She may host some of the top-rated series on HGTV, but Retta still has to cut corners when it comes to her on-air wardrobe.
On September 28, 2025, the star of “Ugliest House in America” and “Scariest House in America” revealed in a series of Instagram Stories that her bold and vibrant wardrobe is the result of some serious creativity with her stylist Jaime Elyse, whose sewing skills consistently come in handy since they can’t afford to buy expensive clothes for each episode.
Retta Says Her Favorite Vibe is an Outfit With a Collar
Retta began her series of Instagram Stories by sharing, “Every season, I get a lot of questions about where I get my wardrobe for ‘Ugliest’ and ‘Scariest.’ Most of the time, we make everything.”
With the second season of “Scariest House in America” underway, featuring the comedian touring particularly spooky homes across the United States, Retta said in one Story, “This season, as is often the case, the budget was not — we did more episodes of ‘Scariest’ (than the first season), but the budget couldn’t be adjusted for that, so we did a lot of editing … we bought a lot of stuff and then changed them.”
“I look on Pinterest, I look at looks that I like, and we try to make the version that will work for this body,” Retta said.
Noting that she and Elyse got many items from Eloquii, which calls itself “the ultimate destination for trendy plus size fashion,” Retta said they then transformed the original items and “made them what I like.”
For instance, sharing an example from an episode in one of her Stories, she pointed out a black dress to which they added a custom collar, cuff, belt, and placket, but later noted, “I say ‘we’ but I wasn’t in the fabric shop. That was Jamie’s assistance — went and found fabric that we like, different patterns for different looks.”
“Almost anything with a collar, we made because I like a collar,” she said. “That’s my favorite vibe. So anything you see with a collar, we made it, or at least we added collars and cuffs.”
Retta Says She Wears What Feels Good, Customizing Whatever She Can
In another Instagram Story, the “Parks & Rec” alum said she also “got some stuff that I just wore” as-is, including several sweatsuits for her “athleisure era.” She laughed, “There’s one coming up on ‘Scariest’ that I am obsessed with. We may have some mixed reviews.”
But not every casual outfit went unchanged. She pointed out the white parka she wore in the September 26 episode, called “The Haunted Heartland,” and described how her stylist customized it for her.
“This is something that we bought, but edited,” she said. “So, the jacket was white. We added the green. We added the green stripes, the green around the hood and the zipper, and the green cuffs. And then we made it especially for me, because we put my name on the back.”
In a subsequent Story, she shared a photo of “RETTA” written across the lower back of the jacket.
In 2021, Retta told Fashionista that she used to try to hide her body before she discovered how certain fashions can accentuate what she loves, noting, “If you feel good in something, you’ll look good in it.”
“If I like the look of it and I put it on and I think it looks good, I’m wearing it,” Retta said at the time. “I don’t wear tight clothes just because I don’t feel comfortable in it — but then again, sometimes I’ll wear the tight pants with this big sweater or I’ll wear something that’ll accentuate the boobs. I never used to do that before. It was all hiding everything. I think the look of the outfit comes from how you feel about it.”
Retta, YOU ALWAYS LOOK GREAT!!!!!! They got THE BEST when they got YOU!!!