Why I Resonated With Marianne’s Style Transformation in “Normal People”

Graphic by Grace Lougheed. Image via Cosmopolitan.

*Slight spoilers for Hulu’s “Normal People”

“You’ve kind of started dressing scary this quarter,” my friend said when I showed her a new sweater I’d purchased. It was a white, ribbed piece with metallic clasps down the sides of the sleeves. Definitely a statement version of the cozy sweater weather vibe I used to give off. 

“It’s not a bad kind of scary though,” she added. “I can tell you’re coming into yourself.”

This was in Winter Quarter of my freshman year, months after arriving on campus and months before COVID-19 would scatter everyone back around the country.

My style transformation on campus reflected a larger personality shift I was going through at the time. My new friends, widespread on-campus opportunities and proximity to the city all ignited parts of my personality that had been dormant for most of my adolescence.

When we were sent home, my personality and style started to shift back into a hybrid between my high school and campus selves. One thing that helped with the resulting identity crisis was engaging with media where the characters went through similar transitions as I had. I was obsessed with “Normal People,” a Hulu original television series that follows Marianne and Connell, two fictional Irish young adults. They weave in and out of each others’ lives from high school throughout their undergrad years at the esteemed Trinity University in Dublin.

Image via The Independent.

The show lives up to its name in its raw portrayal of the complexity of the human spirit. It delves into topics such as mental health, human connection and sexuality to the point where I felt like Marianne and Connell could actually exist. I saw myself in these characters to an insane degree. I rejoiced when they rejoiced. I cried when they cried. And overall, I processed my college transition in watching theirs. 

Both of the main characters have in-depth story arcs, but Marianne’s style constantly shifts to visually reflect the phases of her life. Watching Marianne’s style evolution helped me reflect on the ways that I changed since arriving on campus — both at my core and in my outward presentation.

At the start of the series, Marianne and Connell live in Sligo, a small town on the west coast of Ireland. Marianne, played by the lovely Daisy Edgar Jones, lives with her mother and brother in a mansion secluded from the rest of town. Marianne is emotionally distant from both her toxic family and the kids at the local high school who bully her incessantly. This lack of personal connections leads Marianne to be brash and closed off in order to protect herself, and it’s clear that she needs some kind of physical upheaval. When we find out that she’s applying to Trinity, we know right away that she’s going to thrive in Dublin. In fact, Edgar Jones uses a more posh city accent from the beginning of the series to distinguish Marianne from everyone else who feels comfortable in the confines of Sligo.

Marianne’s discomfort in her surroundings comes across in her style. She sports choppy bangs that look like a quarantine experiment gone awry. She wears lots of oversized pastel sweaters, baggy jeans and corduroy, but her outfits are actually put together very nicely. The problem is that they’re not what she wants to wear. Any time she experiments with her style, she’s ridiculed by either her family or her peers. There’s a scene where Marianne puts on a LBD and a bit of makeup before a school dance and her mother remarks, “Well Marianne, you’ve certainly gone all out.” 

Image via The Sun.

We don’t have to have all of Marianne’s life experiences to understand what it’s like to feel like an outsider. Growing up in a conservative Texas suburb, I remember wanting to dress boldly but often opting for baggy black hoodies and leggings instead. I dyed my hair blue and was known for wearing deep burgundy lipstick to school, but my environment was not conducive for all the experimentation I wanted to partake in.

Image via Refinery 29.

When Marianne leaves for Trinity, she trades her pastels and tights for a bohemian-highbrow look balancing classic cuts with deep jewel tones, geometric earrings and more playful textures — I was drooling at all the velvet and crepe. She starts wearing smudgy eyeliner and trades her choppy bangs for a feathered, face-framing cut. Marianne already had the basic elements of this look before university, but her inclusive college atmosphere helps her come into her personality and develop her sense of style. 

Before college, Marianne was bullied for being intelligent. In the series’ first episode, Connell says that his friends don’t read and Marianne replies, “You mean they’re not interested in the world around them?” Her love of learning is just one more trait that sets her apart. When she gets to Trinity and her intelligence is celebrated, her style becomes distinctly academic. She wears turtlenecks, houndstooth trousers and flouncy blouses. She wears more blazers and carries around a leather satchel. However, she balances these out with bold colors and jewelry in abstract shapes, reflecting her continued commitment to individuality and freedom of thought.

Image via Evening Standard.

My style metamorphosis was similar in the months after I arrived on campus. Like Marianne, I updated my haircut. Not with bangs, but with layers and blonde highlights. I developed a newfound love of turtlenecks, something that I always thought I would be teased for in Texas. Also let’s face it, most of the time it would’ve been too hot anyways. In Winter Quarter, I started playing around with layering, partly because the weather warranted more coverage but also because I’d grown comfortable branching out in my self-presentation. I found that I liked wearing hoodies over turtlenecks, jumpsuits over t-shirts and sticking with a neutral color palette. I pierced my nose and felt more like myself when I looked in the mirror.

Image via Vaibhavi Hemasundar.

Now I’m back in Evanston after spending five months in social isolation at my childhood home in Texas. Looking back, I can see that I followed Marianne’s emotional and style arcs in many other ways during that time period. For example, when she’s depressed in Sweden and only wears black turtlenecks and hides her eyes behind untrimmed bangs. However, there’s an important distinction: I wear black turtlenecks when I’m happy. So my version of this was hiding in the cave-like depths of my hoodies.

Image via Grazia.

Now, my style best reflects Marianne’s holiday wardrobe from when she invites Connell and friends to her family home in Italy. This plotline introduces a character whose immaturity forces Marianne to take on a more responsible, adult role (if you’ve seen the show, reach out to me and we can collectively despise him). We see this reflected in her style through a series of classic cuts, such as this A-line lace dress. Though this is a more mature take on Marianne’s usual style, the dress’s cutouts and the geometric earrings show that she is just as much the free-thinker and contrarian as she has always been.

I often feel like I’ve aged seven years in the seven months since we were originally sent home. I live in an apartment now. My roommates and I have to deal with feeding ourselves and paying rent. We had to learn about routers and purchase one within the span of a day in order to be functioning students — yes it’s in the kitchen next to our spices, but that’s besides the point.

My style has come to reflect this added layer of emotional maturity in the cuts of my outfits. I wear more high-waisted jeans with turtlenecks tucked in. I wear lots of black and white and wear higher quality pieces. This isn’t because I have more disposable income, but because I did a lot of online shopping while at home. I experiment a lot less and stick to formulas that I know make me feel confident. I change up my earrings or makeup for variety.

Image via Cosmopolitan.

There’s so much to love about “Normal People.” I loved the message that our growth as individuals is gradual and manifests in a myriad of ways. While at home, I found myself inching more and more into my shell. It was difficult for me to remember that monumental shifts in my personality actually occurred while on campus. “Normal People” helped me relive those changes. Now I’m back in Evanston, and I do less things on a day-to-day basis compared to when I last lived here. However, this self isolation has taught me that there can be a tremendous amount of growth from sitting in silence. So I keep growing, my style keeps shifting, and Marianne is always there to help me feel seen.