The Ladies Of The Handmaid's Tale Are Gorgeous In Real Life

"The Handmaid's Tale" is a truly unforgettable show. Not only does it have bold themes and compelling characters, but the costumes — red cloaks and dresses worn by the handmaids — are iconic. They are so iconic that it may be jarring to see some of the actors out of costume.

The reality is, the cast of "The Handmaid's Tale" looks amazing in their own outfits, whether it's a tee and jeans on the street or an ultra-glitzy red-carpet gown, and some are almost unrecognizable. From Elizabeth Moss' comfortable and charming style to Madeline Brewer's bold glamor, many of these women rock fashion choices that are worlds away from their "Handmaid's Tale" costumes, and totally worth checking out.

Elizabeth Moss' character June Osborne cuts an ultra-memorable image: The long red cloak and white head covering is hard to forget, and Moss even formed an attachment to the garment. "I have a full-set handmaid's costume — I don't know what I'm going to do with it, it's not like I'm going to wear it," she told The Hollywood Reporter in 2025.

While she might not be wearing her iconic costume in real life, she did reveal to Glamour in 2022 that lots of work went into designing the costume. "There were a couple things that were really important about this costume to Ane [Crabtree] and I. One, I wanted it to be really comfortable. It was something I was going to have to wear a lot. Anyone knows that sometimes it's most important that something is comfortable. One of the tests we did is could you wear this dress out on the street with a pair of flip flops and a cross-body bag in New York City?"

Just as the comfort of Moss' costume was important to her, comfort was a focus for her when it came to street clothes, as well. Talking to Marie Claire in 2013, she shared her go-to styles, which seemed to revolve around practicality. "I have a uniform that almost always involves jean shorts," she admitted. "I have at least 10 pairs of denim shorts, and that is just denim; I have other shorts too. When people wear jeans, I will wear shorts, unless it's winter." She went on to reveal that her go-to 'fit would be shorts with "a white T-shirt or black tank top with Rag & Bone booties."

While Yvonne Strahovski's character Serena Joy may be a villain, it doesn't stop her style from being iconic. Instead of red, her character often wears dresses in shades of deep, subdued green. In some ways, Strahovski's simple, streamlined red-carpet style mirrors the simplicity of Serena Joy's overall style. However, her relationships with her character and with the concept of beauty as an actor are both quite complex. While speaking with Fashion in 2018, she got into her relationship with her character, saying, "She's so harsh, but at the same time, I want to find the humanity in her. She's so unrelatable, but I try to make her relatable through what she's going through emotionally, even though I feel like she resents her own emotions."

When it comes to acting and maintaining beauty standards, Strahovski has had some complex feelings to sort through, as well. "I've had a complicated journey with [beauty] in my lifetime," she told PopSugar in 2025. "There's an expectation, or there used to be, that as an actress you had to be 'pretty' and 'presentable' and 'fashionable.' That part was the part that I rejected, but I still played along because I felt the pressure." She added, though, that she's found her voice through the process: "Now, where I've arrived is that it's whatever makes you feel good, whatever you need or want, or however you choose to express yourself."

Madeline Brewer, aka Janine from "The Handmaid's Tale," is beautiful in real life. And, she has some bold red-carpet style, too. Despite being gorgeous and having a to-die-for aesthetic, Brewer has unexpectedly faced some major backlash for her appearance. In a 2025 conversation with Glamour, she got candid about the trolling she's experienced since appearing in Season 5 of the show "You" and how she's dealt with it.

"I had to process not being liked," she said. "I had to process not being loved or admired or thought to be beautiful or whatever. I just kind of quickly came to terms with the fact that people are not gonna like me, and that's okay." Brewer went on to explain that she doesn't take the comments to heart. "It's actually better that I'm not everyone's cup of tea," she added. "I'm not for everyone. You can't be for everyone, which is something I've always known, but never known. Until now." That sense of confidence is clear in her fashion choices, which typically favor saturated color, fun accents like metallics, and statement footwear. She's also a fan of a bold red lip, which suits her auburn locks.

"You know what? I have other things to do," she noted in her interview. "I have a wedding to plan because I'm going to marry a man who loves me and is obsessed with me and who I'm obsessed with, and I'm also gonna study Frederick Nietzsche, because I have other things to think about with my brain." Clearly, she's also got plenty of red-carpet 'fits to explore. 

