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If you spent last weekend binge-watching Master of None’s phenomenal second season, chances are you eventually emerged from your Netflix cocoon craving two things: pasta and polka dots. And while the first is self-explanatory — heck, there’s an entire episode devoted to Dev (co-creator Aziz Ansari) and Arnold’s (Eric Wareheim) Modena food tour — you can blame the latter on Dev’s stunning season 2 love interest, Francesca (Alessandra Mastronardi). Her closet is full of pretty classics ranging from adorable spotted separates to the most perfect camel coat; it’s enough to make you abandon your French-girl style obsession in favor of lo stile italiano.

Dev also gets to wear some great pieces this season, from a plaid, shearling-trimmed Saint Laurent coat to an “I Want Pasta” T-shirt that, well, I want. And for fan favorite Denise (Lena Waithe), clothing plays a crucial role in her coming out to her mother, a process beautifully captured in the show’s “Thanksgiving” episode. I caught up with Dana Covarrubias, Master of None’s costume designer, to discuss.

I fell in love with Francesca’s whole wardrobe this season. Where did you start with her costumes?

The main inspiration for her was Monica Vitti, who was in L'Avventura. She’s just one of those timeless, beautiful Italian actresses. So we researched her look in all her films and based all of Francesca’s looks off of those silhouettes and patterns and colors. One of the main looks she wears in L'Avventura is this polka-dot dress, so we tried to work polka dots throughout Alessandra’s wardrobe, whether through a headband or a scarf or a shoe.

We were sort of thinking of it like, “Who is she compared to who Rachel [Noël Wells] was, fashion-wise?” Rachel was such a hip Brooklyn girl, and that couldn’t be more different from a young Italian woman. So what did we want to say with Francesca’s style? I think that for anyone who’s ever been to Italy, the first thing you notice is how amazing all the Italian women dress — it’s sexy, it’s simple, and they’re just so fashionable all the time. It’s not even necessarily designer stuff — it’s the way they wear it and their attitude. So we wanted to sort of achieve that with her character.

She’ll wear a classic, timeless men’s dress shirt, or a luxe sheath dress that’s perfectly tailored. And Alessandra is such a beautiful person who radiates an amazing energy, so that just brings it all to life.

Did you shop anywhere specific for her?

I did most of her shopping on The Outnet and Net-a-Porter, but for her, a lot of it was about tailoring. Like the polka-dot French Connection dress she wears to Chef Jeff’s [Bobby Cannavale] party — it was actually kind of frumpy [originally], but we had a wonderful tailor who kind of restructured it and made it perfect for her body.

Her little polka-dot headscarf from the first episode is Saint Laurent, and she wears it with these little striped Dolce & Gabbana flats and a simple men’s Margiela shirt that felt very effortless. We were constantly asking, “What will look sexy and classic, but also make sense since you work in a pasta shop?”

We tried to work in some vintage pieces, too, and some stuff from Aritzia and Madewell; her purses are from Madewell. Her camel coat is & Other Stories, and the other coat she wears, with the red, gray, and black stripes, is Isabel Marant. And all of her jewelry we got from Catbird.

Dev’s style seems to align pretty closely with Aziz’s own. What’s it like to dress him for Master of None?

Aziz is very collaborative with the wardrobe — he himself is very into fashion! I would say a fair amount of the stuff Dev wears — maybe half, even — comes from Aziz’s own closet. A lot of it is actually stuff that we bought for season 1 that has become part of Aziz’s own wardrobe.

Of course, we can’t always use his personal stuff — obviously he needs to have his own clothing, plus we need multiples for certain scenes or stunts. So he’ll say “You know, I really love this brand or that brand,” and then we’ll go shop it. We base everything off of his look, though.

What are some of those brands? I know he wore a lot of Band of Outsiders — which, sadly, is no longer — in season 1.

Last season, yes, we did a lot of Band of Outsiders — and we used some this season too, the stuff we had left over. We use tons of Steven Alan — so much Steven Alan — mostly the shirts. This season, we used a lot of Ami outerwear, which is so perfect for Aziz as a city dude; it’s casual, but the fabrics are really beautiful and you can mix and match everything. He wears a lot of Saint Laurent, and his suits are all Brooklyn Tailors; they make beautiful suits, and the price point’s really good. It’s not that crazy.

All of his pants are Unis. Their stuff is really great because I think the designer meant for the brand to fall into that ’60s menswear silhouette, and that’s kind of what we try to achieve on the show. The first season it was more Americana ’60s — our main inspirations for Aziz’s wardrobe were The Graduate and Woody Allen films. For the second season, it was all about Italian neorealism and ’60s Italian black-and-white films.

