Meet Ayanna James, the wardrobe stylist who brings L.A. style to HBO’s ‘Insecure’

If you’ve tuned in to Issa Rae’s hit HBO sitcom “Insecure,” you’ve no doubt criticized the characters’ stunningly bad life choices, while simultaneously coveting their clothes.

For every one of the eponymous lead character’s dating disasters and work blunders, there’s a hip-hop inspired top or bohemian-bourgeois blazer you’d love to own. Meanwhile, her glass ceiling-cracking BFF, Molly, steals scenes in a dizzying array of tailored power suits and Fendi heels.

Fans who’ve found themselves Googling Issa’s “A Different World” tribute tee, deconstructed De La Soul top or Harriet Tubman sweatshirt have wardrobe stylist Ayanna James to thank for their new closet obsessions. She dictates what this crew of 30-something Angelenos wear as they messily maneuver their personal and professional lives. James thinks relatability is the key to the show’s styling success.

“I feel like every character on the show is relatable,” she says. “You either know someone like that or you’ve been that person at a period in your life.”

James and Rae began collaborating after the showrunner’s seminal Web series, “The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl,” started gaining viral status.

Formerly a biochemistry student, the Jamaican-born aesthete tested her styling wings by fashion blogging, assisting on local shoots and pulling looks for entertainers including Usher and Jidenna. Since 2015, she’s headed “Insecure’s” fashion team and draped Rae in red carpet looks by brands and designers such as Balmain and Christian Siriano. Samples of costumes from the show are now on display through Oct. 7 in FIDM Museum’s annual Outstanding Art of Television Costume Design exhibit.