HBO Max’s “Gossip Girl” returned for its second season on Dec. 1. The show continues to follow the lives of Recent York’s Upper East Side crew who attend the celebrated Constance Billard — St. Jude’s School.

Fashion has continued to play a giant part within the storylines and lives of the characters because the show’s original run on The CW network from 2007 to 2012, under the helm of costume designer Eric Daman, who returned for the reboot.

In the unique series, he brought the characters to life with designs from brands like Henri Bendel, Chanel, Valentino and Gucci. It made style stars out of Blake Vigorous as Serena Celia van der Woodsen and Leighton Meester as Blair Waldorf.

Although he incorporates a lot of those brands into the reboot, the brand new series needed to reflect the Upper East Side youth of today and the increased diversity within the solid. For the show’s second season, Daman sought out latest designers to assist further the characters’ style, plot lines and private development.

“This season, we brought in younger brands for the ladies, like Marine Serre and LaQuan Smith,” Daman said. “We also saw other brands and designers, like Conner Ives, David Koma and Natasha Zinko. I worked with Simone Rocha quite a bit to develop the college shirts because, after all, the brand new ‘Gossip Girl’ schoolgirl shirt is by Simone Rocha. For the boys, we’re seeing brands like Alyx, 73 London and Bode.”

This season, Daman desired to focus more on sustainability, as that is imperative to Gen Z and the way in which they shop now. Season two features more fashion pieces which are vintage and archival, including Alexander McQueen, Saint Laurent and types Daman found on The RealReal.

“It’s a latest terrain for me to usher in as many archival pieces and vintage pieces as we’ve this season,” Daman said. “Even with people within the background, I used to be very mindful. We now have a lot background dressing this season with all these elaborate black-tie events. It just seemed wasteful to maintain buying all these latest gowns when there have been all these incredible archival and vintage pieces.”

Daman says certainly one of the things he loves about Gen Z is their appreciation for nostalgia and pieces with a superb story, and that vintage and archival pieces come to life in a way that pieces off the rack or bought at a sample sale don’t.

Daman also referenced inspiration from the unique “Gossip Girl,” and wanted to present the reboot the editorialized fashion sense that viewers got here to expect from the unique.

“With the show’s first season, we desired to debut this latest world and had a more low-key, minimalist, monochrome vibe,” Daman said. “This season, there are heavier accessories, more vibrant colours and more pattern mixing, so it looks like we’re echoing the unique ‘Gossip Girl.’”

The primary episode of season two picks up the day after the finale episode of season one, so viewers first see the characters return within the outfits from season one’s closing scene. Nevertheless, the style quickly transitions from there and immediately becomes a part of the conversation and even the plot, because the characters shop for an upcoming debutante ball.

Daman brought in additional diverse designers this season, in addition to independent designers and types based in Recent York and Brooklyn. Daman had Andrea Pitter, a young Black female designer known for her bridal collection and winning season certainly one of “Making The Cut,” design a dress worn by the character Julien Calloway.

The costume designer said that this season there are such a lot of big red carpet style moments it’s like a “fashion punch within the face.”

One in every of the brand new characters that Daman had a good time dressing was Shan, played by actress Grace Duah.

“At the top of the last season, after we first met Shan, she was like a tornado in a teacup,” Daman said. “She was this wild child, and we didn’t understand how wealthy she was. This season, we discover out she’s certainly one of the wealthiest girls at school. I needed to take her style from Trash & Vaudeville to Dover Street Market. We see her in brands including Sacai, Rick Owens, Comme des Garçons, Monse and Margiela.”

Daman also brought in Brooklyn-based designers, including ready-to-wear designer Theophilio and jewellery designer Martine Ali, to assist create Shan’s wardrobe.

“What I really like about living and dealing in Recent York is we get to bring all these under-the-radar designers that youngsters just like the ‘Gossip Girl’ characters could be running around Recent York and encountering,” Daman said. “We’re privileged to be on this city with amazing artists and designers.”

The character Monet, played by Savannah Lee Smith, goals to turn into the resident Queen Bee on the show this season. To reflect that, Daman harkened back to style inspiration from the unique “Gossip Girl,” specifically Meester’s Waldorf.

To that end, Daman wanted an updated version of Blair’s signature headbands. Throughout the season, we’ll see Monet in headbands by Deepa Gurnani, Lele Sadoughi and Jennifer Behr. Behr was the designer behind most of the headbands featured in the unique run of “Gossip Girl,” leading Daman to wish to work together with her again.

Despite the echoes back to the primary “Gossip Girl” series, Daman says the brand new generation has a distinct approach to their lifestyle and fashion in comparison with the unique series characters.

“In the unique series, we saw the children living, respiration and dying all the world of the Upper East Side similar to their parents did,” Daman said. “These latest kids might go to highschool on the Upper East Side, but also they are running around Brooklyn. They’re less conservative, there are fewer pearls and fewer twin set ensembles.”

Season two of Gossip Girl debuted on Dec. 1 on HBO Max. The episodes will follow a weekly release format.