On Monday night's episode of Better Call Saul, Jimmy uses an unexpected windfall to fully imitate the image of his rival—down to a custom-made suit. We also get a glimpse at the garish style of the soon-to-be Saul Goodman, when Jimmy lovingly admires a bright orange button-down in a clothing store.
On Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul alike, wardrobe has a huge symbolic significance. The looks come courtesy of Jennifer Bryan, a costume designer who worked on Breaking Bad's final season and then moved with Odenkirk, Vince Gilligan, and co. to the spinoff.
Bryan talked to Esquire about Saul's big tailoring scene, and how she reimagined Jimmy's look as a struggling attorney.
Saul had already been established with his garish, loud suits. How did you envision his style earlier in his life and career?
At first, I wasn't quite sure. What do you do with a guy who we know is going to start out with literally nothing, and have the audience believe that this guy is going to be a dandy and a peacock? I came up with this idea that he should wear a double-breasted suit, because there is something showy about a double-breasted suit. A guy that wears a double-breasted suit, in my opinion, wants to be noticed. To make him stand out, what we decided is that nobody else on the show would ever wear a double-breasted suit. It's exclusively his. He pops.
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How have you adapted the style to reflect the early 2000s? Any big changes from Breaking Bad's time period?
I definitely did my research for 2002. The suits back then were definitely boxy, they weren't the same tapered suits of 2008 and up to present day. That worked in my favor. And then the other thing I did was I changed the width of the lapel. I had to kind of walk in between period accuracy, and trying to keep it modern enough and contemporary enough for the viewer.
On Breaking Bad, color was a really big symbol. Green especially was a bad omen. Are there similar patterns on Better Call Saul?
On Breaking Bad, the colors [showed] the character's journey. What we did on Saul is that the colors put you into your category in life. So good folks, let's say on the legal side of things, have a certain palette, like military colors, navys, and greens, and blues. Guys on the other side of the law, the hustlers and the cons, I had them in reds and oranges, and colors of the New Mexico desert. And so for Saul, since he rides both sides of the fence, I picked brown. Even the Kettlemans, who steal the money, they're in the same [red] color palette, although they are respectable. Even Mike, in the parking booth, I have him in gray.
Are Jimmy's suits custom made for Bob Odenkirk?
Those suits are my design. What I did was I had the suits made in Italy, and then I tweaked the suits. I placed the buttons on the jacket higher than they should be. They were so high that Vince [Gilligan] labeled them "nipple buttons." We changed the slope of the shoulder. They're a bit big for him, but not too big where he looks cartoonish. I moved pockets to the wrong side, like the ticket pocket, just tweaked it and tweaked it until it was just, just off. And it was very interesting because the Italian tailors were like, "This cannot possibly be correct! This is wrong!" It took a little bit of persuading and it went against their tailoring DNA, but they did as I asked.
What about the suit that Jimmy gets made in Hamlin's image?
The suit was also made by the same Italian tailor, who I also had make the suit for Patrick Fabian, who plays Hamlin. Except Hamlin's is razor-sharp, correct to the button, everything was on-point. I said, "I want you to cut the suit for Hamlin in Bob Odenkirk's size, but make it perfect." They were very happy to do that. We used beautiful Italian wools and super 100s and also some English suitings I used, from Holland & Sherry. The shirts I also had built, with a club collar and the collar pins. The idea was to have Hamlin be on the extreme side of just a white-shoe law firm and everything is flawless, and Saul or Jimmy would be like the bus-bench lawyer, and their suits have to reflect where they are in terms of that industry.
You nail the details in the suit-fitting scene: super 170 Tasmanian wool, real mother-of-pearl buttons, and, of course, Sea Island cotton with the club collar and French cuffs.
A guy of Hamlin's stature would not have plastic buttons. I told the writer, it's gotta be mother of pearl on a custom-made shirt. I deliberately put those notes in so you know that Saul/Jimmy is serious about this plan of attack. He's leaving no stone unturned. He researches wools and fabrics, he knows exactly what he wants to sell that look. He was very, very detailed and did his homework. The shirts that I had made, they are Sea Island cotton. All those details that he listed are actually the material that I used to make Hamlin's suit.
What else can you tell us about Jimmy's look so far?
You see Saul's or Jimmy's loafers, right? They look like Gucci loafers, right? They're not. Back in the early 2000s that was a very popular style for men to wear. It was like pre-Prada. I found the cheapest and the furthest you could get from actual Gucci slip-on loafers, but it had the bridle bits. What I did was I took the bridle and we snapped one of the bits off. We took a paper clip and rewired it.
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If, down the road, Saul/Jimmy were to get a suit made to truly represent himself, what would it look like?
There is a little homage to what he really, really likes. When he's in the tailor shop, when the tailor goes into the back room, you see him walk over to this bright orange shirt. The writers and I put that in because we wanted to have a connection. If he had the money and was up to his own devices, that's what he would wear. He would wear the bright colors. It was a wishful moment for him. And when we move forward into Breaking Bad, he now has the ability and the finances to do that. I think he would want to dress like Hamlin would. As much as he despises what Hamlin is doing to his brother, I think he would aspire to have that kind of business for his fledgling law firm. I think that's why he dressed like Hamlin and went to the expense of putting that billboard up. He wants to present himself as a very prosperous guy. He would definitely have his suits tailored, he would move into that color palette, the navys and the grays, the respectable colors.
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