How TV shows influence fashion

Beyond the “wine and popcorn” moments Olivia Pope brings to the screen, Scandal has had deeper impact. And not Scandal alone, most TV shows have a seismic influence on fashion.

Olivia Pope’s largely grey (no, not white) closet of slouchy, well-cut designer clothes has two closets, two more than any other character on the show.

Clothes don’t just represent the character. They are characters in and of themselves. They play with moods, personal trajectories, relationships and seminal scripted moments.

But no case study on fashion and TV is ever complete without Sex and The City. Take four women, each with a very distinct personality and wardrobe to boot, introduce the world to the concept of an it shoe and entrench yourself in modern consciousness.

Carrie Bradshaw’s character $40,000 (Sh3.5 million) shoe closet had such an impact in 2007 that New York Times indicated 37 per cent of American women would bungee jump off the Golden Gate bridge if it meant getting a pair of Manolo Blahniks.

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SATC’s costume designer Patricia Fields’ success contributed hugely to the success of the franchise. Her clothes had separate lives outside the show. The costume designer for Pretty Little Liars aptly captures this. Interviewing for the job she said “If you let me make fashion the 5th character on this show, people will watch it just for the clothes.”

It’s easy for TV to style us with its subliminal messages. We see these characters regularly — at least on a weekly basis if we are not indulging in weekend binge fests, and we eventually develop attachments to them. Who they are is reflected in their clothes in a way we fail to realise our own clothes do.

We pick out cues on what power looks like, what to wear for confrontations, dates, funerals, birthdays, black tie, to meet the president — TV says consider it handled. To fully grasp how influential TV has been go, to Pinterest, the internet service where people share ideas.

There are boards on practically every trending show imaginable. In real life, characters meet viewers. Julia Margulies has reported she gets stopped on the streets by real life female lawyers who ask for tips on how to dress like her character in The Good Wife.

Gossip Girl had an Anna Sui inspired line for Target that sold out within 24 hours. Fans curate looks and dig into backgrounds, naming designers who are favoured on blogs, telling us how to get the look usually for less.

Long before the internet allowed the sharing on a massive scale, shows like Dynasty with Joan Collins, shoulder pads and the 1980s working woman seeped into culture. The Cosby Show gave birth to fashion contrarian Lisa Bonet.

The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, like Miami Vice, encouraged men to wear suits with turtlenecks and T-shirts. And who can forget Friends with that famous haircut, the Rachel. Think back how Ally McBeal almost made women think it was a great idea wearing micro-minis to work.

Fashion forward TV shows tend to have a more obvious impact because they are not bashful about their agenda and indiscriminately drive consumerism. And, Ugly Betty was so good at drawing class and status lines with a single screen shot.

Shows with a masculine derivative like Boardwalk Empire and Mad Men now compel men to seek out a polished look not necessarily steeped in 007. Incidentally, the Mad Men costume designer created a capsule collection for Banana Republic.

WEARABLE STUFF

Also, Olivia Pope does get a run for her money. Claire Underwood, House of Cards is equally fashionable. She embodies the subtle nuances of political Washington DC which apparently bears sensitivity with regards to how much the political class will spend on fashion. Claire’s wardrobe is usually a season behind and understated, extrapolations of her Lady Macbeth.

But even her minimalism conveys power and has its enthused fanbase. Jessica Pearson’s character in Suits can, however, spend. A powerful, successful and beautiful lawyer with an incredible body, her clothes are straight up, unapologetically high-end designer with a touch of couture.

What these shows have succeeded in doing for women with money to spend is to indicate how to combine power, money, femininity, sex appeal and personal style, all appealing to different personality tangents.

Costume designers play a role different from stylists. They are in on character development. They create a tangible person. They look to runways for inspiration, but it is for wearable stuff.

All these TV shows have been global hits with characters, both clothes and people, representing an international, varied fashion aesthetic.

Over time, fashion has become less random and more universal, pretty while functional and accommodating of individuality, personality and quirks in a way that runways and fashion magazines are unable to illustrate. Costume designers are like visionaries in that regard. Sometimes they can get as intimate as underwear.

Case in point, Eva Longoria’s character in Desperate Housewives. Ultimately, when TV characters stand out as uniquely attractive (read stylish), the show has a longer shelf life, is a greater cultural touchstone and has social impact. And once an actor is seen as stylish in a show, they have to step up the game off screen.