Style has always been an integral part of being a megachurch pastor: from the nattily suited prosperity gospel televangelists of the ‘70s and ‘80s and their “the higher the hair, the closer to God” wives to today’s hypepriests, who minister to celebrities like Justin Bieber while dressed like Justin Bieber. So when Danny McBride set out to make his comedy The Righteous Gemstones—which follows a highly successful, albeit highly dysfunctional, family in the church business—he wanted their outfits to reflect the generational differences within the evangelical ecosystem.

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Costume designer Sarah Trost, who previously worked with McBride on Vice Principals, achieved that through a variety of suit cuts, a beanie or two, and an arkload of cross jewelry. Though she was previously unfamiliar with this world, Trost studied photos and footage of famous pastors throughout the decades so that she could nail the looks for the more traditional patriarch Eli Gemstone (John Goodman) and his children Jesse (McBride), Kelvin (Adam Devine), and Judy (Edi Patterson).

For starters, the name of the show is a nod to the twelve gemstones on the Breastplate of Aaron, Moses’s brother, which appears in the Old Testament. Trost used that as a loose guiding palette for the outfit’s color schemes. “Each of the family members has their own color assigned to them, which is not terribly overt, but if you're looking for it you'll see it,” she told me. “I picked the one that seemed to work the best with our characters. Kelvin’s is emerald. For Jesse, it’s the ruby. Judy is sapphire, so she’s got that blue look. ”

McBride wanted Jesse specifically to have a flamboyant, vintage Southern look—think Memphis Mafia suits with Conway Twitty helmet hair. So Trost turned to the most iconic Southern preacher of them all: Elvis. “There are some pretty direct Elvis references there,” she explained. “I really love the sort of chain and crucifix over the tie. It was a very Elvis thing to do, especially when he went to Nixon.”

Left center: Danny McBride as Jesse Gemstone; Right: Richard Nixon meeting Elvis Presley. HBO/Getty Images

Jesse’s significantly younger brother, Kelvin, meanwhile, has a much more casual vibe to him, with his deep v-neck t-shirts and arms stacked with beaded bracelets. While I initially thought celebrity-favored churches like Hillsong were the inspiration, Trost said it’s even more basic than that: “His look is really influenced by Christian rock bands.”