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‘Cedar Cove’ style: ‘You don’t have to look like a quirky little hick’

“Cedar Cove” celebrates small-town living, women aging gracefully and dressing well.

“The overall look we are trying to express is a smaller community, but with our various characters they still have a sense of style, so you don’t have to look like a quirky little hick from a small town,” says Lorraine Carson, costume designer for the Saturday Hallmark Channel series, to Zap2it.

Often women in important jobs such as Olivia (Andie MacDowell), a judge, dress in no-nonsense suits, but this character’s wardrobe is not severe.

Olivia “is well educated, she has lived in large cities so she has a sense of sophistication about her,” Carson says. “She is slightly different than the other characters. And Justine (Sarah Smyth), her daughter, has a little style from her mom. Her mom does dress very elegantly but she is still super-sexy.”

Here Olivia wears a soft mint silk chiffon blouse from Nordstrom’s Equipment label and white Ralph Lauren cotton twill jeans. The shoes she wears for much of the show are pewter Joan & David. Justine wears a Sweet Rain teal blouse, and the dotted pattern is actually tiny white doves, on top of salmon Aerie jeans. Justine is a jewelry designer, so the pieces she wears are important to the character. Carson uses Karyn Chopik’s designs, which are made from copper, leather and moonstones.

It’s almost impossible to be anything but classy in navy – OK, certainly some reality show contestants could put that to the test – but this outfit pretty much defines timeless elegance. The sweater is J.Crew, the camisole was a Victoria’s Secret slip until Carson cut it to a cami, and the navy pencil skirt with an overlay of heavy lace is Banana Republic.

Jack (Dylan Neal) was an alcoholic newspaper reporter in Philadelphia and moved to Cedar Cove to recoup. Carson added the Eddie Bauer rain jacket to his Hugo Boss and Calvin Klein blazers, which she found at Nordstrom Rack. He wears Michael Kors pants and John Varvatos shirts. He wears boots from Diesel and Two Boots. “We wanted to keep his city feel to him,” Carson says.

As Olivia’s best friend, Grace (Teryl Rothery) is eclectic. Her free spirit is felt in her jewelry and her clothes, most of which are from Anthropologie, Theory, Tahari and James Perse. Here she wears Paige jeans and a Mexx top, and the suede charcoal shoes are from Clarke.

Combining a Gap sweater over a Tory Burch skirt and stretch jersey tank from Blush gives the character Peggy (Barbara Niven) her look, which Carson says is like the other women in that it’s individual, age-appropriate and still sensual.

“They are sexy and fabulous-looking and show their beautiful bodies off,” Carson says. “You don’t have to be a pencil, and you can show them that you can still look hot.”

Photo/Video credit: Lifetime