Everybody Wants Joanne's Outfits from 'Nobody Wants This'

Lately, it seems no one can get enough of Joanne's wardrobe from the Netflix series Nobody Wants This. Played by actor Kristen Bell, Joanne is a Los Angeles sex podcaster who finds herself swooning over the unlikeliest of men: a "hot rabbi" named Noah, played valiantly by The O.C. veteran Adam Brody. The series is a tale of two people coming together later in life with careers and stable identities of their own, but it's also a story of two worlds colliding to dramatic effect.

Nobody Wants This takes inspiration from series creator Erin Foster’s conversion experience after falling in love with her now-husband Simon Tikhman. And early on, costume designer Negar Ali Kline decided the color palette for Joanne and her family members would be a mix of "poppy colors and pastels" to contrast the rich jewel tones that Noah and his family seem to favor. That was done intentionally, Kline explains, to make a distinction between their two worlds. (As their lives begin to intertwine in later episodes, however, you'll notice Noah wearing brighter colors.)

"She lives out loud, she's bold, she's fearless," Kline says of Joanne. "She has this confidence. She's not afraid of standing out. That's why, I think, we chose the pieces that we did. Because they conveyed that sort of fearlessness."

Kline also drew inspiration from "It Girls through the decades," including the Hadid sisters, Alexa Chung, and, of course, the Foster sisters themselves. But it wasn't about tracking down pieces those women have actually worn so much as taking cues from their approach to dressing.

Just like Alexa Chung, Joanne can go from demure, ladylike looks to a rock n' roll, smoky and sexy vibe—sometimes in the same day. "The thing I like about Alexa Chung is that she has this chameleon-like approach to fashion. We wanted Joanne to be flexible like that also, although still maintaining a very inherent personal style," Kline explains. "She has this emotional intelligence where she can dress for her audience. She puts on a power outfit to go meet the Spotify executives. She puts on her high heels and she's dressed in this very chic work look. And then she's in a knife-pleat skirt to meet the parents."

Here's how Kline came up with some of Joanne's best Nobody Wants This outfits, and the pieces you'll need to recreate them for a rom-com character arc of your very own.

A Matching Set in a Striking Color

One of the first outfits our plucky blonde heroine wears in the series also happens to have been Kline's most considered: the Reformation red georgette slip skirt and fuzzy cropped cardigan Joanne styles with a By Far bag to attend synagogue for the first time.

"First of all, she had to pop in the temple, right?" Kline explains. "She's sort of like the fish out of water in this moment in the temple. So she really had to stand out not only for [Noah] to notice her, like on a practical level, but also because she's different than everybody else."

On a more symbolic level, Kline wanted a memorable look that evoked strong female protagonists of rom-coms past.

"There are these costumes that sort of etched in our collective memory. Like, the one for me is the Annie Hall costume. Or Sarah Jessica Parker in that tutu. And we just wanted something that met the moment."

The Reformation Layla Skirt in "Poinsettia Red" Joanne wore in episodes one and two is sold-out apart from a handful still available on Poshmark. But Reformation routinely offers the Layla Skirt in several other colors and patterns, as well as silk, satin, and linen iterations, in standard, petite, and extended sizing. For a closer color match, though, I'd for this cropped J.Crew cashmere sweater and a tomato red slip skirt from Favorite Daughter.

A Pinstripe Suit

Nobody Wants This takes inspiration from series creator Erin Foster’s real-life love story—and conversion story—with her now-husband Simon Tikhman. Fittingly, Kline pulled several pieces for the show from Favorite Daughter, the clothing line Foster co-owns with her sister, Sara. The pinstripe vest and matching pants Joanne chooses for the show’s fifth episode, for instance, are both Favorite Daughter best-sellers.

In the scene, Joanne takes an important dinner meeting with executives to whom she’s shopping her podcast. In a small but meaningful show of love, Noah shows up at the restaurant to stage an impromptu Shabbat dinner.

“The connection makes so much sense because Joanne is based on me and Favorite Daughter is all the clothes that I love to wear," Foster says. “The suit was the perfect outfit for Joanne to be having an adult moment in a meeting where she wants to impress some executives. And the Shabbat scene is one of my favorites in the whole season, so it’s pretty cool to have a little FD in there.”

A Strapless Column Dress

When Joanne and her sister show up to a bat mitzvah, their dresses send a clear message. Try as Noah's family might to keep them apart, the heart simply wants what it wants. Kline recalls asking Bell to try on several options from Alex Perry to meet the moment. But the decision instantly became clear when the actor donned the strapless teal column dress she ended up wearing for Joanne's grand entrance.

"I mean, she put that dress on and she shut it down," Kline says. "We were just like, 'That's the dress.' It just felt so fresh and cool because she's going there to make a statement...They walk in and everyone is staring, and it's a moment and jaws are on the floor and the wind is blowing."

Later in the evening, Joanne layers a Saint Laurent cropped black tuxedo jacket over the dress for a lonely shuttle ride that turns into a surprise reunion with Noah.

"We had to add the Saint Laurent tuxedo jacket because it was so cold," Kline says. "She was up there on that rooftop with the wind blowing, and we were like, she has to have a jacket. There's just like, no way we could put her out there without it.

A Faux Fur Coat

Joanne accidentally marches into Noah's life when they meet at a mutual friend's dinner party. She arrives to the event fashionably late, wrapped in a sweeping faux chinchilla coat with a bottle of red wine in hand. Underneath it, she wears an off-the-shoulder black bodysuit from Abercrombie Fitch and black jeans with a Khaite Bambi belt for a high-low, mob-wife-coded look that does all the talking for her.

Tracking down the statement outerwear wasn't as simple as searching "best faux fur coat." "There aren't that many faux chinchilla coats just sitting there for us to just pick up at the mall or anything," says Kline. "I mean, even in costume houses or vintage. So we really did kind of search far and wide for that piece." Once the team located the one, they worked with the series' tailor to cinch the waist for Kristen's petite frame.

Tailored Jeans

Something I couldn't help but notice about Joanne's wardrobe is that all of her pants and jeans fall perfectly against her petite frame—a small touch that makes a big impact on screen, particularly when she's experimenting with wide-leg and barrel jeans.

Kline worked with a team of tailors at Fox to get Joanne's jeans just right, from the olive green Jesse Kamm sailor pants she wears with a striped A.L.C. sleeveless knit for a huddle with her mom and sister, to the Aje x Outland light wash wide-leg jeans she pairs with a twisted cut-out top from Christopher Esber to watch Noah play basketball in episode seven. But the costume designer was quick to point out that many local dry cleaners have tailors on site, too.

A Signature Initial Necklace

Right before hosting a Havdalah ceremony for Noah's family, Joanne makes the snap decision to ditch the demure navy polka dot dress with a ruffled collar she was planning to wear in favor of a navy sweatsuit and her signature gold "J" initial pendant necklace.

"She was kind of playing dress-up or playing wifey or playing the perfect girlfriend moment," Kline says of the discarded Reformation dress. "And then she's like, nah, no. And not only does she change, she puts on a sweatsuit."

Keeping her "J" necklace in play symbolized Joanne's need to assert herself in the scene. "She was coming back to herself. And this is something I think some women—I should say not all women—but some women grapple with in a new relationship," Kline says. "Like, how much of yourself are you willing to compromise? Who are you willing to be for this person? Are you playing a role to be with this person? And it's important to see that she comes back to herself every time."

Below, shop even more of Joanne's Nobody Wants This outfit essentials, from her favorite white sneakers to the black crossbody she wears three times throughout the series.