‘Nobody Wants This’ Season 3 Is All About Dressing for Your Next Chapter
Fashion
From Joanne's conversion-class wardrobe and unexpected proposal look to Morgan's standout Valentino gown and Esther's new work wardrobe, costume designer Negar Ali Kline uses fashion to tell the story of three women all figuring out what comes next.
Three seasons into "Nobody Wants This," audiences know what to expect from its leading ladies' wardrobes: covetable knitwear, excellent denim, and the sort of effortlessly cool Los Angeles dressing that makes viewers immediately head to articles like this one to find where everything was sourced. But while Joanne (Kristen Bell), Morgan (Justine Lupe), and Esther (Jackie Tohn) may have firmly established fashion identities, the show's third season finds all three women navigating unfamiliar territory.
"Season three, all of the characters are sort of finding themselves in a new landscape," costume designer Negar Ali Kline tells The Set Set. With Joanne and Noah (Adam Brody) now living together, their relationship has entered a domestic bliss phase while Sasha (Timothy Simons) and Esther are navigating the decidedly less blissful realities of separation and returning to the dating market. Morgan, meanwhile, finds herself saying yes to new opportunities that take her to uncharted territory both professionally and romantically.
For Kline, who has dressed the show's stars since its first season, the goal this season was to reflect these developments without losing sight of what makes each character distinctive. "The intersection between a character's inner world and style and revealing that with their costumes," is what interests her, she explains, and this season offered her plenty of opportunities to explore it.
Kristen Bell in "Nobody Wants This" season three.
Netflix
Kristen Bell in "Nobody Wants This" season three.
Netflix
Kristen Bell and Adam Brody in "Nobody Wants This" season three.
Netflix
Joanne
Joanne's conversion journey brings an unexpected new dimension to her wardrobe. As she begins attending classes at the temple, her usual playful, occasionally daring style gives way to something more polished and preppy. Think plaid skirts and polo shirts but paired with colorful knitwear and tall boots, providing a familiar reminder that she's still very much herself. "We really wanted those costumes to sort of feel like the first day of school," Kline says.
The intention wasn't to make it look like Joanne is trying on a new look, but to convey that she's taking this new chapter seriously. "It's still done in a very Joanne way with pops of color but she's definitely dressing for the classroom in a more conservative way because she knows that she's representing Noah," Kline says. One conversion class outfit sees Joanne throw a red cardigan over a blue striped button-down, which actually was menswear, selected with the idea that Joanne might have "borrowed it from Noah's closet," as Kline says.
Kline says she has always been interested in how partners gradually influence each other's style. "I was thinking about how Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker started dressing like each other," she says. "That happens in relationships: you start dressing like your partner. And so Noah incorporates more color into his wardrobe thanks to Joanne." The sartorial cross-pollination becomes even more apparent in season three with the couple sharing a dressing space, and viewers will spot Joanne and Noah wearing similarly-shaded knits and shirts throughout the season.
Moving in together also means we get to see a softer, more domestic side of Joanne and, fortunately, Kline is just as invested in her off-duty wardrobe as her temple-ready ensembles. Knowing Joanne would spend more time at home this season, the costume designer was excited at the prospect of giving the character a rotation of enviable sleepwear and cozy clothes. "I feel like Joanne's pajama game is really strong," Kline readily admits. Among them is a pair of cobalt-blue sweatpants from The Great worn with a Chloé Henley shirt when Joanne and Noah are wedding cake-tasting at home. Kline also dressed Joanne in a number of striped Sleepy Jones cotton pajama sets, as well as a Guest in Residence Cashmere Shirt for her bedtime debriefs with Noah. "I know that as soon as I walk in the house after a long day, the first thing I do is change into my pajamas and so we thought she should have a bunch of cute pajamas," Kline says. "Pajamas are my love language."
Kristen Bell and Adam Brody in "Nobody Wants This" season three.
