Why Susie Essman's Curb Your Enthusiasm costumes are more garish than ever

Vanity Fair

Essman credits her costume designer Leslie Schilling, who joined the show in 2016, with mastering “the Susie Green look." “It almost makes it a little funnier whenever she’s wearing (something) very sparkly, but she’s calling someone a motherfucker or like, you know, a fat f*ck or something because she herself looks so ridiculous while she’s saying all of it. It’s like a part of her personality that’s like a security blanket because she’s like, ‘No one’s going to mess with me if this is how I look and I can mess with everyone else,’” says Schilling. But Essman points out that she's responsible for her character's look. “Larry (David) and I, over the past 21 years and 11 seasons, have never had a discussion about the character," says Essman. "Not about anything, about our relationship, about the character, about what she looks like, about what she dresses like. That was all on me.” One thing that Essman maintains is that she wants Green to look “as though it’s real.” “I don’t want it to be a cartoon," Essman adds. "And there’s a fine line there between her dressing like a cartoon and dressing like a real person. You don’t want it to cross the line where it’s unrealistic, even though it’s comedy."