Girlfrineds and it's Endless Inspo

So every day on my lunch break I’m super anti-social. I sit in my car, eat my food and watch old episodes of one of my favorite shows of all time. Girlfriends!  Now I’ve always watched Girlfriends but for the last couple of months I’ve re-watched at least every episode from the second season through the last season either on my phone via YouTube or catching random marathons on Centric. Now have you ever watched a show or movie when you are older and then notice new things and it’s all because you’re older and have a better understanding of the story, that’s what Girlfriends has been for me lately.  When I was younger I loved the stories on the show and always admired what they wore but lately I’ve been getting more insight into this master piece of Mara Brock Akil’s.

I was only 10 years old when the show premiered back in September of 2000 so I didn’t get into it until I was about 12 or 13. I remember loving Joan’s house and envisioning that my house would have that much character and my girlfriends would come over to spill t’s and help me through a crisis as Maya, Toni and Lynn did. But I always loved how different their styles were. I feel like it gave the show such a realistic feel and let viewers know that Sex and the City weren’t the only ones with stylish sexy woman on our televisions weekly.

Now Toni was the “fabulous” one who was on a first name basis with employees at Bergdorfs and Neimans. She took so much pride in her lifestyle and it translated effortlessly courtesy of Stacy Beverly… we’ll get to her in a min. Maya had a sassy street style. Now her character has a lot of flavor but as the show grew so did her style. In the first season she rocked a lot of trends of the early 200’s from asymmetrical skirts to super pointy toe pumps.  Then as she went through her affair with Stan, divorce from Darnell and becoming an “authorist” (insert Maya Wilkes voice LOL) she started to have a chic and sexy style just like Toni and Joan. And of course Lynn! Lynn was my second fav character. We all loved her “lazy” yet free spirited attitude about life and her keen sex drive was cool. She had a grungy/ hippie vibe that I see a lot of girls try to duplicate these days. I loved her beanies, chunky combat boots, Chucks and low rise jeans complimenting her amazing waist tattoo. Her style was the one I most identified with at first.  As I got older and my style was growing I started to watch the show just to see Joan Carol Clayton. She was my favorite character. From her endless relationship issues, career woes and love/hate relationship with Toni I identified with her the most. Her keen fashion sense was amazing. She was the embodiment of the woman I saw myself being, or at least how she dressed LOL. Joan wore a lot of hip hugging jeans, A-line skirts and blousy/oversized tops. But she especially made “laid back” wear look stylish, she was one of the first woman I saw wear track tennis shoes with wide leg slacks and a  Free City sweat shirt, I’ve duplicated that look countless times all the way back to my junior year of high school. But most of all she was one of the first women that made me see how beautiful my curves were and I’m talking about Joan the character and Tracey Ellis Ross. Now I was never ashamed of being curvy but I wasn’t always the best at wearing what flattered me most. She dressed in a way that showed off her curves and was super classy, something I’m still taking note of.

 Earlier this year when I thought about posting how the show has influenced my personal style I started research the head costume designer, Stacy Beverly. Stacy was actually first over looked for the job because she didn’t have much experience and was not a part of Hollywood’s Costume Union but after a  meeting with Mara she expressed her creative vision for each character and she won the job. Stacy had a way of translating each characters personality through their looks making it an effortless for viewers to identify with. I notice that she mixed a lot of high and low pieces and didn’t mind putting the characters in the same pieces they wore in prior episodes. To me the it made the show more realistic, I mean don’t get me wrong they didn’t wear the same pieces over and over but there were times when Lynn wore the same poncho maybe two or three episodes apart. I mean her character didn’t have much money so it made sense, she couldn’t go to Neimans like the Toni or Joan. I’ve been studying all the looks on the show a lot lately and it’s influenced how I style clients on my own. Stacy stayed true to each character and I believe that s one part that made the show one of my favorites of all time.

Overall Girlfriends showed me that Miranda, Carrie, Samantha and Charlotte were not the only sexy/stylish group of woman I could be inspired by. I saw that woman that look just like me knew the difference between  Oscar De La Renta and Oscar De Le Hoya LOL, or that round toe heels are a no-no certain seasons. Hopefully they decide to get the Girlfriends movie rolling. I have so many unanswered questions. Like are Joan and Toni friends again?  How is Lynn’s music career going? Did Maya write another book? And did Toni ever learn to pronounce Jabari’s name correctly LOL? All questions of the universe. LOL hope this post gave you more insight on my favorite show!