Designer shoes symbolize Lana’s commitment to style and her upper-class sensibilities, but they also symbolize the way in which these qualities help her overcome adversity. Beth at times criticizes her mother for wearing impractical shoes, which demonstrates how Lana puts fashion above practicality and comfort. Based on Lana’s opinions about power and control, she sees high fashion as a way to signify her power and importance.

While Lana’s shoes are impractical at times, when she is trapped in the fire, it is her expensive shoe that allows her to break the window and escape, thus saving her life. She did not need to rely on anybody else, and she escaped the burning building in a matter of minutes. Lana is different from her daughter, but she knows how to use her strengths to help her out of difficult circumstances—both the fire and the poverty she experienced earlier in her parenting journey.

Detective Ramirez’s bright, colorful blazers represent the racism and sexism that she faces in her job. At first, Lana believes that Ramirez dresses this way because she lacks fashion sense. When Ramirez gets promoted after the case is solved, Lana buys her an expensive and classy outfit so that her clothes will fit her role as an authority figure.