How ‘The Dropout’ Uses Costume Design to Make Elizabeth Holmes’ Signature Style Feel Like “a Facade”
variety.comWilson Chapman editorDisgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes is recognized by the specific image she sculpted herself in: a deep-voiced, highly-mannered CEO decked out in black turtlenecks to emulate her role model, Steve Jobs.
But in the Hulu miniseries “The Dropout,” which follows her trajectory from founding the company that would make her famous to being indicted by the U.S.
government, viewers don’t see her in her well-known get-up until the end of the third episode, when she makes her full heel turn into a fraudster and grifter.Across the first act of the show, the audience sees a very different Holmes, one who dresses like a typical college student of her time period, with a wardrobe made out of mid-2000s retail items.
As she struggles to find her footing in the professional world, her outfits reflect her well-deserved imposter syndrome, conveying that she’s a teenager desperately trying to play the part of a boss. “She’s starting the company, it’s like she’s still kind of dressing the same way she dressed in high school,” costume designer Claire Parkinson says. “Maybe she’s wearing a slack that she bought or a trouser, maybe she put a heel on.
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