‘It Ends With Us’ Costume Designer Eric Daman on The Film’s Best Looks and Taking Advantage of Blake Lively’s ‘Incredible’ Closet: ‘She Wanted to Bring in Her Own Things’

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Costume designer Eric Daman last worked with Blake Lively on the set of “Gossip Girl,” where he outfitted Lively’s blonde, tall and effortlessly cool Serena Van der Woodsen for New York City’s upper society. More than a decade later, and the pair have reunited on the summer’s highly anticipated blockbuster “It Ends With Us,” which despite a darker plot centered around domestic abuse, also features unique, headline-making designer fashion.

“Working with Blake, we get to have access to an incredible closet,” Daman tells Variety. “She loves to wear beautiful things.”

Many of her character’s most standout looks from the film, such as those crystal mesh YSL boots and that Guest in Residence cami (gifted from Lively’s best friend Gigi Hadid) were taken directly from the actor’s personal wardrobe.

“Her shoe closet, I can’t even begin to tell you how amazing it is,” he says. “And she wanted to bring in her own things, and it’s something that we didn’t necessarily do on ‘Gossip Girl,’ but we’ve all grown and changed.”

“Often costume designers will take issue with that,” he adds. “I think there might be an ego involved in that. I don’t have that. I don’t feel that ownership or propriety over the character in that way. I feel like I’m really here as a costume designer to bring the tools and help these actors create the most amazing character possible. And if that means using a custom pair of Louboutins from Blake Lively’s closet, I’m in.”

Following the films’ release this past weekend, Daman sat down with Variety to break down the film’s most standout fashion moments — from Lily’s Carharrt coveralls, a staple in her “It Ends With Us” wardrobe, to Alyssa’s (Jenny Slate) extravagant style (including that bright orange Hermés Birkin):

“I actually found this pair on eBay. A lot of Carhartt coveralls can be a little fuddy-duddy or in unattractive brown colors, and I found this beautiful French workwear blue that was like a ’70s, ’80s Carhartt that had just the right amount of patina to it that reflected all of the life and nuances in Lily’s character. And I found it dumpster diving on eBay and it was the perfect fit. It’s pure fire, and one of my favorite looks in the film.

The Carhartt brand is such an iconic and legendary American men’s workwear brand that’s not necessarily glamorized in a way that felt really right for Lily. Blake was also referencing it and we came together and we were like, “We want to add in this Carhartt men’s workwear element.” It was just a matter of navigating and getting the right pieces. A lot of Carhartt pieces you’ll find online are 3XL, 4XL, so we had to cut that down so it doesn’t feel like the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man, which is not the look. That’s a different kind of sexy. It took a lot of thrifting and shopping and hunting, but the thrill of the hunt is really what it’s all about, and that’s really a fantastic part of what we get to do as costume designers.”

“This look is the first time we’re seeing Lily entering her new store, Lily Bloom. It had to be really, really special, kind of an iconic moment. She’s entering into this beautiful dust bowl of a store surrounded by vintage pieces and antiques. And really, when we were deciding on Lily’s style, it was important to find the right symbiosis between what the boutique is, what Lily’s craft is, how she works creatively, and to me, this outfit really, really sums that up in a way that is truly iconic in the Lily-core movement.

Patchwork was on the mood board. It’s something that Blake and I talked about. We both love the artisanal quality, antiquity of what patchwork represents as far as the craftsmanship behind it, and that it has an old-world allure and that it has an upcycled element to it that felt right for Lily’s creativity and her personality and what she was going to be creating in that boutique. This jacket in particular is from BODE, which is a cult favorite from New York City. It was a one-of-a-kind piece made from vintage wool blankets, so it has story and life and texture, and it just felt completely matched to what the inside of the store was going to be and how when she enters. You just feel its oneness and who she is, and how this store is going to become something really special.”

To pull it all together, we paired the look with these over-dyed carpenter pants from another iconic brand from New York, Consistency Project, which their main goal is upcycling and sort of one-of-a-kind handmade garments. They have this saturated but also aged deep quality to them that again reflects the levels of layer and nuance in Lily’s character. And we have this paired with the boxer shorts. I have a lot of people asking about the boxer shorts, which is just really the peek-a-boo boxer shorts. It’s just a fun nod to the noughties. The girls combining riot girl style and hip-hop from the era that young Lily would’ve grown up and would’ve wanted to emulate. And it’s just to carry over in a trend that’s actually happening on the street. And it just felt right that Lily is street-wise and we could add that in and just make it extra cool.”

“This outfit, it was an important moment because it’s the opening day at Lily Bloom. So we really wanted this outfit to kind of be full tilt. And what would that mean, getting. dressed up for your opening day but not being too ingenuine in that and still being true to who she is as Lily Bloom and her character? The pattern mixing was essential here to bring that in. We have this bold, gold striped shirt from Sézane that’s kind of an oversized drape to it, mixed with these incredible artisanal tapestry patchwork pants from Magnolia Pearl. Magnolia Pearl is not a brand that I would necessarily be aware of or have in my orbit but Blake was like, “You should check out Magnolia Pearl, there’s something to it.” And she was right.”

“For the look when Lily walks into Alyssa’s birthday party, it was essential that she’d be like molten lava. We wanted the full mic drop moment and we actually got a full coat drop moment, which was this amazing instance when Lily walks into the party in those incredible YSL crystal mesh boots, Blake’s personals — incredible. She brought them in. We did a beautiful closeup pan of that boot walking across. Fantastic, sultry, shiny, everything you want in a show-stopping boot and you pan up and Blake is in this camouflage coat. She clocks Ryle flirting with somebody else in the corner, coat drop, and then bam, she’s in this Christopher Kane cut-out, smoking hot, deep green, black party dress that is just pure fire.”

“You see Alyssa drop in and I wanted this to feel like she was almost like a fairy godmother or a fairy ‘godfriend’ dropping into the store and adding this sparkle to the dust around her. So we landed on this beautiful sample, we call them our friends at Oscar de la Renta, they sent us this amazing coat. And in the book it is written that she’s carrying a a Birkin bag from Hermès, which is a signature Hermès bag.

And I didn’t want it to be black. I wanted it to be this punch of color and feel fun and juicy and like this ray of light just descended and was surprising Lily. And, again, just this counterpoint to the dust and the antiquity that is in the store.”

“This is opening day at Lily Bloom, and to me, it feels like Alyssa is event dressing every day of the week but for the opening day of the store, this is red carpet daytime dressing, full on. She wanted to be fully done from head to toe, and this Valentino mini dress, we worked with Valentino in Milan. They sent us some beautiful samples, one of them being this incredible T-shirt dress.

There’s also a little bit of a nod to the swinging 60s as far as as inspiration in Alyssa’s looks. This mini dress really felt like it was part of that culture, but also the spinning wheel of color and the sequins, it just felt like a spotlight that emulated the hope and excitement that Alyssa was feeling about opening day.

Me and headbands definitely have a long history. It’s not really a love-hate relationship, it’s definitely a love-love relationship. We worked for this and over my career, with a lot of headband designers. For this specifically, we worked with Lele Sadoughi and Jennifer Behr, who also did a lot of the iconic headbands from ‘Gossip Girl.’ Those were the headband go-tos for Alyssa’s character. We wanted them to be bright and embellished and just again, have a modern twist to them.”