The costume designer for 'Halston' said Batman was an inspiration for Ewan McGregor's look in the show

• Ewan McGregor plays the iconic fashion designer Roy Halston Frowick in Netflix's new series.
• Insider spoke to Jeriana San Juan, the costume designer for the show.
• San Juan was inspired by Halston's famous pocket-less pants and a photo where he looked like Batman.

Ryan Murphy's shows always have a signature look to them: clean, polished, vibrant, and fashionable. There may well be many different inspirations for each particular show, but all of them share a similar visual style.

However, there is one inspiration you may not have thought to look for in Murphy's latest show, Netflix's five-part miniseries "Halston" - Batman.

Costume designer Jeriana San Juan revealed to Insider that she had the Caped Crusader in mind when designing what is perhaps the most signature look for Ewan McGregor's Halston.

After coming across an old photo of the real Halston where he wore a long trench coat that made him look like the Dark Knight, San Juan incorporated this Batman-esque silhouette as inspiration for her work on the show.

"I found one image of Halston wearing this great big, long wool coat, and he's crouched over these big rolls of carpet in the Olympic Tower office before he's even decorated the space," San Juan told Insider.

"And I just loved how he looked like Batman in that picture. He had this big, long coat around him. I loved the idea that he would just consume more space around him, suck up all the air and really just fill a space," she added.

San Juan immediately had the coat remade for McGregor in the show. Initially, she made the coat a little too short so that it came just below his knees, which was exactly how it looked in the photo of the real Halston.

But Halston was a man with a flair for the dramatic, so San Juan wanted the costume to reflect that - and thought the theatricality of the Dark Knight suited that perfectly.

"I thought, you know what, he really needs to be Batman. When he walks, I wanted that coat just to swing and waft through the air, so I remade it a little longer so that it would really have more drama to it," San Juan said.

The costumes San Juan created were born from her own research into Halston's collection of clothing and designs, as well as her own creative license that she was afforded by the show. Plus, her collaboration and working relationship with McGregor behind the scenes provided a sense of authenticity on screen.

While the dramatic coat may be one of the most signature looks used in the show - McGregor can be seen strutting throughout streets, clubs, and offices while wearing it - it wasn't the only item of clothing that helped to shape McGregor's performance.

Halston was famous for wearing a particular pair of pants that became a "sort of mythology in the fashion industry," San Juan said. The pants had no side seam and no pockets. San Juan enlisted the help of Chris Royer, a former Halstonette, and Gina Balsamo, who worked for Halston and made the trousers, to recreate the mythical pants for McGregor to wear in the show.

"When [McGregor] put those on, he really found his gait and his stance as Halston," San Juan said. "He kept reaching for pockets, trying to find pockets. And it sort of forced his hands upwards to gesture more - and hold cigarettes all the time, which is all that we see in the images of [Halston]."

"So it sort of just became this synergy of: 'of course his pants didn't have pockets, that's why his hands were always in the air,'" she continued.

McGregor's performance as Halston has been critically acclaimed by many, and his initially controversial casting as the gay designer has proved to be a stroke of genius. As producer Christine Vachon told Insider, it's now impossible to imagine any other actor donning that black turtle neck and quirky accent.

On San Juan's part, she had a blast collaborating with McGregor. Not only did the two work together well, but San Juan taught him how to sow and handle fabrics, and McGregor ended up making his own pair of trousers as a result. In all, San Juan told Insider that working with McGregor is something she'll cherish for the rest of her career.

"I'm not saying this because it's an interview," San Juan said. "Ewan McGregor is the loveliest human being that's ever walked this Earth."