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Wyatte Grantham-Philips editorWhen bringing a “whole story [that] is completely true, except for all the parts that are totally made up” to life, “Inventing Anna” costume designers Lyn Paolo and Laura Frecon had to dive into Instagram.“The very beginning of the project was actually more about research and matching everything that the real Anna wore for her Instagram — which sort of became our Greek chorus,” Paolo told Variety. “And that was extensive research… Even before we got into the fashion elements, we had to recreate that whole Instagram wall, and also all of the court looks.”“Inventing Anna” follows faux-heiress Anna Delvey (née Anna Sorokin) (Julia Garner) as she awaits trial for grand larceny and theft of services.

The 2022 Netflix miniseries, Inventing Anna, brings to life Jessica Pressler’s 2018 New York magazine article, “Maybe She Had So Much Money She Just Lost Track of It.” Based on true events, the series follows the unexpected rise of the faux socialite and con artist Anna Delvey — a pseudonym for Russian-born German Anna Sorokin, who relocated to New York City in 2014.

Shonda Rhimes’ limited Netflix series about Anna Delvey above the typical true-crime drama is the designer fashions the characters wear onscreen. Like, which Delvey watched to learn English, and, directed by David Frankel, who helms two of the series’ episodes, is as much about the fashion as it is about a young woman who pretended to be a German heiress to con her way through the rich and elite of New York City.

“Inventing Anna” may be based on true events, but it heightened the drama according to Jessica Pressler.

Anna Delvey, who swindled New York’s elite out of hundreds of thousands of dollars  – if only the show had faith in its own premise. Now streaming on Netflix, “Inventing Anna” is based on a viral 2018 New York Magazine article about Delvey (nee Sorokin), 31 — Russian-born and raised in Germany — who defrauded banks, hotels and acquaintances while posing as a trust-fund heiress in New York between 2013-2017. She was convicted for multiple accounts of grand larceny, indicted in 2017 and incarcerated from 2019-2021. Helmed by Shonda Rhimes and starring Julia Garner (“Ozark”) — a skilled actress who seems to have been given bad directing to hide behind a distracting marble-mouthed accent to play Delvey — “Inventing Anna” is a bloated affair, with episodes regularly clocking in at over an hour, which feels punishing.

By In Inventing Anna, aspiring filmmaker/New York City hotel concierge Neff Davis controls access to the hottest restaurants, clubs, and event spaces for a few hundred hotel guests at any given time. But it's who has control over Neff every time she slides a $100 bill across her desk.