Inspired by the "gladiator in a suit" and "white hat" lines in the pilot, Scandal costume designer Lyn Paolo created a palette of whites, neutrals and grays for Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington). Olivia's iconic white coat was a Tory Burch trench and the Prada purse she's carrying here belongs to Paolo. "I've loaned it to ABC/Disney for all these seasons, so I need to get it back when I leave!" Paolo tells TV Guide. "It was like that moment of, 'OK, so she's a Prada girl.'"

This Ferragamo coat is one of Paolo's favorites because "everybody thought it was white when it was lit, but it was actually pink."

Olivia has the strongest coat game in the biz and this slate gray Gucci coat with gold zips and buckles is one of the top fan-favorite looks.

Paolo had wanted Olivia to wear skirts, but Washington, seen here in a blue-gray Armani pantsuit, wanted pants. "She pushed for pants and she was right," Paolo says. "[Olivia] wears the pants."

In the early seasons, Olivia donned looser and softer fabrics, like this Donna Karan cardigan. "There was more innocence behind [her early looks], but it was still very no-nonsense," Paolo says.

This tweed belted coat by Vivienne Westwood is one of Olivia's faves -- she's worn it more than once.

Unlike the Ferragamo coat, this ethereal Ralph Lauren drape coat is actually white.

After breaking up with Fitz and leaving the White House in the midseason finale, Olivia started anew with a brand spankin' new wardrobe that included bright colors and dresses. Paolo had wanted to shake things up, but had to wait until it made sense story-wise. "And Shonda [Rhimes] wrote it in the script. 'Olivia Pope arrives to the dinner with Rowan (Joe Morton) and it's like no Olivia Pope you've ever seen before,'" she says. "She gave us the permission just to run with the bright colors and that's when we put Kerry in the bright orange dress [by Akris]. It was us feeling, how does the clothing translate that this character's changing? How do we relate that to the audience?"

Olivia traded in her usual neutral-hued coats for this bright red floral-embroidered Escada coat in the midseason premiere. Paolo created a color code to further contextualize Olivia's feelings and outfits. "Red was more for danger," she says.

Blue is Mellie's (Bellamy Young) central color and astute gladiators will notice Olivia wore a lot of blue, like this Margaret O'Leary cardigan and Oscar de la Renta blouse, around her. She also wore the shade when she was actually feeling blue too.

Olivia Pope wasn't the only powerful D.C. lady to wear this saffron Narcisco Rodriguez dress. Michelle Obama had worn it to the 2016 State of the Union two months before this episode aired. The episode, however, had already been filmed before the address. "That was amazing," Paolo says. "We couldn't believe it when we saw it."

Olivia, seen here in Escada, experimented with color and new patterns even with her go-to blazers. "Olivia's never lacked confidence, but before [Season 5], she wore it, literally, more subtly with the whites and grays and neutrals," Paolo says. "The colors told you right away this was a new, more determined Olivia Pope."

Season 6 was a transitional year for Olivia, as she slowly started crossing over to the dark side during and after Mellie's presidential campaign. She still wore color in spurts, like this Alexander McQueen floral jacquard knit cape, but Paolo started putting her in darker shades as the season progressed.

By the end of the Season 6 finale, Olivia, seen here in a Burberry black cape, had acquired all the power as White House chief of staff and command of B613. Oh yeah, she killed another vice president too.

Black is Olivia Pope's main palette in the seventh and final season. "She's in control, she has the power and is calling all the shots," Paolo says. "She's still a gladiator in a suit, but she's also the dark knight now." Paolo also streamlined the fit of her clothes to be tighter and more structured because of the new power/burden Olivia has. "Now we're full-on Alexander McQueen and Tom Ford because their lines are more structural," she says. "Because her life is more structured and it's darker and tighter and more bound up. There's more tightness to everything; there's no flow. Now everything is rigid because she's laser-focused on ensuring her president and her republic survive."

Paolo promises that Olivia won't be in all black the entire seventh season, but she can't promise anything about the series finale. "I guess at the end I'd like it to all be white again," she says. "I'm really thinking we have to repeat something from the beginning in the finale, but I don't even want to say what it's gonna be because I don't even know what the finale is. But Kerry and I are both thinking about it. What will we do at the end that will be an homage to the pilot?"