One of Cole's biggest influences for Zoey's style? The women surrounding the character behind-the-scenes.
"I have a great team of people so I pick from them. I went to college in the ‘70s, so some of her ‘70s thing is a little bit of me, then I have one, she has a little bit of homegirl in her, so there's a little bit of that too. All of my assistants have their own style and then Yara has her own, so it's really great to see all these little pieces come together," Cole said.
Of her leading leading lady, who's become a rising star in the fashion world, Cole highlighted her as a major source of inspiration, citing her charity work, her acceptance into Harvard University, and her personal style. "Yara inspires you. She totally inspires you. She has a lot of input. She lets you play," she said.
Aside from Zoey, her one-time (and maybe future?) paramour and fellow fashion student has quickly become one of TV's best dressed characters, rocking skirts, house-robes with ease and swagger to spare. The inspiration for Luca's eclectic style? The actor himself, as series creator Kenya Barris based the character on Sabbat.
"One of the things Kenya said was he loved his style," Cole said. "[Sabbat] does know the stores, he does know the people, so…he did bring some things into it. He's very good about giving his input, but I think at the end we started to get this rhythm with him and he's really easy. Honestly, he looks great in everything. I mean, the man wears a house-robe!
"He's pretty much playing himself. His wardrobe is pretty much his," Cole continues, noting he wears his own shoes and custom-made jewelry on the show. "It's him. It's who he really is. It doesn't fall far from what his own personal style is."
Luca's sartorial opposite? Aaron, who is "just fighting for a cause, so his clothes are reflected that way. He's in his cotton-wear where I think Luka is in his designer-wear, so there's a big difference."
Cole incorporated a lot of cotton and camoflage into Aaron's wardrobe, though noted cause-crusade chic doesn't always equal cheap.
"His stuff is kind of expensive as well, but it doesn't look it, it doesn't look like he's dripping with it," Cole explained. "I don't think he gets up thinking about his wardrobe, but he's sexy."
Wanting to look like he's dripping with money? The gang's resident drug dealer, who because of his upbringing--a traditional Indian family, revealing in the premiere episode that his father is a taxi driver--so he "doesn't want that lifestyle for himself so he's doing this." And it's reflected in his clothing. "He's doing selling and he's making his money and he's wearing it," Cole said. "His hair is always coiffed. He looks good and he's got a job, he's making some money."
And the actor is a huge fan of his character's style, with Cole gushed, "He's so nice! You cannot get him out of the fitting. He's having a ball, he's having a great time wearing his clothes. He is. He'll write me little notes and go, ‘I love my clothes, Michelle.' He's such a sweet guy, so it's so funny to see him be this character because he's such a great guy. His parents came in to see him, so cute!"
Though Zoey's roommate is a Latin Republican, Cole stressed she's "not stuffy," and said, "When she does go out, we do dress her up a little bit. She's not opposed to showing her legs. I believe her character still wants to be fashionable. She goes out in her hot pants! She's not a goody-goody girl. She does have an attitude so her clothes reflect that."
Cole turned to brands such as Theory, Vince, Zara, DVF to establish Ana's look.
One undergrad's style you shouldn't even bother trying to pin down? Nomi, whose fashion preferences change just about as fast as her dating life. (Cole called the unexpected jersey-and-camo outfit in this photo one of her favorites of the season.)
"She's a cutie," Cole said. "[She's] discovering who she is…from the pants we put on her and the little tight tanks and then we'll go to the shorts with the combat boots and then we'll go to something really prissy and pretty. I think that's a range right there."
The twins being track athletes means a lot of athleisure and sweats, so Cole and her team made sure to establish Jaz and Sky's individual styles off the field, noting that hair and make-up are a big factor when it came to their looks as well.
"They go to the little bar a lot, so we have a lot of scenes where you only see them from the waist up so we try to dress them as cute as we can from the waist up," she said. "We try to change the hair and add pieces and doing things to them. When they go out without their sweat suits that's when we get a chance to see them, in that setting, so we try to pump their look up a little bit to make them different. Kenya didn't want them dressing exactly the same and they're still different people, they're still different individuals."