After far too many months off the air, Killing Eve is finally back on 12 April – and Villanelle has a new look. Sam Perry succeeds Charlotte Mitchell and Phoebe De Gaye as the programme’s costume designer this season – an enviable role given its fashion-forward reputation – and she’s taking the much-loved assassin’s flamboyant style to new heights. Take the electric-blue floral-print dress worn by Jodie Comer in one of the first stills from the new series, which was designed by the Duchess of Cambridge-approved label The Vampire’s Wife.
Villanelle (Jodie Comer) in a dress by The Vampire's Wife
“That was one of our favourite outfits,” Perry tells British Vogue. “We’d all love to have one of those dresses in our wardrobes.” The cult label – which also counts the likes of Margot Robbie and Alexa Chung as fans – created the flamenco-esque look specially for the villain. The so-called Villanelle dress features the brand’s signature puff sleeves, fitted bodice and gathered hem, and is available to pre-order from its website.
Among the other key looks to spot while watching the third instalment of Killing Eve? A patterned mustard dress from La Double J, paired with cowboy boots from Golden Goose, is a stand-out in one episode – while a cream Simone Rocha gown serves as the perfect sartorial foil to Villanelle’s cutting nature in another. Comme des Garçons, Hussein Chalayan and Paco Rabanne are among the other labels that make up her season three wardrobe.
Villanelle (Jodie Comer) in a dress by La DoubleJ and cowboy boots from Golden Goose
“There’s pressure to keep her fashion kudos high enough so the audience doesn’t feel cheated,” explains Perry, who mixed thrifted pieces in with high-end designer items. “She’s got style; she doesn’t have to have money.” A striped off-the-shoulder dress Perry found at a second-hand shop on Holloway Road is something Villanelle “could have got from a vintage stall in Barcelona”, where the assassin has been hiding out since season two’s dramatic conclusion.
As for this year’s equivalent of that Molly Goddard dress? See Villanelle’s showstopping jacket by London label, Charlotte Knowles. “It was exactly what I was looking for,” Perry explains with a laugh. “It was unhinged and crazy. I couldn’t believe someone had created this beautiful jacket and put it somewhere for me to find.” The upcycled Hulk-green and check shearling piece fitted Perry’s idea of Villanelle perfectly: “An unbalanced, obsessive and extravagant monster.”
Previously published on British Vogue
The brand new season of Killing Eve premiered on BBC First on myTV Super and nowTV in Hong Kong on Monday, 13 April, with a new episode released weekly.
Editor
Alice Cary
