FULL ARTICLE HERE … (also check out the OITNB shoutout!)

Olivia Pope doesn’t always wear white.

Ask anyone who hasn’t watched “Scandal” before and even they could tell you that Olivia Pope wears white. But, the truth is — she doesn’t wear it as much as people give her credit for. The show’s costume designer Lyn Paolo discussed the conundrum amongst the show’s audience.

Paolo and the rest of the panelists explained that “white is not a television color,” as it is “hard to light” and “sticks out” among a crowd of character outfits. Paolo says she’s only dressed Olivia in the color a couple of times throughout this past season, noting that the gleaming nature of white on camera contributes to why people really remember those “clean slate” pieces compared to her usual gray palette.

On another note, Paolo mentioned that “silly little things” like texture and silhouettes “really tell the story.” For example, Paolo focused on Abby Whelen — who in the beginning of her time on the show wore “tight” and “rigid” clothing that fit into her life’s happenings — but as she fell into an intimate relationship, her attire became “lighter” with looser layers, as her exterior attitude began to unravel.