The character Emily, or Ofglen, in "The Handmaid's Tale," is certainly not Alexis Bledel's first big role. Of course, she already has iconic status as Rory from "Gilmore Girls," and her adorable sense of style is well known. That said, it may be easy to forget what a style icon she is by watching a few scenes from "The Handmaid's Tale." In a 2018 interview with Deadline, Bledel discussed how she's able to avoid getting caught up in the harsh themes of her character's life, revealing, "I'm able to shake it off, only because it's so far removed from my reality, and the story is so precisely outlined, in terms of what Emily is experiencing." She continued, "It's also limited, the time that I spend actually in character. It's really like a couple days a month; it's not an extended period of time. If I had to do that, I think I would be more challenged by the darkness of it."

While her character might be wearing vintage-inspired bio-hazard clothes, Beldel's real-life red-carpet looks are incredibly elegant. At the 2018 Emmys, she rocked a pastel-pink gown with a yellow panel, which featured some simple but eye-catching details on the bodice. At the 2020 SAG Awards, she wore another gown that was equally as charming, although this time dark and dramatic, too. 

The iconic status of the handmaids' outfits was definitely not lost on Samira Wiley. In a talk with The Hollywood Reporter in 2025, she opened up about what she just had to take from the set. "Everybody knows now," she shared. "On the day, I was trying to be super [hush-hush], but I found the original handmaid dress that I wore the very first day I ever got on the set. And I took that. The dress, the cloak, the gloves." This wasn't the first time that Wiley nabbed a pivotal piece of clothing from a set, though. "When I left 'Orange', I took Poussey's iconic sweatshirt," she added. "I actually wear that. I'm not going to wear the cloak, but it's something I wanted. It's iconic."

Wiley's real-life looks are no less iconic. Not only does she know how to rock red, summer's spiciest color, but she's also not afraid to make a clear fashion statement. At the Season 6 premiere of "The Handmaid's Tale," Wiley wore a dress the same color as her cloak, and that seemed to echo the outfit's style in the architecture of the bodice, which was a perfect look for the premiere of the last season. At a 2025 PaleyFest screening of the show, Wiley wore another look with amazing architecture: a black blazer dress with large gold buttons, which she accessorized with small hoop earrings and a glossy, berry lip.

Ann Dowd plays the stern character Aunt Lydia in "The Handmaid's Tale." In reality, though, both her style and Dowd herself couldn't be more different than the strict character in stuffy suits. Aunt Lydia from "The Handmaid's" Tale is gorgeous in real life, for sure. In a talk with Glamour in 2018, Dowd was full of advice for those just starting out. "I didn't spend a lot of time thinking about the future," she said of her career. "I would suggest that — a little time, but not a lot. Pay attention to where you are. Celebrate the small victories. Every time I got a role, I thought it was the greatest thing in the world. I didn't care if I had two lines or if it was a Broadway opening, which was thrilling. I thought, 'Oh my gosh, someone said yes.'"

There's a lot to say for Dowd's style, too. The bright colors and playful prints she opts for make a stark contrast with Aunt Lydia's military-style skirt suits. At the 2025 Gotham Television Awards, she wore a flutter-sleeved purple gown, which she accessorized with a yellow, sparkly necklace. While preparing for a "Good Morning America" visit, she was snapped by paparazzi wearing a brown-and-white polka-dot dress, which she paired with a burgundy cross-body bag, glasses, and long, flowing locks, highlighting her timeless, carefree brand of beauty.

Amanda Brugel knows how to light up a red carpet. At a Hollywood Reporter event in 2025, Brugel wore a red dress that was seriously elegant, and seemed to be a style nod to "The Handmaid's Tale." While that look was smoldering, Brugel switched gears for the Season 6 premiere of the show in a glitzy, icy-blue minidress with floral details.

What's even more interesting than her ability to show off a range of styles as she promotes "The Handmaid's Tale" is that she's had ties to the story that go way back. In a 2025 talk with The Hollywood Reporter, she explained her connection to the story, and her character specifically, saying, "I immediately fell in love with the book when I was 14 in a class for Canadian literature. I loved how Margaret wrote female protagonists. I wrote a series of short stories, and in grade 10, I won a small scholarship to start applying for universities." She added that she attended theater school, though she still hadn't decided whether writing or acting was the right path for her: "To get into the writing program, you had to submit a thesis of what you thought your writing career would be. I chose to write it on 'The Handmaid's Tale,' but specifically on Rita, and I got a full scholarship to the York University writing program."

