What We Watch Shapes What We Wear
Graphic by: Agnes Lee
Beginning last summer, my Tiktok For You page was filled with girls hanging around the Upper East Side, sitting on the MET steps pretending to be Serena van der Woodsen or Blair Waldorf. Though I had never seen Gossip Girl, I instantly knew the inspiration behind these videos.
Over the next few weeks, TikTok creators shifted from impersonating the characters to embodying them. The bows and blazers in the videos remained, but the Gossip Girl soundtrack was replaced with mainstream trending songs and Emma Chamberlain-like narrations of the user’s normal days at work or running errands. It was no longer cosplaying as a character but rather that the influence of the show became so intertwined with perceptions of New York Style.
While we all have our favorite TV shows, I was intrigued by the transcendence of certain media into our lives, or more specifically, what we wear.
While avid fans of Gossip Girl may use the fashion as a foray into a plush lifestyle rich with rooftop soirees and penthouse tea parties, other shows like Gilmore Girls use everyday costumes to portray the characters as more down-to-earth. Pinterest searches for TV show outfits usually return thousands of pictures of cast members in elaborate costumes, and “Gilmore Girls fashion” instead returns images of turtlenecks and jeans among those of books and fall regalia. The fashion of Gilmore Girls serves as a means of connection between fans who see themselves in the main characters, Rory and Lorelai Gilmore, a close but complicated mother-daughter pair. Rory’s drive for academic success is reflected in her pristine Chilton uniform which then transitions to more casual wear as she moves to college. Her change in style helps to signal viewers about her character development.
One of the top results on Pinterest for “Gilmore Girls Fashion.” Image credit of Pinterest.
Personally, despite being an avid lover of that new bingable show everyone is talking about, I find myself constantly going back to shows from the ’90s and early 2000s. As a ten-year-old watching Sabrina the Teenage Witch, I wanted nothing more than to wear Libby’s classic cheerleading outfit. As I have gotten older I find myself consciously and subconsciously attempting to recreate the deceptively simple hairstyles or to master matching prints like Sabrina. To me, the beauty of it lies in that although the show has a finite lifespan, each time I watch I look with a current perspective that makes me gravitate to new characters’ styles.
Screencaps of the titular Sabrina of Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Image courtesy of Pinterest.
While the fashion of some television shows can be more easily integrated into day-to-day wear, when I spoke with Evelyn Driscoll (NU ’25), she told me about how one of her comfort shows, Schitt’s Creek, inspired her fashion in a more indirect way. Driscoll takes inspiration from the character of Moira Rose, a wealthy former soap opera star characterized by her eccentric outfits and persona. “Her style is awesome. I think that her personality as well as her style inspire me to be more bold,” Driscoll says. Moira’s fashion choices may be unconventional and less practical for a college student (I mean, maybe you do like wearing bedazzled evening gowns in tech LR2) but Driscoll says that Moira’s fashion inspired her attitude towards fashion beyond just the physical attire. “I feel like Moira uses her fashion to really expose her confidence,” Driscoll says. While these connections are not necessarily obvious, we often spend tens or even hundreds of hours with these characters, and their attitudes and behaviors easily slip into our own as if they were our friends.
Catherine O’Hara as Moira Rose. Image courtesy of Us Weekly.
While we may never be able to pinpoint exactly why we gravitate to these shows over and over again, the time we spend with these characters and their lives affect us in major and minor ways. Our favorite TV shows help expose us to a wide variety of styles that we may not see in our daily environments. So while we may not have a Hollywood costume closet in our dorms, we can still pull ideas and outlooks from our most watched characters and costumes.