Looking back at 7 Seasons of stunning clothes on The Good Wife

As The Good Wife ends, seven years of fantastic character clothing goes with it. 

Ahead of Sunday's series finale, Mashable called up costume designer Daniel Lawson to look back on some of the major decisions he's made over the years and his favorite looks.

Among the many things to love about the CBS legal drama, the clothing is definitely high up on that list. It's hard to think about some of the show's most pivotal moments — the second season finale, Will's death — without remembering what the characters were wearing.

Since the show's second episode, Lawson has been responsible for clothing every character that has come through the show. He's made his contribution to the show standout by ensuring his choices always supported the story and the characters.

SEE ALSO: 'The Good Wife' awaits the 'Verdict' in its penultimate episode

"Robert and Michelle King, who created The Good Wife, wrote these characters so that they were always evolving. Whether they were growing or regressing from episode to episode, they were changing people," says Lawson. "So, the wardrobe would change along with that.

The first outfit Lawson styled for Margulies (Season 1, Episode 2)

The very first outfit I put Julianna in was this black Arthur S. Levine for Tahari suit," Lawson said. "It had this interesting black and gold buckle and it had this black and white zebra striped scarf that went with it." 

"It looked completely appropriate, and of course, Julianna looked perfect in it," he said. "It looked really great on her. It was sort of the springboard for the rest of the series for me. It's sort of where we started and definitely had that mix and match feel that she needed to have."

Alicia's outfit in the second season finale when she sleeps with Will Gardner (Season 2, Episode 23)

"That outfit stands out so much for me," Lawson said. "loved it so much because it was like her being strong and her taking this really big moment and I felt that the white just sort read very innocent, but also reads very strong."

"It wasn't overtly sexy, but when she took the jacket off in the bar, and then the dress that hard the straps on it, I just thought it was just really so appropriate," he said. "When I think back on those first couple seasons, that just stands out in my mind as a really successful dress...In fact, it was so successful we brought it back into play in season five."

THAT Lanvin dress (Season 4, Episode 18)

[This] is one of my all time favorite looks we did on the show with her...I wanted her to stand out and it was also a really beautiful gown," he said. "The other gown that we looked at. We were looking at Zac Posen gown and it was orange. We could see it both ways. 

"The orange Zac Posen that we had thought about was sexier and a little younger feeling, but what finally won the night, if you will, was I remember Julianna said, 'This one feels stately." As soon as she said that, I was like, 'You're right. That's exactly right. It feel stately. It looks stately. That's the gown,'" he said. "She looked sexy in it, don't get me wrong. She looked like old Hollywood glamorous sexy, but it wasn't overt sexy and it just felt stately…Practically, it was also really, really comfortable for her to wear."

Everything about Louis Canning's look

"When Michael J. Fox joined the show, he was a like a sharp killer and I was like, 'I want to play against that,'" Lawson said. "Robert and Michelle loved the idea of having him be warm and fuzzy. You know, wearing sweater vests and nice, tweedy jackets and kind of warm ties. Just making him seem like a nice guy, but then he's [actually] a shark."

The suit that channeled a former first lady (Season 5, Episode 15)

"One of the most successful looks of hers was the suit that she was wearing when Will was killed and she got that information," he said. "It was this green and black changeable silk suit that was very reminiscent of the early sixties, all along we wanted to sort of have her look a little Jackie O.-ish — Jackie Kennedy-like and be evocative of that — and then, you know, having her man killed."

"I really wanted to carry that image," Lawson said. "So the neckline of that suit was sort of like a standing neckline that was very, very period inspired. It was extremely modern, though ... The other thing I loved about the shirt is that once she found out about Will being killed, it sort of became this armor she was wearing because it did have a reflective quality to it."

Diane returning to the firm with Alicia (Season 6, Episode 6)

I just wanted her [Diane] to stand out and I wanted her to look like 'The boss is back' and I just wanted her to look like old Hollywood," Lawson shared. "I wanted her to look strong as nails and elegant and feminine and all of those things at the same time, and this suit I had done for my clothing line was just the bomb on her." 

"It looked so amazing ... This is one of my favorite moments on the show," he said. "I was standing at the monitors as they were rehearsing and I heard Julianna yell from like the top of her lungs all the way to the other side of the studio, 'Dan Lawson, you're a genius!' She was responding to this suit that Christine was wearing. I will take that to the grave. That was like a great moment for me."

What Alicia wore when she was elected State's Attorney (Season 6, Episode 16)

There was this very bright red Roland Mouret suit. It was so wonderfully modern ... Her set at the time was sort of a dark set and she finds out that she's won the election and she comes walking in," he said. "I just wanted everything to revolve around her and for the audience to be constantly aware of her ... I just felt like it was pinnacle for her in her confidence and in her success. I knew that coming down just one or two episodes down the pike, she'd be knocked off that pedestal. So, that was the height for me and I wanted it to be the most it could be. Wardrobe wise it would be a downhill a slope from there."

The big change to Alicia's wardrobe after she lost the State's Attorney position

The other part of that was we really didn't use bright colors like that again for quite some time," Lawson said. "It wasn't until season seven when Peter was running in the primary and she would wear her political costume to support him." 

"We made a very conscious decision in season seven to have her in real life wearing very sophisticated neutral tones, and then when she was playing the wife of the politician, the presidential candidate, then she would go into her wife look," he said. "We played with color there and would have her been stronger blues, or lighter tones or reds. We treated it very much like a costume for her."

Using the color red to make Alicia the focus

There are certain times when I wanted things to revolve around her, [and that's exactly what I wanted to do in ["Party"] with that red Escada dress," Lawson said. "Julianna was a little hesitant about wearing the bright red because she'd been very beautiful, neutral and sophisticated tones for so much of the season and at this party in her apartment ... I knew there would be a lot of extras, I knew there would be a lot of guest stars and lot of characters there and I wanted everything in that episode to revolve around Alicia. The director and I thought that one of the best ways to do that visually was to have her in a color that no matter where she went, you were aware of her. I wanted you to be aware of Alicia the whole time, and I think you were."

When The Good Wife started wrapping up, series lead Julianna Margulies visited the wardrobe department to buy clothes. At the time, Lawson wondered why she didn't have it in her contract that she could take some when it was done.