30 Costume Details From Famous TV Shows That Give More Depth To Certain Scenes And Characters

There's truly a surprising amount of thought and consideration that goes into details like costumes.

Liezel

• Published in Interesting
• June 25, 2022

Remember the red coats that the handmaids wore or the 80s-themed clothes the cast of Stranger Things are wearing? Yeah, those costumes or attires don't just make characters look pretty or help audiences identify who is who.

They actually immensely help in the setting of the tv shows. More than that though, costumes do a lot more when it comes to contributing to the story in shows.

Sometimes, the details they have actually reveal more to the story than any dialogue between the characters. That's why we sometimes consider the costume department to be absolute geniuses.

They not only make amazing costumes that help bring to life all these worlds on tv but they also do their own amazing storytelling. However, more often than not, audiences are usually more caught up in the dialogues or the plot of the story to notice their efforts.

Fortunately, there are eagle-eyed people out there who won't let the details they've seen come to pass and the effort behind it just be ignored. And we've got to tell you, once you've known about these small details, you won't be able to forget about them nor will you ever be able to ignore them.

Here are 30 costume details that eagle-eyed show fans have spotted and the meanings behind them.

1. Janet's outfits on The Good Place were all actually inspired by 1970s flight attendants outifts

2. In Bridgerton, Eloise is often with the top of her dress resembling the suit of a man showing her desire and character arc to become as free as a man

3. Also in Bridgerton, in the beginning of the first season, Daphne always wore blue while the Duke always wore red. After they got engaged, however, the pair wore more purple tones which was a combination of their two colors.

4. In The Good Place finale, Tahani finally becomes an architect and Michael passes down to her the same bowtie he wore in the pilot

5. Penny from The Big Bang Theory isn't really shy of repeating outfits. She actually wore the same shirt for the first episode, the 100th episode, and the series finale

6. In Season 6 of Desperate Housewives where Susan and Mike get married, Katherine shows up wearing a tight red dress wanting to ruin the wedding. It's said that wearing red to a wedding is bad manners because it either means you've slept with the groom or is his mistress.

7. Unmatched socks don't feel good for most people but Matthew Gray Gubler who played Reid on Criminal Minds thinks that matching socks are actually bad luck so his character never wears them throughout the show

8. On the "Goodbye Michael" episode of The Office, a red strand of yarn can be seen hanging from Michael's pocket while passing through airport security. It's actually from the unfinished mittens Phyllis was working on as his going-away present.

9. For the flashback episode of Riverdale, Archie wore an outfit that was identical to the one Luke Perry wore on Beverly Hills, 90210

10. After Beth Harmon claims the world champion title in the final episode of The Queen's Gambit, she goes out in this all white outfit that has her looking like a white queen chess piece down to the hat

11. In almost every episode of Riverdale, Cheryl has a splash of red on her outfit given it's her signature color and whenever she wears an all-white dress, it's because something big is about to happen to her

12. In the show Shameless, Fiona wore the same shirt for the pilot and her last episode

13. In season 3, episode 8 of Stranger Things, Lucas and Max wore the same shirts as the characters Donna and Eric from That '70s Show

14. In Supernatural, Sam and Dean wore the same outfits for the pilot and series finale

15. In the pilot episode of Glee, the New directions all wore red t-shirts during their first group encore then in the last episode of the show, everyone wore something red for the last performance of the series

16. In the Chuck series finale, Sarah wore the same outfit she wore to the Buy More in the pilot and when she returned

17. On Breaking Bad, after the plane crash, ABQ residents briefly wore commemorative ribbons but Saul wears his for longer indicating that he was trying to convince victims to join a civil lawsuit

18. In That 70's Show finale, Kitty wears the same outfit she wore at her party in the first episode and at her NYE party

19. On The Queen's Gambit, Beth Harmon often wore plaid or checkered outfits indicating that chess was always on her mind

20. On Jane the Virgin, audiences are clued in that Jane is going to be involved in a big, life-changing romantic event whenever Jane wears a yellow dress

21. On The Haunting of Hill House, Olivia's outfits change to reflect her growing madness. They also come from the wardrobe of Poppy Hill, the ghost that haunted her

22. The pink dress that Alexis almost gifts to Twyla in the penultimate episode of Schitt's Creek is the same dress Alexis wears the first time the audience sees her in the show

23. In Episode 5 of The Wilds, the other girls on the island seem to be wearing the same clothes as Fatin on flashbacks because Fatin's suitcase was the only one that washed up on shore

24. In an episode of Gravity Falls, there's a scene where Tyler can't decide which shirt to wear then later on, he's seen wearing a version of the two shirts sewn together

25. When Dwight becomes the temporary manager on The Office, Andy starts dressing up like him with short-sleeved shirts continuing his "personality mirroring" of his bosses

26. In the first season of Euphoria, Jules' wardrobe goes from bright and bubbly to dark, edgy, and less feminine clothing reflecting her struggles and her dressing more for herself than for men

27. The Riverdale flashback episode paid homage to the Breakfast Club and teenage Alice can be seen wearing fingerless gloves like the ones Bender wore

28. On the first episode of season 2 of Broad City, there are two ladies on the subway who were dressed exactly like Abbi and Ilana were in season 1 episode 4

29. On the second season of Derry Girls, after Clare comes out, the Derry girls all wear rainbow pins on their outfits but it's never acknowledged by the characters

30. On Breaking Bad, during the "I am the one who knocks" scene, Walter removes his shirt and reveals a darker red shirt underneath which reflects the increase of darkness in him

These details may have been subtle but they're brilliant in helping the show build the storyline and continue the arcs of the characters. And honestly, if no one told us about some of them, we actually wouldn't have noticed them.

However, now, we can't really forget them. Also, now, we have our eyes peeled open for other details we might have missed in our favorite shows.

Did you catch all those costume details?

Liezel