Big little spoilers for Big Little Lies ahead.
Hello, excuse me — who’s in charge around here? I would like to speak to them about the star of last night’s episode of HBO’s Big Little Lies, Renata Klein’s crocodile-print Balmain blazer.
To recap briefly: So far this season, the lies in Monterey continue to be both big and little, as do the bangs, and Renata Klein (played by the flawless Laura Dern) who loves being rich more than anything — except maybe her Amabella — is facing the chilling possibility of suddenly being not rich because of shady trades her dirtbag husband made.
Still, this looming threat of bankruptcy will not keep Renata from her second-favorite activity (after No. 1. Being Rich): being loudly outraged.
Renata loves to shout at people — about her Amabella, about how busy she is, about her Amabella. But, perhaps shaken by the possibility of financial ruin, before making her rounds of vocal indignation around Monterey, this time, Renata armors up first with what appears to be the Classic Crocodile-Print Blazer from Balmain. It is a classic yet bold, predatory jacket choice that bestows upon Renata superhuman levels of “I Would Like to Speak to the Manager” energy.
Here she is wearing it to shout at her Amabella’s second-grade teacher, Mr. Perkins, and the Otter Bay Elementary School principal, Mr. Nippal, for teaching her daughter about climate change, and giving her an anxiety attack. Empowered, presumably, by the blazer, she calls Principal Nippal an “idiot,” “pitiful,” “a bug,” and someone who “pretends like he’s not a smoker, hasn’t been laid in 15 fucking years.” She also assures them, “I will be rich again. I will rise up. I will buy a fucking polar bear for every kid in this school.” The power of a good jacket.
Here she is later, wearing the blazer at Madeline Mackenzie’s (Reese Witherspoon) real-estate office, and looking affronted after Mary Louise Wright (Meryl Streep and her fake teeth) pretended not to remember her, and then pointed out that Renata was there when Perry died. “What — what the fuck was that?” asked the blazer/Renata incredulously.
For their last stop of the day, the blazer takes Renata back to her own house, down to what we must assume her husband, Gordon, calls his Man Cave — a room full of toy planes, and an enormous model train set, and Gordon wearing leather bracelets. Renata announces that she is throwing Amabella a birthday party and sparing no cost, and demands Gordon sell his “fucking toys.”
Is Renata wearing the blazer? Or is the blazer wearing her? It’s not entirely clear. Regardless, they would both like to speak to your manager, thank you very much.
