Fashionistas are recreating looks from ‘Gossip Girl,’ ‘Friends’ & more
Ever seen a character on a TV show wearing a stylish outfit and thought “I want that?” For some fashion-adoring fans, it isn’t just wishful thinking. They’re scouring the internet in hopes of finding the clothing items they’ve admired in movies and on television — recreating classic looks from “Gossip Girl,” “Friends” and “13 Going on 30.”
“Anytime I have to go to a wedding or anything fancy, I was like, ‘I wish I could just have Rachel Green’s dress,’” said Jasmine Harris. She finally tracked down and purchased the exact sundress she saw Jennifer Aniston’s character wearing on an episode of “Friends.”
Meanwhile, one “Gossip Girl” superfan has spent thousands of dollars on her show-inspired wardrobe. Now that the series has been rebooted, she’s already gotten her hands on accessories she saw from the initial episodes.
The shows and movies may have gone off-air years ago, but these television fans are keeping the fashion alive.
Nina Kulikovska, ‘Gossip Girl’ guru
She’s the Blairest of them all!
When medical student Nina Kulikovska rewatched the entire “Gossip Girl” series during quarantine, she was struck by one thing: the fashion. So the Midtown resident started searching online for versions of the high-end pieces worn by Blair (Leighton Meester) and Serena (Blake Lively) on the show, snagging many off reselling apps Poshmark and eBay.
She also began uploading the finds to her “Gossip Girl”-themed Instagram page. Kulikovska scored her most prized outfit — Blair’s white Marc Jacobs dress — when a fellow fan messaged her, offering it up for $700.
Kulikovska said she wouldn’t have been able to envision the clothing on herself without first seeing it on her favorite TV characters. She often finishes her re-creations with long necklaces, the exact shoes worn in the scene, and Blair’s signature headband.
“How [Blair] wore it, it’s a whole look,” Kulikovska said. “She had the headband, the pearls, the shoes. That really sold me. I don’t know if I would have actually picked those clothes up myself.”
She now owns dozens of vintage looks from the show, regularly shelling out more than $300 per piece. Kulikovska has also already purchased a pair of Stuart Weitzman heels worn on the series’ reboot (these strappy “Nudist” heels, available at ShopBop).
“It’s an outlet,” she said of her new hobby. “If I’m studying a lot, at the end of the day you want to do something that takes you away from all that stress.”
Courtney Seamon, ‘13 Going on 30’ wannabe
For Courtney Seamon, 28, it all started with Halloween. In 2019, she was determined to go to a party dressed as Jenna Rink (Jennifer Garner) from the romcom “13 Going on 30” — but she needed to find the striped dress that the character wears in the famous “Thriller” dance scene.
But the Versace frock was never mass-produced, meaning it’s all but impossible to find. That didn’t stop Seamon, though. She tracked down an almost exact replica, and got its owner to loan it to her.
From there, she went on a quest to re-create as many of the movie’s looks as possible. “I’m from a small town in Indiana, so when the movie came out, it was something that made me always want to move to New York City and work in fashion,” said Seamon, a full-time fashion blogger who runs the site Mimosas and Manhattan with her cousin. “[Jenna Rink] really embodied this go-getter with a bubbly personality.”
So the Williamsburg resident turned to a seller on Poshmark who, under the moniker “CinemaSpells,” specializes in finding out-of-production pieces from movies and television shows. Seamon paid $350 for a garden-print Moschino dress from 2000, which Garner’s character wore while walking the rainy streets of New York, finishing the ensemble with a pink headband and tan purse just like Rink did in the film. The seller was also able to procure the character’s polka-dot Nanette Lepore coat from the movie poster.
After her six-month pursuit of seven Jenna-inspired outfits, Seamon posted every re-creation on her blog. Garner even shared it on her Instagram page.
“That was my favorite moment,” said Seamon, who spent around $1,000 on the entire project. “I was like, ‘If I do this and spend all this money, and she doesn’t ever see it, I’m going to be so bummed.’”
Jasmine Harris, ‘Friends’ fanatic
When Jasmine Harris, a receptionist from Connecticut, saw Rachel Green (Jennifer Aniston) wearing a brown floral sundress on an episode of “Friends” a few years ago, she couldn’t get it out of her head.
“I’ve seen every episode,” said the 26-year-old. “I’m obsessed with the fashion and costuming.”
She had Rachel’s look on her mind for years before the Milly frock, first sold in 2000, finally popped up on eBay for $150. (“A steal!” said Harris.)
Harris recently purchased a red vintage jacket worn by the show’s Phoebe Buffay (Lisa Kudrow) for $90. She admits she would never have tracked it down if she hadn’t seen how cool it looked on the show.
“When it’s styled so well, it’s not just like seeing it out in the wild,” said Harris. “I love reading about how Debra [McGuire, the costume designer on ‘Friends’] put everything together. I love to see people crediting the costume designers because those are the real ones behind [the show’s fashion].”