The shoes he wears most of the time are Common Projects. He already had some from season 1, but they came out with a couple new colors this season, like this beautiful taupe suede pair we used a lot. And we used some great navy loafers by Alden — they’re the kind of loafers you could buy and they’d last you a lifetime.

For the first and second episodes [which are set entirely in Italy], we really wanted to focus on using Italian designers. So we had a lot of Zegna, Brunello Cucinelli, Boglioli, and Isaia — all his linen pants are Isaia. Most of his blazers were by Caruso, this beautiful Italian brand.

We then tried to sprinkle those Italian pieces throughout the rest of the season, to work it into his New York look. You know, he’d been there for a while, and I think when you travel somewhere, it sort of influences you for the rest of your life.

A lot of Dev’s wardrobe is pretty pricey. How do you justify the cost within his story?

Well, he has made some commercial money — Go-Gurt money! Commercials pay a lot. And once he gets Clash of the Cupcakes, he’s making some pretty good money with that. We think he would go to Barneys or any of these higher-end stores and just shop the sale racks, get a couple things and wear them constantly for several years. The Common Projects sneakers, for example — sure, they’re $400 shoes, but he wears them every single day, so that kind of makes it okay.

We’re really strategic with his closet; everything’s pretty expensive, but the pieces are limited. He only has five pairs of chinos, three pairs of shoes, two jackets, and maybe 10-15 dress shirts, and we just rotate them all.

He does seem like the type to spend all his money on cool clothes and great restaurants.

Exactly! And that’s how I am; Aziz and I are the same age, and we sort of get that about each other. I choose to spend on those exact same things. Like, I have a few really nice, beautiful pieces in my closet, but I reuse them over and over. And, well, it’s hard in New York not to spend all your money on food!

Speaking of food and clothing, I’m obsessed with Dev’s “I Want Pasta” T-shirt. What’s the story with that piece?

We made it! He wore it in season 1, and we brought it back for season 2. I think Aziz came up with the concept, actually — we just wanted some graphic piece to work into his wardrobe, but on television shows it can be hard to get legal approval to use graphic tees. Sometimes it’s just better to make your own stuff! So we talked to the graphic designer on the show and were just like, “What if he had a shirt that said ‘I Want Pasta’ — but the letters were pasta?”

I read that the eighth episode, “Thanksgiving,” was based on Lena Waithe’s own coming-out experience. What was it like working together on that?

I had a lot of conversations with Lena and Aziz about what they used to wear when they were kids. Lena shared some family photos with me, and the director, Melina Matsoukas, also had a lot of inspiration to work with.

We all did a ton of research and combined our research, and then combed the internet trying to find classic ’90s hip-hop pieces — Cross Colours, vintage Tommy, vintage Polo, that kind of stuff. It was so fun! We did a lot of Etsy and a lot of eBay.

My favorite moment is when Denise refuses to wear her Thanksgiving dress and comes out wearing that Malcolm X hat with the Cross Colours shorts and vintage Nikes.

Clothing plays a big role in that episode in particular! I noticed that at the end, Denise and her mom (played by Angela Bassett) are both in matching blazers and white shirts. That was intentional, yes?

Yeah! We played with the idea of the parent and the kid coming together visually a couple of times [this season]. You see it at the end of that episode when Denise and her mother find this common ground, and we did it again with Brian (Kelvin Yu) and his dad in one episode; at the end, you see them both in these windowpane-checked dress shirts.

Lena must be so fun to work with! Her style is incredible.

Oh my god, yes. I actually took my inspiration for Denise from the normal look Lena rocks every day! She’s a girl who’s into comfort and looking fly. We tried to incorporate all her favorite colors and patterns into her wardrobe. She and I have so much fun creating her looks.

Did you have a particular favorite episode to work on this season?

I mean, definitely the Italian ones — because I got to go to Italy for three weeks to work on those! Watching the season back now, though, one of my favorites is “New York, I Love You.” It’s shot so beautifully, and it was interesting to see those vignettes of people’s lives, as a New Yorker who’s lived here for 15 years. It was really special, like a beautiful movie unto itself.

And design-wise, since all the main characters on Master of None are pretty fashionable and have a bit of money, it was fun to do these side characters who dressed more realistically.

I have to ask about the pizza scarf that pops up in that episode. I looked for it on the Fishs Eddy site, since that’s where that scene takes place, and couldn’t find it. What’s the story?

The [pizza scarf] was a scripted moment, so we scoured the internet and found a few options, but they just weren’t as fun as we thought they could be. We ended up finding one on Etsy that had crocheted pepperoni! We were scheduled to shoot in a couple of days, so we emailed the owner begging her, “Please, can you make us 20 of these in two days?” It was really funny.

Master of None season 2 is now streaming on Netflix.