During this talk, she also got into her expectations of the show versus reality, especially when it came to the costumes. "Almost everything was different, aside from Ane Crabtree's costumes — the colors, that fit, the attention to detail that Ane put into the costumes is a masterpiece in costuming and will go down for years and years," she confirmed.

Bahia Watson is another "Handmaid's Tale" actor whose style and vibe could not be more different from her character. She's also multi-talented and works as a playwright and voice actor in addition to her on-screen work. As a fellow writer, it's no surprise that she would have a strong connection to "The Handmaid's Tale." Speaking to Train Wreck Society in 2019, she opened up about being on the show: "It's exciting. I read the book in high school, and it has always stuck with me as a profound and frightening envisioning of the future. The world Margaret Atwood has created is so deep and thorough, and so being able to be inside of it and a part of bringing it to life is a thrilling honour."

Of course, her creative career isn't the only thing that's fascinating about Bahia Watson; her knock-out style is something to take note of, too. At the 2020 SAG Awards, she wore a gorgeous light-blue gown with a plunging neckline and sheer panels on the bodice that truly let her glow. While attending a Vanity Fair event, also in 2020, she switched things up by wearing a breezy and effortlessly cool collard jumpsuit with her natural hair in a chic updo.

Nina Kiri, who played the character Alma in the show, is another cast member who's totally gorgeous in real life, and whose style is a complete 180 from the long dresses and covering cloaks of Gilead. On the red carpet, Kiri rocks a range of looks, many of them full of sultry and feminine glam. At the 2020 SAG Awards, Kiri wore a silver dress with a swishy skirt, layered with a shorter sequin skirt over it, and a bodice with sheer panels. At the Season 6 premiere of "The Handmaid's Tale," Kiri was wearing another sheer, show-stopping look. This time, she wore a black lace top and skirt along with a solid black tube top and underwear underneath.

Things aren't all about fashion for Kiri, though; working on the show seems to have had a significant impact on her. In a talk with Infected Ear, she said, "For my career, it has meant a lot and opened up a lot of opportunities. In terms of story and cultural impact, I think the show has made certain cultural critiques very mainstream."

Clea DuVall is another cast member who is totally beautiful in real life. As Sylvia, wife of Emily/Ofglen in the series, viewers don't get to see her looking all that fashionable. On red carpets, though, DuVall has proven she knows how to show her style in a range of ways. What's interesting about her red-carpet looks over the years is that she has shown up in styles that are both ultra-feminine and that have strong masculine vibes as well.

While attending the Critics' Choice Movie Awards in 2013, Duvall wore an elegant white gown with a plunging neckline and goddess vibes as well as a polished updo. Later, at a second-season premiere of the show "Poker Face" in 2025, Duvall avoided many of the biggest style mistakes you can make if you're going for quiet luxury by wearing a simple blazer, pants, and cream top. Not only did this outfit have a more masculine feel, but it was totally polished at the same time.

While she might wear plain clothing on "The Handmaid's Tale," in real life, actor and writer Genevieve Angelson has some truly adventurous style. And, she's definitely on to the fact that summer stripes are the print of the moment. At a 2024 event for her show "The Chicken Sisters," she rocked a bold dress with vertical red stripes. At the HCA TV awards in 2022, she wore another look full of glitzy, fun details. Angelson clearly knows how to have fun with her style.

Fashion isn't just about fun for Angelson, though. "Also, on 'Handmaid's,' there is time afforded to making the project," she explained to Story and Rain in 2022. "The makeup department gets time. The camera department gets time. You might only shoot two to four pages in a day, but it has to be what it has to be, because of, quite literally, the awards." She added that hair and makeup can sometimes be rushed on other projects, with other departments getting more priority. "On this show, it's like, 'This could be responsible for one of our Emmys, so we're going to give it the time that is needed,'" she went on. "I spent hours and hours and hours in costume fittings with Leslie, the costume designer, who's really a genius."

Like so many of her castmates, Ever Carradine is so beautiful in real life, where her sense of style truly shows, unlike her character Naomi Putnam, who is stuck with Gilead's strict fashion rules. Not only are many of Carradine's style choices ultra-flattering, but many of them are bold and trendy, too.

While attending the 2025 Gotham Awards, Carradine rocked a shorts-and-blazer outfit with a bold purple floral pattern. She accessorized the look with black shoes and a silver clutch. At the Season 6 premiere of "The Handmaid's Tale," Carradine was rocking another show-stopping style. This time, though, she was opting for on-trend metallics. Armor-inspired metallics are all over the runways, and Carradine brought them to the red carpet in a way that totally worked.