Slaying in heels

Deux petites analyses de la mode dans les saisons 1 et 2 de Btvs:

Citation :: Slaying in Heels - Buffy season 1

The 7 Seasons of Joss Whedon’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer just so happened to coincide with my formative years; I was 13 when the first season aired, by the time it ended I was 19, heading out into the world on my own for the first time for university.

I liked Buffy for the witty writing, the girl power message, and the powerful stories; the hot guys didn’t hurt either. I loved the outfits! Here was a girl doing a messy, physical job, but in some serious wardrobe. Yes sometimes they were completely impractical choices, and looking back some of them haven’t exactly aged well, but Buffy’s look was always an integral part of who she was, and often had a part to play in the story.

Join me, now a fully-fledged grown-up (well I try) working in the Style and Image industry, as I look back on the key wardrobe moments of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, starting, naturally, with Season 1.

So, Welcome to the Hellmouth, and welcome to 1990s fashion! The outfit in which we meet Buffy Anne Summers for the very first time sets the scene for the rest of the Season (oh, and I’m not counting her jammies as she tosses and turns whilst engaged in a slayer dream in the opening scenes of the episode!). Buffy wears a short-sleeved light blue cardi, white cami (with the white motif becoming a bit of a running theme, but more on that later), maroon mini skirt and knee high boots. This look is reminiscent of the popular girls of Clueless and the other typical High School dramas of the time. Her ‘hot girl’ outfit (and Xander, at least, appears to agree) only serves to emphasise Whedon’s wish to subvert the image of the pretty little blonde thing who wanders down a dark alley at the beginning of a horror film only to get herself horribly killed. If the skirt length is ill-suited to the ever-present threat of imminent slayage, at least the footwear is a little more practical. Yes, she’s wearing heels, but they are the typical very chunky heel of the era, which definitely have increased comfort factor (and I speak as a dedicated shoe enthusiast), and her leather knee-highs must lend some protection to the ankles and the carves!

With all the tight and midriff bearing tops and short skirts of this season, you do have to wonder where she keeps her stakes. Luckily the outfit for the first slay of the series involves black trousers, sturdy shoes and an electric blue shirt – a little easier to fight in! This is also what Buffy wears for her first trip to The Bronze, a scenario where we see how much clothes mean to this girl – she agonises over what to wear, a scene all too familiar to most of us, but more importantly is able to identify her prey through his own poor sartorial choices. (“Trust me, only someone who had lived underground for ten years would think that was still the look.”)

The vamp who was to play an oh-so-important part in our Slayer’s life also gifts her with a couple of fashion items this season. I, of course, refer to Angel’s cross necklace (in Welcome to the Hellmouth), and leather jacket (in Teacher’s Pet). I do wonder how many girls went out and bought crosses purely through Buffy’s influence, or badgered their boyfriends into getting one for them. I also wonder how on earth a jacket that fits Angel’s 6’1”, rather large (although slighter than in later seasons) frame manages to only be fashionably outsize on Buffy. I suppose it must be the Hellmouth messing about with the fabric of space and, erm, leather. Both the jacket and the cross, and Buffy’s wearing of them during later episodes, go on to symbolise the growing relationship between the two.

So if that’s the general sphere of clothing and accessories covered, shall we talk about the hair? Buffy’s usual big and bouncy layered look wouldn’t actually look too amiss today, but throughout Season 1, when the time calls for action, the Slayer favours a high ponytail with chin length bangs that is pure 90s. I can remember myself and several of my female friends at the time having these pieces cut into our own hair. Unfortunately, glam as they looked on Buffy I seem to remember that on real life teenagers they were not quite as flattering (teenage greasy hair on top of teenage oily face not necessarily a good combo).

If we’re thinking iconic Season 1 though, it has to be that junior prom dress from Prophecy Girl. At first sight the white, layered confection seems strangely old-fashioned and unflattering, a little too demure for our Buffy. However as the episode unfolds it becomes more obvious that this is the perfect robe for the sacrificial virgin she is about to become at the hands of the Master. In true Buffy style, she adds her own edge to it anyway, with her protective armour of Angel’s cross and jacket.

There you have it, my picks for Season One. What do you think? Aghast that I’ve missed your most favourite/reviled outfit? Wishing for a revival of kneeboots and microminis? Discuss!

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Citation :: Slaying in Heels – Season 2

So Buffy dies (the novelty will soon wear off doing that), comes back, kills the big bad, then heads off to see Hank for the summer. Oh how things change upon her return.

