Footnotes to the TV series
Lane gloomily points out that amongst Patrick Cho’s other drawbacks, he wore a Members Only jacket on their date. Members Only is a fashion brand known for their men’s jackets; they were popular in the 1980s, making poor Patrick Cho seem a bit dated in his fashion choices.
The brand is now having a bit of a resurgence, with 1980s Members Only jackets kind of hip and retro. Hopefully Patrick Cho still has his.
Rory tells Richard he can do a quiz in Cosmopolitan which will tell him whether he is a summer or a fall. Rory is referring to a popular theory of colour analysis, whereby matching those colours which fit a person’s skin tones are divided into the four seasons.
Although colour analysis had been part of fashion and beauty since the 19th century, the theory of linking them with the four seasons came in around the mid-twentieth century. It became prominent in the 1970s, and was most popular during the 1980s.
LORELAI: Let me see. Maybe we should really embrace the whole tulle thing. Go totally modern Cinderella.
Lorelai is referring to the 1950 animated Disney film Cinderella, based on the French fairy tale by Charles Perrault. Cinderella was a massive critical and commercial success for Walt Disney, and was the #3 film of 1950. It is considered one of the greatest animated films of all time.
In the film, Cinderella wears a silver-white ballgown which is made blue in promotional materials; reproductions of the dress made for children and teens tend to be made from tulle.
Neither Lorelai nor Rory ends up wearing a tulle dress to Rory’s first birthday party, so I’m not sure what happened to the dresses Emily bought them. As Lorelai tells Emily they wore them to the party, maybe she tore all the tulle off and they wore the slip dresses that were underneath? Or perhaps Lorelai is simply lying.
At the very least, the lacy green cardigan that Rory wears wasn’t made by her mother – Lorelai wore it to Friday Night Dinner in Kill Me Now, and Rory must have borrowed it.
LORELAI: Twelve dollars is a perfect present, Mom. She’ll love that.
EMILY: Can I at least get her the pashmina also?
Pashmina is a fine cashmere wool, first made in the Himalaya region of Kashmir in India, and used to make shawls, scarves, and wraps. Woollen shawls from Kashmir have been known since the Bronze Age.
There was a fad for pashmina in the 1990s which led to practically any good quality woollen accessory being sold as “a pashmina”, so there is no guarantee that Damien’s is selling the authentic article. In fact they most likely aren’t.
Flashdance is a 1983 romantic drama film directed by Adrian Lyne, about a working class teenage girl (Jennifer Beals) who dreams of being a professional dancer. Flashdance was panned by critics, but a commercial success and the #3 movie of 1983.
The “Flashdance phase” is another time Lorelai believes she was wrong. In the movie, Jennifer Beals wears 1980s dancewear, such as a leotard and leg warmers topped with an oversized sweatshirt falling off her shoulders; her other iconic outfit is jeans with ripped knees and a white singlet top falling off her shoulders. These were popular fashion choices in 1983 (when Lorelai was 15) because of the film. For a while there, nobody could keep clothes on their shoulders or knees.
Lorelai identifies gauchos as being one of the times in her life she was wrong. Gaucho pants are a women’s fashion item: very wide-legged trousers with a cuff ending mid-calf – basically long culottes. They are named after the trousers favoured by South American gauchos (“cowboys”).
They were in style in the early 1970s as something of a feminist statement, and soon went out of favour because they are rather unflattering. They have never quite gone away, due to being practical and comfortable.
Lorelai wears a B-52’s (now known as the B-52s) tee-shirt to the parent-teacher night. It’s apparently one she keeps in the car in case of accidents to clothing, and in this case she spilled coffee on herself while driving. The vision of Lorelai sitting half-naked in the car while she changes shirts is a strange one, and we might wonder where and how she managed to do this in a way that nobody noticed.
Perhaps she was able to pull over in the woods on the road to Hartford, or she’s one of those people who think nobody can see them while they’re in a car, despite the windows being made of glass, and happily pick their nose or get undressed in front of others.
The B-52s are an American new wave band formed in 1976, with an original line-up of Fred Schneider, Kate Pierson, Cindy Wilson, Ricky Wilson, and Keith Strickland. They are best known for their 1978 debut single Rock Lobster, and their 1989 hit single Love Shack.
LORELAI: Last week there was a huge debate over whether plaid scrunchies were acceptable head wear [at Chilton]. People took sides, things got ugly, the scrunchie motion finally passed and I’d like to think I was the tie breaker.
A scrunchie is a fabric-covered elastic hair accessory, used to tie back long hair. Scrunchies were particularly fashionable during the 1980s and ’90s. They were falling out of style in 2000, but at Chilton are still a source of concern.
Later in the episode, we learn that Lorelai’s championing of plaid scrunchies has led some parents to put her down as lower class, as they speculate that her child must be at Chilton on a scholarship, rather than because of rich grandparents.
MICHEL: These are $300 Italian loafers.
DRELLA: Wonder if Versace makes a pacifier.
Versace is an Italian luxury fashion company, founded by Gianni Versace in 1978. It is a favourite brand of numerous celebrities.
A pacifier is what Americans call the rubber teat with a plastic shield given to babies to suck on; in other countries it might be known as a dummy, teether, or soother.
LORELAI: OK, I need more tulle here. I need the feeling of a major tutu, OK?
A tutu is a traditional ballet dress, often made from tulle, which is a fabric made from lightweight fine netting.
Amy Sherman-Palladino herself was a ballet dancer, and had the chance to turn professional. She became a writer instead, but there are numerous references to ballet in Gilmore Girls, and her show Bunheads was based around the world of ballet.
The Annotated Gilmore Girls 