Footnotes to the TV series
RICHARD: That’s a televised house vote, and I find that fascinating.
LORELAI: It’s like watching the Men’s Wearhouse security camera.
Men’s Wearhouse, a clothing brand for men founded in 1973 by George Zimmer, targeting the common man and offering unpretentious clothing choices. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, it is now part of Tailored Brands Inc.
RICHARD: Liesl … Our East-German maid. She was much more masculine-looking than me.
LORELAI: Right, the muttonchops.
Mutton chops, extravagant sideburns that are grown down to the chin, as favoured in the 19th century. You can see from the photo of Liesl that she had nothing of the sort.
RORY: Guess I’ve got time to tie my shoes.
LORELAI: Yes, well, cobble yourself a new pair, Daniel Day Lewis.
Sir Daniel Day-Lewis (born 1957), English retired actor. Often described as one of the preeminent actors of his generation, he received numerous accolades throughout his career which spanned over four decades, including three Academy Awards for Best Actor, making him the first and only actor to have three wins in that category. He has also received four BAFTAs, three Screen Actors Guild Awards and two Golden Globe Awards. In 2014, Day-Lewis received a knighthood for services to drama.
In 1997, Daniel Day-Lewis retired from acting for three years, taking up a new profession as an apprentice shoe-maker in Florence, Italy. He returned to acting in 2000.
RICHARD: Do you really think he was wearing a track suit? … Well, I wonder if he was wearing Nikes also.
LORELAI: Just Do It takes on a whole new meaning, doesn’t it?
Nike, multinational corporation engaged in the design, development, manufacturing, and worldwide marketing and sales of footwear, apparel, equipment, accessories, and services. The company is headquartered in the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area. The company was founded in 964, as Blue Ribbon Sports by Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight, and officially became Nike in 1971. The company takes its name from Nike, the Greek goddess of victory. It is the world’s largest supplier of athletic shoes and apparel.
Wieden+Kennedy is Nike’s primary ad agency. It was their co-founder Dan Wieden who coined the famous slogan “Just Do It” for a 1988 Nike ad campaign, which was chosen by Advertising Age as one of the top five ad slogans of the 20th century and enshrined in the Smithsonian Institution. Wieden credits the inspiration for the slogan to “Let’s do it”, the last words spoken by murderer Gary Gilmore before he was executed by firing squad.
EMILY: I sound like a spoiled high school girl.
LORELAI: Not quite. You still haven’t asked for the Gloria Vanderbilt jeans and the convertible Rabbit.
Heiress Gloria Vanderbilt, previously discussed, brought out her own line of designer jeans in the 1970s. More tightly fitted than other jeans of the time, they were an immediate success with customers.
The Volkswagen Golf Mark 1 [pictured] was marketed in North America as the Rabbit (the name was brought back for the Mark 5 model in 2006). It stayed on the market from 1974 to 1983, but it seems that for many Americans, the original name stuck.
It seems very likely that Gloria Vanderbilt designer jeans and a VW convertible were things that the spoiled teenage Lorelai asked for herself.
RORY: Your stretchy jeans and your BunnyRanch T-shirt.
The Moonlite BunnyRanch is a legal, licensed brothel in Mound House, Nevada, near Carson City. First opened in 1955, it has had many celebrity clients, and featured in two TV specials in 2002 and 2003.
RORY: What’s he wearing, a jogging suit?
LORELAI: Yeah, and then after, he and Paulie are hitting The Bada Bing.
A reference to the TV show The Sopranos, previously discussed as one of Lorelai’s favourites. Peter Paul “Paulie Walnuts” Gualtieri is one of Tony Soprano’s henchman, and The Bada Bing is a strip club and key location in the show. Paulie was very fond of wearing jogging suits, in particular, a black velvet one.
MAUREEN: Listen, I have Graydon Carter on the other line.
Edward Graydon Carter (born 1949), Canadian journalist, editor of Vanity Fair from 1992 to 2017. Maureen is presumably his publicist, or the magazine’s. If so, why a New York magazine has hired a Boston PR team, I’m not really sure.
PARIS: I got copies for everyone, so let’s leave the Barneys clearance sale reenactment for another day, shall we?
Barneys New York is an American luxury brand founded in New York City in 1923 by Barney Pressman. Originally a men’s discount clothing store, Barneys claimed to be the first Manhattan retailer to advertise on radio and television. During the 1960s, Barney Pressman’s son Fred helped the store to transition to one selling luxury goods, and is credited with introducing Armani to the American market. Women’s clothing was included in 1976.
RORY: We have travel books.
LORELAI: No, sweetie, these aren’t our kind of travel books. These are Paris and Nicky Hilton’s kind of travel books.
Paris Hilton (born 1981), media personality, businesswoman, socialite, model, and entertainer, and Nicholai “Nicky” Rothschild (born Nicholai Hilton in 1983), American socialite, fashion designer and model, younger sister of Paris [Nicky is on the left]. The granddaughters of Conrad Hilton, the founder of Hilton Hotels, they were famous for being glamorous wealthy heiresses in the 1990s and early 2000s.
I somehow feel that Paris and Nicky would not need a guide book to find a good hotel …
The Annotated Gilmore Girls 