Of course, one of the biggest changes to the style this Season is Buffy’s hair. When Buffy returns from LA in When She Was Bad the honey coloured big-n-bouncy tresses of Season 1 are gone, and in comes a sharp little bob in a much lighter blonde that we’ll all grow to know and love over the years. I have a theory that short hair in Buffy = angst. The next time she’ll have it bobbed is Season 6, also known as the Season of Depression and Darkness (at least in my head). Possibly the haircut could just be a reflection of Buffy’s run-in with a vengeful fisherman over the summer.

Season 2 is many fans’ favourite, and I think is viewed by most people as ‘classic’ Buffy. Although there is still all the Whedon-patented snark and humour we saw in the first 13 episodes of the series, this season marks a change to more adult themes and darker stories. This change is very much reflected through the wardrobe and style for the show. You will see far less of the girly, ‘Clueless Reject’ (and that’s reject from the 1990s film adaptation of Emma, not just someone with no idea what to wear who is generally shunned from society) outfits. This is rumoured to be in part due to Sarah Michelle Gellar voicing her dislike of the micro minis of the first season. Don’t worry, the minis and the knee high boots will still be seen, but they are definitely phased out as the Season progresses and a much higher concentration of trousers/pants will be worn. Let’s face it, these are much more practical for slaying purposes, even the giraffe trousers of doom (I’ll come back to these).

As the darkness of the story arc progresses, Buffy moves away from the sugary purples, lilacs and greens and pinks of the early episodes and more and more black is introduced into her wardrobe (By the way, in my professional opinion black is not SMG’s best colour when she’s blonde, but hey, it’s a handy colour metaphor!). You’ll see Buffy wearing black for the vast majority of the life lessons she learns in this Season – learning that Giles, her mentor, is fallible in The Dark Age, the shades of grey of morality hitting her hard in Lie to Me, post-Angel losing his soul, upon discovering that her former lover has been watching her sleep in Passion (just another sign of what we all know, Buffy would never have tolerated Edward Cullen), and during her darkest moment of the Season, thrusting a sword into the newly re-ensouled Angel in the Season finale. In fact, it is actually rare to see Buffy wearing colours other than black during the second half of the Season.

The Buffy/Angel relationship is once again pivotal for this season, and the gifts he gave her in the first Season make a return; Buffy wears Angel’s cross the first time she fights him in Innocence. In Innocence (which is very much the turning point of the story) Angel gifts Buffy with a Claddagh ring (to the tune of another few hundred girls rushing out to buy one, which way did you wear your heart? How many girls wore it pointing in because they belonged to Angel, I wonder?).

My key wardrobe items for Season 2 –

- The LBD from When She Was Bad. This is a new, predatory side of Buffy, and maybe this particular instance is just a teen acting out due to unresolved issues re. her recent death, but this is definitely a more sexualised Buffy which will become an important plot point.

- The overalls from School Hard. Ever noticed how on TV the characters always have a cute ‘decorating outfit’ every time a paintbrush features in the plot, rather than just wearing ancient and ugly ill-fitting tracksuit bottoms? These overalls also make a return as the last item of clothing of the Season for Buffy as she flees Sunnydale. What could be more of an insight into her state of mind at the time?

- The noble woman dress from Halloween – just have to point this out because, Oooh! Pretty!

- Buffy’s black ‘undercover’ beanie hat – as seen in Becoming part II - put on a black woolly hat, instant stealthy goodness.

- Turquoise coat with purple trousers from Becoming part I. I remember seriously coveting this outfit at the time, it now looks seriously dated. Also a rare burst of colour this late in the season.

- The Giraffe Trousers of Doom (told you I’d be coming back to them). We first see these monstrosities in Reptile Boy twinned with a lacey white cross over top in what would win my vote for worst Buffy outfit of the Season. You can’t miss them, they’re brown and white, tight, and have an abstract giraffe print on them. These horrors are not just around to scar your eyes once, oh no. They make a return for what is arguably one of the most important scenes. Yes, these are the trousers that Buffy wears in ‘that’ scene in Surprise. Poor Angel, he obviously couldn’t help himself, the combination of a wet white top and the sexy giraffe pants was obviously too much for him to control all that pent up broody passion. In any case, the Giraffe Trousers of Doom contribute to the moment of perfect happiness, and thus to the dooming of the Buffy/Angel romance, and the lives of those surrounding them. (This is not the last of the animal print for this season, there’s a fetching leopard print skirt in Bewitched Bothered and Bewildered, but I can kind of forgive that, even if it is a little Bet Lynch.)

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Sujet: Re: Slaying in heels Sam 04 Sep 2010, 16:07

très Intéressant merci!!!