Netflix
It also makes the season's big romantic gestures all the more meaningful. When Noah surprises Joanne by proposing at a vineyard in Napa under the pretense of traveling there for a friend's wedding, she is spectacularly caught off guard. She rolls out of bed and throws on whatever was available: a Hey Gang sweatsuit layered under a leopard-print coat from Arma, finished with combat boots. "The whole idea is that she was not prepared for this to happen so it was scripted that basically she wakes up and leaves in what she's wearing," Kline says of the gray sweats which viewers may remember Joanne wearing in season one.
Kline was determined to find the right "statement" coat to complete the perfectly disheveled look, and considered countless options before settling on one from the Amsterdam-based brand. "A leopard coat is just an it-girl staple," she says. "We've seen it on Kate Moss, Sienna Miller, Alexa Chung. Every it-girl has worn it, as far back as Twiggy."
For all of her love for dressing up and dressing well, in the season's final poignant moments, Joanne is "totally stripped down," wearing nothing but a terry-cloth robe after her mikveh ceremony to mark the completion of her conversion to Judaism (she wears an Anemos bikini to begin the ceremony, for those wondering). "I thought it was really beautiful that she gets married in a robe. As a fashion girl, we would think this would be the most special moment for her to plan, but it ends up being her in a robe which I thought was really cool."
Shop Joanne's wardrobe
Justine Lupe in "Nobody Wants This" season three.
Netflix
Justine Lupe in "Nobody Wants This" season three.
Netflix
Justine Lupe in "Nobody Wants This" season three.
Netflix
Timothy Simons and Justine Lupe in "Nobody Wants This" season three.
Netflix
Morgan
Morgan, meanwhile, remains the show's fearless fashion girl. Her wardrobe is still audacious, trend-conscious, and occasionally outrageous, but Kline says the character's defining quality is the nonchalance with which she wears it all.
This season Morgan continues to dress with an effortless confidence that makes even her most audacious looks feel entirely natural. As Kline puts it, there's something "very effortless and loose with the way she holds herself," meaning she can "pull anything off and make it look so cool."
That extends to a meeting with a book agent after Morgan coins a new mantra that plays on Mel Robbins's self-help publishing sensation "The Let Them Theory," in which she is woefully ill-prepared, having not expanded her own theory beyond its two words, "Make Them." She turns up in another Valentino look that puts a fashionable spin on dressing for success: long Bermuda shorts, a matching jacket, and glasses give her the air of studied seriousness. "She didn't prepare, she didn't have anything in terms of an outline for a book, but she certainly had the look down," Kline laughs.
For her appearance on "Watch What Happens Live," Kline wanted something that would feel "soft, romantic, and ethereal—but still hot". After exploring countless options, including vintage gowns, she found a Valentino silk-chiffon design from the fashion house's Cruise 2026 collection that "checked every box" for what Kline wanted the look—and subsequent scenes—to convey. "There was this goddess quality to it but it was still extremely sexy and something that one would wear on 'Watch What Happens Live' when they want to go on and look amazing. We were very lucky that we got to work with Valentino directly to source that gown."
Shop Morgan's wardrobe
Jackie Tohn in "Nobody Wants This" season three.
Netflix
Jackie Tohn in "Nobody Wants This" season three.
Netflix
Jackie Tohn in "Nobody Wants This" season three.
Netflix
Jackie Tohn in "Nobody Wants This" season three.
Netflix
Esther
If Joanne's wardrobe reflects her newfound domesticity this season, Esther's does the inverse. Newly separated from Sasha and embarking on a new career in real estate, she's entering a period of "reinvention," Kline says. Her new workwear wardrobe consists of pieces from Favorite Daughter—owned by the show's writers and producers, sisters Erin and Sara Foster—as well as Anine Bing, and Stella McCartney. Outside of work, we see her in more revealing outfits than ever before, including a cut-out denim mini dress from Simkhai and a midriff-baring Christopher Esber top.
Kline even describes the cut-out mini dress as "something that Joanne would have worn in season one" and suggests something of a sartorial "role reversal" between the two. As Kline puts it, "All the rules that we sort of had about Esther's costumes in season one just got thrown out the window."
It's a clever way to reflect the fact that neither character is standing still. Esther's new wardrobe, like Joanne's and like Morgan's too, expresses where these women find themselves in each season of the show, as well as in their lives."
