‘Inventing Anna’: The Real Journalist Was Part of Anna Delvey’s Court Fashion Because of a ‘Screwball Sequence of Ridiculousness’

In the Netflix series Inventing Anna, journalist Vivian Kent (Anna Chlumsky) brings clothing to Anna Delvey (Julia Garner) for her courthouse fashion. When Sorokin was on trial, real-life journalist Jessica Pressler did bring her clothing. However, she recalls the real-life situation differently than the series. The author behind the New York Magazine article that inspired Inventing Anna revealed precisely how she became a part of Anna Delvey’s court fashion.

In ‘Inventing Anna,’ Anna Delvey court fashion became an Instagram account

The Netflix dramatization of Anna Delvey’s court case does include some fictional parts, but a similar Instagram account does exist in real life. In Inventing Anna, the account is “Anna Delvey court fashion,” but in real life, it’s titled “Anna Delvey court looks.” Regardless of the name, the Instagram account showcases Sorokin’s outfits during her trial in 2019.

According to the New York Times, the real-life Anna Sorokin refused to show up in court because she did not have appropriate clothing. That day the judge demanded she show up or the proceedings continue without her.

The outlet reported that the clothing Delvey wore for her courthouse fashion was indeed chosen by a professional stylist. However, the journalist did get involved in several cases. Find out why Jessica Pressler ended up shopping for the fake German heiress.

Journalist Jessica Pressler became part of Anna Delvey’s courthouse fashion show

Jessica Pressler fact-checked the Netflix drama Inventing Anna with real life in an interview with Vulture. She reported that Neff Davis was behind the Anna Delvey court fashion Instagram account.

“[Bringing Sorokin clothing] wasn’t a fraught situation for me the way it was for Vivian,” Pressler began. “It was more like this kind of screwball sequence of ridiculousness. I wasn’t reporting on the trial. I had written the story already, so I was just there out of curiosity.”

She added that getting Delvey’s courthouse fashion articles into Rikers Island was complicated.

“There would be these hiccups with the clothing deliveries,” she continued. “The first week of the trial, there was some snafu, and the clothes didn’t get there, and it literally held up the trial. This wasn’t all because of Anna’s vanity — defendants have to wear civilian clothes at trial because if they wear a prison jumpsuit, it might prejudice the jury. The court has clothes they can lend, but I think that first day they did not for some reason. So everyone was just waiting around.”

Pressler and Sorokin’s lawyer, Todd Spodek, did become friends in real life. So, either the attorney or his paralegal asked Pressler to go to H&M for Sorokin.

“I was like yes, for God’s sake, let’s move this thing along,” Pressler recalled. “Otherwise everyone’s time was going to be endlessly wasted with this wardrobe shit. That sort of opened the door for me to fill the gap whenever there was a ‘wardrobe malfunction,’ as the prosecutor put it.”

Pressler did bring Sorokin her personal clothing like in ‘Inventing Anna’

The New York Times Magazine journalist did not feel like her involvement with the Anna Delvey courthouse fashion show was a conflict of interest. Instead, she recalls thinking, “This will be a funny story someday.”

“At some point, I bought the white dress, and I also bought the snake-print dress, which turned out to be an unfortunate choice, but I wasn’t thinking of these things as metaphors,” she told Vulture. “It was like, ‘What is on the sale rack that doesn’t have something you can shiv someone with attached to it.’ Because prisons have very strict rules about this stuff. I did throw in one of my dresses at one point, but it was black. I did not feel like it was a conflict at all.”

Although real-life journalist Jessica Pressler did not intend to get sucked into the latest Anna Delvey court fashion, she doesn’t have regrets about it. Viewers will hear more from Pressler when the Inventing Anna The Official Podcast airs on March 2, 2022.

All nine one-hour-long episodes of Inventing Anna are currently available for streaming on Netflix.