Monday, April 8, 2013

Buffy fashions

Welcome, gentle viewers, to the 90's!

So maybe you're starting Buffy for the first time or the fortieth, one thing that you have to brace yourself for is the wild 90's Buffy fasions and there are some doozies. We're talking mini-skirts, barettes, bangs, character t-shits and baggy clothes (for the guys) galore! So I thought it might be fun to go through the fashion evolutions of Buffy with several of the main characters. Prepare your eyes for some pretty outrageous makeovers and unders as we live 7 seasons of highs and lows.

So we can't talk about fashion and Buffy without first looking at it's star. Let's take a walk through the many looks of Buffy...

Buffy- the early seasons

The first few seasons of Buffy had it's star flip-flopping a lot. It seemed like she was constantly at war with her age. Sometimes they wanted to remind us how young Buffy really was by throwing her hair up in a ponytail, giving her some high wedges and arming her with a lollipop and sunglasses. Other times, they wanted to sex her up giving her the 90's trademark miniskirts and cropped shirts. She wore a lot of pale colored dresses and skirts during the day and went with darker colors at night. Buffy's hair is in a constant state of change so you'd be hard pressed to find it looking the same in two episodes. In the beginning of season 1 it looks almost brown sometimes before they finally decide to keep it blonde.

Buffy- the later seasons
It's during the later seasons, pretty much right around the time she gets to college, that what I consider to be the "trademark Buffy" style starts to emerge. From about Season 5 on, Buffy's hair is light blonde and switched between super long or chin length short. She also varies it by wearing it wavy or straight. What I consider to be very Buffy is the spaghetti strap shirts or sleeveless tanks and the low riding trousers. She also wears quite a few long jackets in various colors. I think these seasons showcase the Buffy most people picture. It's all reds, black, and whites with leather pants and square-toed boots. Oh, and hoop earrings. Lots and lots of hoop earrings, especially when her hair is up.

Wanna dress like Buffy? Check out this my Buffy Polyvore collage:

Though Buffy went through quite a few changes, I don't think anyone changed their look as much as Buffy's witchy best friend Willow. Let's take a look back at some of Willow's looks.

Willow- the early seasons

In the earlier seasons, it was no question that Willow was young. In fact, most of the time she dressed younger than her age. We're talking t-shirts with cutesy characters on them, overalls, braided pigtails and I'm not sure if anyone can forget the pink fluffy sweater with the yellow flowers on it. She dresses in a lot of bold patterns and crazy colors. Her hair is always long and straight and most of her clothes are baggy and don't show her figure. In the early seasons, Willow dresses to fade out. She's a geek and she doesn't want to be noticed and it shows in her wardrobe. 

Willow- with Oz
Now, when Willow goes into college, her life is going pretty well. She's got herself a boyfriend who she's wild about and she's rooming with her best friend. Her newfound confidence is definitely evident in her wardrobe. AS the college year starts, Willow has adopted Oz's (her boyfriend) slacker style a little more. She wears a lot of long flowly skirts in wild colors and a lot of earth tones. I always remember Willow in this phase of her life in her matching brown felt jacket with Oz pictured above. Her hair is much shorter and flipped out and we get a lot of funky jewelry. She gets sort of witchy chic with a little bit of hippie tied in.

Willow- with Tara and beyond

As Willow finallty comes into her own as a witch, her style truly transforms. Gone are the days of overalls and pigtails. While her style was morphing into hippie chic with Oz, it goes full blown hippie with Tara. Now Willow start to wear a lot of long flowy sleeved tops that hug her figure and in the later seasons she goes back to more pants. We see a lot more make-up, sparkly jewelry and she bares her stomach more often. She definitely get a little more sexed up. It's great to see Willow confident!

If you want to hone in your witchy style, check out this Willow polyvore collage I put together:

Willow Style


Now that we've covered both girls so let's look at some of the men of Sunnydale. I'd like to start with everyone's favorite librarian!

Giles- through the seasons
In the beginning seasons, Giles is oh-so-deliciousy British. We're talking lots of tweeds in boring brown colors and plain shirt with ties. His straight laced ways are perfectly portrayed in his clothing. As Giles begins to carve out his own path and separate from his Council roots, his style morphs. He still goes for suits a lot of the time but he streamlines them. They are much more updated, better fitting and look mordern. Otherwise, he wear simple longsleeve sweaters and jackets. A bit of his rock-n-roll Ripper days begin to come out in his style which gives us a much more laidback look.

Do the gender swap Giles in this fun polyvore collage:

Giles- Librarian Chic


Finally, I think we should take a look at the one person's (alright, so person status is debatable) fashion that really doesn't change much at all.

Spike- through the seasons
Spike is the one character that you don't see change his look. He drove into town like a bat of hell, meant to be unapologetically rock-n-roll and he's stuck with it through the seasons. In the beginning, we saw him in a lot of open button up red shirts with a tight black tee underneath and dark pants. Let's not forget the stomp your face combat boots and peroxide hair. He also has his trademark black duster (which was driven over by a truck to look worn in) and chipped black nail polish.

As the seasons continue, we see lots of glimpses of Spike earlier in his life. He's either the bumbling poet William with his dirty blonde hair longer and loose or punk in the 80's with white washed jeans and a black tee shirt with cut-off sleeves. In the later seasons, he looses his colored shirt and is mostly pictured in black t-shirts and black pants and his duster. There is a stint where he goes into regular clothes while his mind is recovering but when he's truly himself, he's got on all black, all the time.

Check out how you or your guy can hone in on the Spike style:

Spike- Vampire fashion


I hope you've enjoyed looking at some of the Buffy characters through the seasons and talking about their fashion with me. It's been interesting seeing how the characters have evolved and how that is reflected in their clothing. It's been a doubly interesting experience since I finally got around to playing with polyvore. Hope you all enjoyed!

Please let me know if you decide to make your own Buffy collage on Polyvore. It's super simple and I'd love for you to share yours in the comment section below!

5 comments:

  1. ahhh memories. i like Spike's outfits.... :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Loved this post! I prefer the later season's of everyone's outfits :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Giles, so sexy! :D
    Also, I love Willow's college style!

    ReplyDelete
  4. =( I miss the 90's =(
    Also, awesome little blog post here =)

    ReplyDelete

Thinking of writing something below? Well, that's why you are awesome! I always love feedback!

This blog is an award free zone. With the demand of a full time job, blogging time is becoming much more precious and I just don't have the time to meet the demands of awards. Thanks so much for thinking of me anyway!

Related Posts with Thumbnails
 
Blog Design by Use Your Imagination Designs all images form the Impossible Things kit by Studio Tangie and Rebecca McMeen