Illustration by Lola Fleming.
Originally published in print November 2020.
Halloween lockdown, with its Zoom costume party quizzes and movie marathons, has come and gone, but that doesn’t mean we have to stop dressing up like our favourite characters.
TV and film character inspired fashion has been around forever. From Gossip Girl and Sex and the City to The Devil Wears Prada and Clueless, there are countless muses for the avid fashion fan. 2020 especially has been a year for channeling ‘main character energy’ and raiding our wardrobes for fictional character outfit recreations. Thanks to social media challenges, we’ve been getting creative with what we own, paying homage to fashion icons like Carrie Bradshaw and Cher Horowitz. However, my favourite challenges, mostly seen on Instagram and TikTok, have been the videos featuring outfits inspired by characters that you wouldn’t expect.
There have been a myriad of TikTok trends that have spurred this urge to look to unlikely characters for fashion inspiration, like the ‘What I’d Wear if I Was In…’ videos back in June. This trend has been mastered by the likes of @the.navarose, who looks fire as characters in Pokemon, Star Wars, Marvel and Harry Potter. Harry Potter TikTok is a whole breed in itself, and once you get past the dramatic Draco and Cedric love triangle POVs, there are hundreds of creators putting outfits together to match the spirit (and colours) of each Hogwarts house. One of my favourites is @janiceglimmer, who mashed up Hogwarts and Disney princess inspired fashion into one by placing Disney princesses in each of the four different houses. @soupytime on TikTok began the Harry Potter character inspired outfit trend in which you lip sync to some of the characters’ most iconic lines, while wearing outfits that are not exact replicas of the characters looks from the films, but that still radiate each character’s vibes.
Of course, Cosplay is a very popular way of dressing up like Hermione Granger or Tangled’s Rapunzel. But Cosplayers try to be as faithful to the original looks as they possibly can, whether they’re at a convention or just acting out scenes on TikTok. The beauty of character-inspired fashion that isn’t strictly Cosplaying is that you can add your own twists to the character looks, making them consistent to your own everyday style, while still embracing the characters’ identities. It’s a beautiful blend of your favourite characters’ fascinating personalities with your own.
The outfit videos that have stemmed from @soupytimes’ viral TikTok are some of the best on the social media app. Not only is it fun to hear your favourite characters’ witty lines in a compilation, but it’s exciting to see how other fans translate each characters’ personalities into ensembles from their own wardrobes. You wouldn’t find these characters at Fashion Week, like you would Blair Waldorf or Andrea Sachs, and that’s what makes it especially appealing. From Marvel Cinematic Universe fans quoting Iron Man dressed in suits and sunglasses, to the Star Wars fandom pairing modern outfits with lightsabers, I have been eating these videos up. To me, they’re the perfect fusion of my two favourite things – fashion and fictional universes. I loved this particular fashion challenge so much that I had a go of it myself.
A cartoon I began to rewatch this year for the nostalgia (but binged and cried over for its sheer quality) is Avatar: the Last Airbender. There are so many endearing, memorable and well-written characters in this children’s show that it makes it the perfect cartoon to recreate outfits for. I aimed to stay true to the colour schemes of the characters, like Ty Lee’s pink or Toph’s green, but I also made sure to capture the key elements (get it?) of each character too. I wore a green jumper and pinafore (and carried a mug of tea) to show Uncle Iroh’s softness, and I sported a structured red dress with puffed shoulders to express Azula’s fierceness and elegance. What added to the fun was lip-syncing each character’s lines, from Sokka’s (‘I’d like to spend my vacation at the library!!’) to Mai’s (‘I guess you just don’t know people as well as you think you do. You miscalculated.’). The quote reciting pushed me to embody each character, though the clothes alone were powerful to achieve this effect. The way I put thought into each look, asking myself ‘would this character wear this if they were me?’, made me realise how easily clothes can help you become someone else. But I reminded myself that while I was embracing other identities, I was still being me – I was putting my own spin on each character’s aesthetic by using my own collection of clothes.
If I learned anything from creating that TikTok, I learned that fashion should be fun, and inspiration can come from anywhere, or anyone. The next time I think my wardrobe is dull, I’ll think of a sit-com or a blockbuster and set a challenge for myself to get creative. I highly recommend the YouTube channel StealTheSpotlight, who not only has fabulous fashion content in general, but also several videos on cartoon, TV show and film inspired looks that are to die for.
Channel that fictional character energy through your clothes, and you’ll start to feel like a main character yourself!
