Fall TV fashion: Out fitting 'Scandal'

As the former director of communications at the White House, crisis management guru Olivia Pope whips her clients into shape. And she looks good while doing it.

So good, in fact, that there are countless blogs dedicated to the "Scandal" character's chic, business casual attire.

Using dainty jewelry, a pastel color palette and perfectly tailored separates, costume designer Lyn Paolo said her plan for Olivia, played by actress Kerry Washington, was to "create a vision of femininity, but still show strength."

Olivia's wardrobe will look more or less the same when the ABC series' second season premieres on September 27, Paolo said. But possibly not for long.

"What we're doing with (Olivia) works, and it's a theme that we'll stay with; however, because of things I can't tell you, we may change slightly," she teased. "There are certain tonal things that I'm doing at the moment to express the differences in (the characters') lives. Specifically with the Quinn (Katie Lowes) character and Huck (Guillermo Díaz) character."

Whether Quinn's secret identity will influence her wardrobe remains to be seen. And who knows what's in store for Huck, a former CIA operative with a dark past.

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Either way, this won't be the first time Paolo has played with color and texture to evoke a certain tone. She said Olivia dons cashmere and silk when she's at home because she's more vulnerable, and she often wears darker colors during flashbacks to show that she was a different person back then.

As a costume designer, Paolo says her job is to "create another human. If you're really doing your job, you're making it easy for an actor to inhabit that person's skin. ... They can walk into their trailer in the morning, don the costume and all of a sudden, they become that other person."

In her more than 20 years as a costume designer, Paolo has worked on "ER" and "Southland," as well as "The West Wing," which might explain her knack for picking out a good power suit.