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As Sweet Home Alabama’s Southern-born, Manhattan-based fashion designer Melanie Carmichael, Reese Witherspoon had to find her inner fashionista. Her style ”needed to be simple, but interesting,” says costumer Sophie Carbonell (who drenched Witherspoon in hot pink for ”Legally Blonde”). To achieve ”funky without being too outrageous,” Carbonell used Marc Jacobs duds to sub for Melanie’s own designs, and filled out the wardrobe with the basic black top and flowered Marni skirt (handpicked by Witherspoon) Melanie wears for her return to Alabama and plenty of casual denim.

Not that Carbonell didn’t find room for improvement: For a dash of color she added silky red trim from a Tracy Feith shirt to Jacobs’ black off-the-shoulder sweater (an equally striking accent? Witherspoon’s down-home costar Josh Lucas). There was only one rule: ”Absolutely no pink!” says Carbonell, who will see plenty of the bubbly tone when she outfits Witherspoon for the ”Legally Blonde” sequel ”Red, White & Blonde” (due next year). ”I don’t care what shade — pink was not allowed in this movie!”

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