In 'Industry,' the Female Leads Wear Their Wardrobes As Armor
Fashion
Power, privilege, and performative wealth are all signalled through the costumes in season four of HBO’s high-stakes drama, “Industry.”
In season four of "Industry," former fresh-faced banking graduates Harper Stern (Myha’la) and Yasmin Kara-Hanani (Marisa Abela) have ascended from the Pierpoint trading floor, splintering into their own success stories professionally and personally, with their new roles reflected in their respective wardrobes. Costume designer Laura K. Smith, who has worked on the show since season three, poignantly reflects each character’s place in society through a mix of custom tailoring, vintage luxury, and carefully chosen designer pieces.
For Harper, an American banking grad who has made her way to the top through a combination of determination, sheer brilliance, and ruthlessness, the opening scene of season four shows us just how far she has come. She wears a custom grey three-piece skirt suit, topped with a matching grey Boss coat that swings on her shoulders, paired with a Chanel bag, and Saint Laurent high-heeled pumps. “This really had to be almost her massive redemption moment. Immediately, you see her and think wow, her fortunes have really changed.” Smith—who trained as a tailor—says. "One of the things that’s very beautiful about the way bespoke suits are made is they have a canvas inside them that kind of holds you. It can change your posture and help you think differently.” The suit, therefore, becomes armor for Harper. “It just felt right that she would have that kind of stature and that kind of suiting."
The modular wardrobe was a key point of difference for Harper; she repeats elements of the grey suit with other outfits throughout the season as she is someone we understand to value time (with many iterations of watch Tag Heuer Date Link and Cartier worn throughout) and prioritises dressing in a way that requires fewer decisions. “It was the idea of the American-ness of Donna Karan because it's been something that's very much part of women's wardrobe since the '80s and '90s, that very interchangeable day-to-night kind of feeling,” Smith notes.
Harper’s wardrobe flits between power suits and her more relaxed 'off the job' style, such as softer knits from Aligne and Nili Lohtan barrel jeans. But when it comes to dressing up for an occasion, Harper favors corseted and intimate apparel. In episode two, when Yasmin throws a Marie Antoinette-themed costume party, Harper arrives in an all-black David Koma tulle crinoline dress worn with what Smith tells us is an 18th-century corset sourced from Peris costume hire. Smith found herself using more lingerie-inspired styles throughout the show for Harper—a D&G bra corset top, a Fleur du Mal zip bustier top, and a JPG x Levis conical bra denim jacket. “It was important for her to have a sort of femininity as well that she hadn't really had before.” She enters her dom era, further showcased with a pair of knee-high Robert Vivier boots and a vintage Alaia dress to attend her date with Kwabena in episode one.
Shop Harper's Season 4 Look
-1920x1280.jpg&w=3840&q=75)
Meanwhile, for Yasmin, who has now taken on the title of Lady Yasmin Muck, there is a push and pull between two sides. She, like her friend and erstwhile rival Harper, wears silhouettes that signal power—like her padded shoulder vintage Escada blouse, semi-sheer Intimissi turtleneck, and pants from What Alice Wore, Max Mara and Lurline. “It felt like she was always switched on, always ready to be client-facing in a way that Harper doesn't.” Although she adds a touch of her individuality—a handbag from Bottega Veneta over more heritage brands, “there’s a kind of conformity and a set of visual language that she had to understand; they have a very particular language and expectation within the constituency of how a spouse is meant to behave,’ Smith explains.
Old money presents itself differently, and that can be seen with "a countryside palette of chocolates, burgundies and camel colors," notes Smith. Heritage codes are laden in the costume: tweed and houndstooth, Barbour jackets, and hunting vests are all worn whenever we see her at her husband Henry's (Kit Harington) country pile, Muck Manor. But its when she's in the city that Yasmin finds herself grasping opportunities to take on more power. In the penultimate episode, she dons a Vintage houndstooth jacket from Orvis with a crossover 80s shape, Sezane pants, and another Bottega Veneta bag. Henry, too, jumps between these codes of old money aristocrat to quiet luxury menswear, Smith describes: "It was really important that he was giving it everything, wearing the corporate colors and test driving the wardrobe."
Shop Yasmin's Season 4 Look
Season four has also brought a handful of other female characters to the forefront of the story, including Yas and Harper's former Pierpoint colleague, Sweetpea Golightly (Miriam Petche). The epitome of corporate city girl styling falls to Sweetpea, who opts for more feminine and recognizable versions of elevated workwear—in the season four opener she enters wearing candy colored tailoring, which she also wears as a form of armor: “Sweetpea had this great vintage Miu Miu top on underneath her pink suit, which was like a gray tone similar to Harper…I treated the top underneath more like a breastplate because I'd had the conversation with Ken [Leung, who plays Eric] about his suiting and he sort of said that his suiting always feels like a suit of armor.” Sweetpea plays into heritage dressing with a modern twist, wearing a plaid jacket from Sezane, Ralph Lauren and a Kenzo suit jacket. Her costume is as aspirational as it is ambitious.
Shop Sweetpea's Season 4 Look
For realism, she wears a mix of premium high-street brands and well-known designers, such as a longline button-up Karen Millen jacket and a Hawes & Curtis shirt. During a visit to Accra, her wardrobe softens with linen suits from reliable high street retailer & Other Stories, and when she returns beaming with success, her wardrobe follows suit: a floral jacket Kent & Curwen blazer, paired with an LK Bennett shirt. She’s big on accessories too: we see Anthropologie loafers, an A.P.C purse, and a DeMellier tote bag. Hayley (Kiernan Shipka), her counterpart at Tender, follows a similar trajectory with a mix of premium high-street brands and elevated basics: an Aritzia bodysuit, ARKET waistcoat, and suede burgundy Reiss jacket. Investment pieces such as a Cartier scarf, jewelry, and a Rado Open Heart watch cue signals of her newfound wealth.
