Love the Costumes from ‘Obsession’? Meet Blair James, Creator of the New Hot Girl Horror Uniform [Exclusive]

The red Zebra print tank top. The oversized denim jacket. The boots. The micro shorts. The slouchy bag. The funky, ’90s sweaters. And of course, the Cassell’s music shop uniforms. So many costumes from Obsession, directed by Curry Barker, live rent-free in our heads. For some of us, we’ve already shopped the real pieces from Obsession or are bookmarking dupes of the red zebra-print tank top. Obsession-inspired moodboards abound, and horror-obsessed hot girls have already declared that they’re doing Nikki and Bear as their couples’ Halloween costume.

But who is the architect behind these iconic looks? Meet Blair James, the costume designer for Obsession, whose clotheshorse career actually started with celebrity styling. For Curry Barker’s film, she brought this ethos to the set by including actors like Inde Navarette in her character’s costume design process. “I can know so much about the character, but only the person playing that character will know exactly how they’re planning on doing it — how they feel. I really love involving the actors in that process, because if I can help them feel more like that character, then that’s a win,” she said.

James talked about experiencing what she calls “glimmers” when working with clients or actors. “You see their body change. They stand differently. You can feel the energy of the clothing,” she said. One costume from Obsession that was full of glimmers was the pre-wish Nikki, which is what Navarette wears before her character falls under the spell of the One Wish Willow. “We had done like the layered top, the cardigan, the boots and the shorts, and then [Navarette] was like, ‘Oh, we should add an oversized denim jacket to this,’” James recalled. “And when she put the denim jacket on with the red purse, it was this immediate, ‘Oh, that’s it.’”

Along with a strong silhouette, the pre-wish Nikki costume stands out for its symbolism, too. “I wanted to make that pre-wish Nikki relatable to a mass audience, so that everyone could connect to her so early on,” James said. “So as the shift continued, we would still hold on to her in a way.” James explained a thread of here: Pre-wish Nikki wears cool tones, and cursed Nikki is almost always wearing a violent red. (Her purse always having been burgundy as subtle foreshadowing.) There are more palette clues, with an interplay of gold and silver .