Better Call Saul: how fashion plays a key part in the Netflix show’s success as costume designer Jennifer Bryan explains her style choices

As Season 6 ends, we look at how Better Call Saul uses costumes to create a strong visual vocabulary and ultimately contributes to the show’s popularity

Saul Goodman himself is an accidental dandy and unwitting fashion icon that menswear aficionados will treasure as a true original for years to come

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Bob Odenkirk as Saul Goodman in Better Call Saul. Costume designer Jennifer Bryan says she chose strong, bold and “look at me” colour palettes for the show’s main character, and had his suits made in Milan to her designs.

Published: 4:15am, 16 Aug 2022

After debuting in 2015 as a spin-off of the legendary show Breaking Bad, drama series Better Call Saul has come to an end with the last episode of its sixth season.

Set in the early 2000s in Albuquerque, in the US state of New Mexico, the show centres on the backstory of former con-artist-turned-lawyer Jimmy McGill, aka Saul Goodman, a flamboyant character who first appeared in the second season of Breaking Bad.

Loud, larger than life and slightly obnoxious, Goodman is the definition of the conflicted anti-hero you want to root for but at the same time can’t help despising for his questionable choices.

The crude and at times hilarious depiction of his harrowing descent into the underworld of New Mexico crime and of his involvement with drug cartels across the border has won the cult show legions of fans, including former US president Barack Obama.

Bob Odenkirk as Saul Goodman in Better Call Saul.

An important aspect of Better Call Saul that has flown under the radar is the show’s great costumes, courtesy of costume designer Jennifer Bryan, who also worked on the last season of Breaking Bad and on Genius: Aretha, a series on singer Aretha Franklin.