The Umbrella Academy Season 2: The Handler’s best outfits
By Mads Lennon
The Handler’s outfits were a highlight of The Umbrella Academy Season 2.
The Handler might be nefarious, but no one can deny she has incredible style. It helps that Kate Walsh is truly incredible in the role throughout The Umbrella Academy Season 2, I was glad to see her return as an antagonist.
Costume designer Christopher Hargadon worked closely with Walsh to get the outfits just right, and they recently chatted with Variety about the wardrobe choices throughout the season. We decided to highlight a few of our favorites.
The Demotion Outfit
The Handler wears a striking, fitted, vibrant red outfit with black pinstripe accents and a giant hat with a veil attachment in the second episode of the second season. It’s the outfit she wears to her meeting with AJ Carmichael when he ultimately demotes her and sticks her in Five’s old desk.
Hargadon intentionally wanted it to look insect-like in the back, he said like a wasp, although to me it reminded me more of a black widow look. The blacks and reds were a great hint at The Handler’s villainous persona staying intact despite her close brush with death. Even Walsh said this outfit was one of her favorites.
The Gold Coat
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A major plot point of The Umbrella Academy Season 2 revolved around John F. Kennedy and his impending assassination.
So, it was a perfect opportunity for the costume designers to work in a Jackie Kennedy homage somehow, and the show succeeded in doing that a few times, but none more splendidly than in the mid-season outfit she wore which was a wide skirt and a nipped waist composed out of luxurious gold fabric.
According to Hardagan, Walsh wanted something that looked larger in the outwear, but “nipped and slim” beneath so she could “feel like a cockroach.”
“Within her persona and acting, she wanted this feeling of something very cringe-worthy and not easy to look at. She wanted something creepy and psychotic lurking beneath,” said the costume designer.
Walsh noted that it was extremely sensual with the luminous satiny fabric and the stunning brocade. Everything worked in perfect harmony with that outfit, from the shoes to the massive headpiece.
look, we all know that #UmbrellaAcademy2 was great, but the main star of the show was The Handler's iconic outfits — I am simply obsessed and will forever stan this character for that reason | @BuzzFeedOz @UmbrellaAcad @katewalsh https://t.co/7LH1Z0Ke3Z pic.twitter.com/cPJf1n00lT
— Isha Bassi (@Isha_Bassi) August 4, 2020
The Winner: Her Coronation Outfit
I’m not entirely sure what to call this outfit and Lila cheekily referred to it as a “coronation outfit” so I thought that seemed like the best title! The stunning ensemble Walsh rocks in the penultimate episode of the season (and the one in the Tweet above) is easily my favorite.
It’s breathtaking like I want to wear it to get groceries, I’d walk around in that whole thing every day. It looks incredible on Walsh like she’s a silver-and-gold warrior goddess of some kind.
Everything from the glittering bodice to the chainmail webbing around her neck and draped across her shoulders is impeccable. Plus, it excellently ties together Hardagan’s theme of spiders and general creepiness about The Handler, particularly if you look at this scene in the context of her weaving Lila deeper into a twisted story.
The scene she wears this resplendent outfit is the one where we find out the truth about her history with Lila’s parents, but she doesn’t tell her daughter the truth. Instead, she spins a tale about how Diego and Five are all in a grand conspiracy to hurt Lila together. It is a villainess at her prime and she caps it all off by taking AJ out of his fishbowl and swallowing him in one fatal gulp.
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Which of The Handler’s outfits was your personal favorite? What was your favorite moment from The Handler in The Umbrella Academy Season 2? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
The Umbrella Academy Season 2 is now available to stream on Netflix.