gen Z vibes that are happening… they’re gravitating towards all different kinds of styles,” Flannery tells  The Set Set. “You could see somebody out in an Edwardian top and a 1990s leather motorcycle booty short, you know?”

Flannery channels a Gen-Z sensibility into each character’s style by mixing vintage holy grail items one might have scoured Depop for—like a magenta satin Dolce & Gabbana corset or a crushed velvet Betsey Johnson blouse—with contemporary jewelry and handbags. The vintage collector made a conscious effort to disregard the digital sphere in her design process. “When I design overall, I don't look to things that are trending because I feel like that can age a project,” says Flannery. “I don't dress anybody for Instagram because that could be a time capsule within itself; we don't know where that's going to go in the future. And my goal and hope is that this show will [age] like ‘Sex and the City.’” 

Despite growing up in Louisiana, a different LA is “always going to be home” for Flannery, who spent seven years living in Los Angeles and sourced most of the show’s looks from her favorite spots across the city. Drawing from her experience as a vintage store owner, Flannery combed through a mix of independent designers, local thrift stores, and designer resale boutiques to reflect the textured character of the city. 

“I think it's imperative that if you're trying to represent a city and a culture, you need to give back and elevate those brands [that are based in the city]. So that was something that was really important for us,” Flannery says. 

Flannery wove subtle nods to Los Angeles throughout the series, from Tallulah’s presumably stolen Wi Spa merch—an homage to the first LA establishment Flannery visited after moving to the city eight years ago—to Charlie’s Jumbo’s Clown Room baseball cap. Flannery’s hyperlocal approach to sourcing extends beyond small LA businesses to independent designers: in one of the season’s most memorable looks, Charlie pairs a pink faux-fur jacket from Venice Beach–based ERL with an understated white tee and black jorts.

Shop Christina Flannery's Looks

ERL Pink Varsity Faux-Fur Jacket

SSENSE

Buy for $909

The Real Real D&G Satin Top

The Real Real

Buy for $281.25

Sandy Liang Sparkles 2.0 Necklace

Sandy Liang

Buy for $148

Flannery mixed pieces at different price points—from a YSL cocktail dress to strip club merch—to capture the conflation of high-low culture that makes Los Angeles so unique. “You can go on a Sunday to the Rose Bowl and then pop over to Bearded Beagle and pay $25 for a little Betsey Johnson top. It's really a melting pot, everybody moves to LA to chase something, and we have people from everywhere,” Flannery explains.

For the show’s grounding protagonist, Maia (played by Sennott), Flannery evoked season one Carrie Bradshaw and an amalgamation of ‘90s romcom sweethearts. “She wasn't really referenced off anybody in current trends. She is more of the 90s era: ‘Cruel Intentions,’ and ‘Jawbreaker,’” says Flannery. “Some of these references were things I could see myself wearing, or people I wish I could have been.”

For rising microinfluencer Talluluh Stiel, played by A’zion, who has become a real-life It-girl following her appearance in “Marty Supreme”, Flannery was inspired by alt-rock musicians such as Amyl and the Sniffers and Wet Leg. “I generally gravitate to the past, so with Tallulah, I was leaning into that riot girl culture. I was doing Bikini Kill, Pussy Riot, and those hackers, cyber-goth, weird, cool vibe we were doing—like a girl that would go to Berghain and get in every single time.”

In episode eight, Tallulah sports a skimpy mesh brown cutout dress, later seen on Maia, with silver bangles and a Balenciaga shoulder bag. “There's this anarchist feel for her [Tallulah] that you can see in It Girls like Gabbriette and Charlie XCX. But she does it in a way that carves out a space for herself. I have a hard time sticking to a head-to-toe trend, and I tend to be the type of person that looks like I got dressed in the dark, but I fill my closet with cool shit, so it works.”

In a moment of intentional narrative design, Maia wears Tallulah’s dress the night that she cheats on her boyfriend in New York, culminating the series-long arc of Maia slowly beginning to be influenced by Tallulah’s devilish attitude towards life. As Flannery notes, Maia starts the season idolizing her chronically millennial, Stanley-cup–sipping boss in a button-down (Leighton Meester) but ends it making callous decisions in Tallulah’s clothes. “I thought that that was a really good costume design moment because it was just glaring: like, wow, you really have changed so much from like the sweet, gorgeous, amazing person you were in episode one,” says Flannery.

As for the overwhelming audience reaction, Flannery says she was pleasantly surprised by the response to her wardrobe choices. She’s excited to spotlight even more independent designers in season two which has been confirmed by HBO. “It's become like this zeitgeist, insane thing that I could never even imagine; I feel like I'm walking into like the busiest year of my life and I'm so, so fortunate.”

Christina Flannery’s Official Shopping Guide to LA Vintage 

The Rose Bowl Flea Market: 1001 Rose Bowl Dr Pasadena, CA 91103

The Bearded Beagle: 5820 North Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, CA  90042

Worship Vintage: 5712 N Figueroa Street, Los Angeles CA 90042 and 4210 Santa Monica Blvd Los Angeles CA 90029

What Come Around Goes Around: 9520 Brighton Way, Beverly Hills, CA 90210

Buffalo Exchange: 7912 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90046

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