The Custom Tailoring Behind the Character
There's a particular burgundy two-piece suit that Detective Donna Williams wears in Only Murders in the Building—deep oxblood with notched lapels and clean lines—that represents something most viewers register without consciously noting: every suit, every blazer, every tailored piece DaVine Joy Randolph wears across five seasons comes from the same source.
The Tailory New York has dressed Detective Williams since season one, creating custom pieces that have become as integral to her character as her investigative competence. It's the kind of wardrobe commitment that separates television costume design from simple wardrobe—the recognition that consistency in tailoring reads as consistency in character.
Made for Every Body: The Fit Philosophy
The Tailory New York's approach to custom suiting—built around body-positive fitting and technical precision without conforming to traditional masculine or feminine templates—aligns with what makes Detective Williams' wardrobe work across seasons. These aren't off-the-rack approximations adjusted at the waist; they're garments built specifically for the actor's body, adjusted for movement, constructed for twelve-hour shooting days under hot lights.
Custom work means properly set shoulders that accommodate real movement, button stances positioned for actual proportions, breaks that someone specified down to the quarter-inch. The burgundy suit shows the hand of bespoke construction: it fits through the shoulders without pulling, drapes through the torso without clinging, moves with the ease that only comes from garments built for the specific person wearing them.
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A Red Carpet and TV Favorite
The Tailory New York has become known for dressing actors, musicians, and creatives who need custom suiting that performs under scrutiny—whether that's red carpet photography or the unforgiving detail of HD television production. The commitment to Detective Williams' wardrobe across five seasons of Only Murders in the Building represents the kind of long-term costume design relationship that elevates supporting characters to lead-level attention.
When Dana Covarrubias and the OMITB costume team committed to sourcing Detective Williams' entire professional wardrobe from a single atelier, they committed to something television usually treats as interchangeable: the visual language of authority built through consistent, character-specific tailoring.
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The Technical Craft
Custom suiting allows for fit consistency that builds character credibility over time. Bodies shift between seasons, production schedules demand flexibility, but a relationship with a single tailor means adjustments happen within an established framework rather than starting from scratch each season. Detective Williams looks like someone who returns to the same tailor because the relationship works—the kind of lived-in detail that makes fictional characters feel real.
The burgundy two-piece demonstrates what's possible when costume departments invest in custom work: the blazer's single-button closure creates vertical line without rigidity, the matching trousers sit at the natural waist with a break that suggests someone specified exactly how much fabric should meet the shoe, the color choice—burgundy rather than predictable navy—announces confidence without demanding attention.
Five Seasons of Character Through Clothing
As Only Murders in the Building streams its fifth season on Hulu, Detective Williams' wardrobe continues the visual consistency that has defined her character since Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez first started investigating murders in their Upper West Side building. The commitment to The Tailory New York custom work remains intact—a rare example of television costume design that treats supporting characters with the same wardrobe attention typically reserved for leads.
The most effective costume design often works below conscious attention. Audiences don't typically notice when tailoring is working correctly—they simply register a character who seems fully realized, professional, credible. Detective Williams' The Tailory New York wardrobe succeeds precisely because it doesn't demand focus; it simply provides the visual foundation for a character who knows her job and dresses accordingly.
Why Consistent Custom Work Matters
Television costume operates under constraints that don't apply to film: tighter budgets, faster turnarounds, the need to maintain continuity across years of production rather than weeks of shooting. Establishing a single custom source for a character's professional wardrobe makes practical sense—it's easier to maintain consistency when working with a tailor who has measurements, preferences, and fitting history already documented.
But it also represents a creative choice that pays dividends across seasons. By season five, Detective Williams' visual identity is so clearly established that wardrobe becomes character shorthand. The audience recognizes who's entering frame before the camera reveals her face, because those custom blazers and tailored trousers carry recognition weight built over years of consistent, considered costume design.
That's not accident. That's The Tailory New York doing what custom suiting has always done best: building garments around real bodies doing real work, creating clothes that support character rather than costume it.
