Empire’s Cookie to Phase Out Animal Prints for High Fashion in Season 2

When Empire audience members think of Cookie Lyon, the drama's fierce protagonist played by Taraji P. Henson, the image they likely conjure features over-the-top fashion including more furs and animal prints than every Kardashian owns combined. The sartorial association is for good reason: when costume designer Paolo Nieddu outfitted Cookie for the Fox show’s first episode, he says, “I literally put her in animal print almost every single scene. . . . I think she wore snake skin twice. She wore leopard three times.” When the second season of the addictive musical drama premieres tonight, though, viewers will likely notice that Empire’s flashy character has finessed her style.



Unlike costume designers on other series, Nieddu doesn’t restrict each character to certain clothing colors with a wardrobe palette. Instead, he approaches the entertainment industry-set series like a stylist might—dressing his “clients” to face off on the red carpet with other superstars. “In my head, Cookie Lyon and Kim Kardashian both go the Grammys. So I’m not inspired by anyone’s fashion—although I did buy Cookie a pair of Pierre Hardy shoes that I saw Rihanna wearing—as much as I act as though I’m competing with Kim or Rihanna’s stylist. If Hakeem was headed to the V.M.A.s, I would be competing with Justin Bieber’s stylist, probably at the same showroom.”

For scenes in which Cookie acts more maternal, Nieddu adjusts her wardrobe accordingly. “I try to put her in something that’s a little bit more like Cookie’s version of what a mom would dress like. We have this one Derek Lam outfit that I put her in in the second episode [of the new season] that Taraji called her Carol Brady outfit. It is a maroon-and-salmon houndstooth-y plaid sleeveless vest top with an over-size white collar and matching flared pants.”

Like Sex and the City’s Carrie Bradshaw before her, Cookie dresses distinctly for every possible occasion. The character’s liberal attitude toward fashion allows for a particularly whimsical costume design process for both Nieddu and Henson.

What Does This Fashion Even Mean?

Fashion Week is a time when the industry’s most influential designers showcase their latest work at star-studded events during which famous and/or influential people sit silently—often in sunglasses—while watching tall, silent, pretty people walk up and down runways wearing what may or may not be the trends, or inspirations for trends, of the future. The clothes draping their bodies don’t always look like things you’ve seen before, which is at least partly the point, and they’re styled in ways meant to complement the designer’s concept, point of view, artistic vision, or whatever you want to call it.



It’s a very important week for the industry, and—as I’ve been told in movies like The Devil Wears Prada and shows like Project Runway—can make or break entire careers. But, as someone whose livelihood doesn’t revolve around the art of style (I’d be unemployed if it did!), it’s merely a time to look at funny pictures.

And this ensemble is reference to America’s fascination with self-diagnosis. We may think access to medical information on WebMD makes us as smart as doctors, but we’re really a bunch of idiots walking around in lab coats without pants on!

Here we have a mediation on thigh gap. Society tells us it’s crucial for achieving maximum sexiness, but really it’s just—much like the gap in this model’s faux(?) leather pants—a random and meaningless void.