Jessica Jones Costume Designer Responds To Criticism Over The Character's Jeans

The second season of Jessica Jones, the Marvel show about a private investigator with a dark past, arrived on Netflix Thursday — on International Women's Day, no less! — bringing with it action, mystery, and an exploration of the female psyche. Plus, it takes on how women handle post-traumatic stress. Yet, of all things, we're talking about jeans. Jones' iconic pair of jeans is distinctive. Ripped and slightly low-slung, they're almost of a different era. Mainly, people are not a fan of the fact that she only seems to have one pair of jeans. The jeans have been described as "musty-ass."

This is not strictly true — Jones, first of all, wears a variety of jeans. In the first season, these were Citizens of Humanity jeans, all of them distressed by the show's costume department. As per Elisabeth Vastola, the costume designer for season 2 of the series, Jessica actually swaps her slim-fits in the middle of the season.

"In terms of what we did with her denim this season, we used the Citizens of Humanity jeans, but I think about the middle of the season, we move into denim by a company called R13," Vastola told Refinery29. Refinery29 reached out to Vastola after noticing that she commented on criticism of the jeans online. Vastola felt that the anger towards the jeans was unfair, especially because there's a whole team of people in charge of picking out what Jessica wears.

"Honestly, if Jessica Jones read [the criticism], she'd be like, 'I don't give a fuck what you think,'" Vastola pointed out. When it comes to Jessica Jones, denim is truly inconsequential.

It's partially because Jessica Jones is an anti-superhero. Though her story is Marvel property, her narrative is one of denial: She doesn't want to be a hero. Thus, she doesn't dress like one. She drinks too much, she chugs Red Bull (yum!), and she isn't keen on making friends. She doesn't have a "super suit," as Edna Mode would say, she just has her denim and her leather jacket.

"The point I try to make about the clothing on Jessica Jones is that these women — all of the women in the show — are not dressing for any kind of male or female perspective, " Vastola said. "They're really just dressing for themselves. Maybe there's something uncomfortable about that."

Oh, and that leather jacket? Yeah, Jessica Jones never takes it off, even in a heat wave. In the middle of season 2, a heat wave does hit New York, as it's wont to do, and Jones keeps her trusty jacket on. Why all the sweaty discomfort? According to Vastola, the possibility of taking the jacket off was discussed. "Krysten and I had a pretty lengthy discussion about that," Vastola said. "We came to the conclusion that that jacket is a security blanket for her. It's so loaded with everything that she's been through, and it's so protective for her, that she would rather be hot and sweaty and uncomfortable than walk around in a tank top outside."