Fashion Credits: Legally Blonde — Elegance with Ease

Elle Woods has inspired not just thousands of blondes, but thousands of girls who love their glam to go against the fray and prove that they are able to become lawyers (myself included… for about ten minutes). The point is, Legally Blonde showed the world that women who love to dress up are just as intelligent as anyone else, a message that our society needs to hear.

That being said, fashion is one of the most important tools in the film because it differentiates the difference between Elle and her fellow Harvard Law School classmates.

We first meet Elle in one of the most iconic opening montages of all time. Elle (actually, Witherspoon’s body double in this scene), masterfully pushes a brush through her curly blonde locks as she gets ready for the day. It’s both uplifting and compelling as we examine the simple things that make Elle herself: her Tiffany and Co. heart tag necklace, her Clinique “Happy” perfume, her tortoise shell hairbrush.

After the montage, the main plot starts rolling. Elle’s boyfriend Warner calls and invites her to dinner. While he is actually breaking up with her (more on that later), Elle believes that he is going to propose. To the ill-fated dinner, Elle wears a fuchsia halter-top dress with black squiggly lines. It’s her attempt at being a grown-up while stile being cute and a bit playful.

As stated above, no matter how “grown-up” Elle feels, there is nothing she can do to stop the bomb that is about to drop. Warner tells Elle that he needs to get serious and needs to go to law school and needs to be a senator by the time he’s thirty, and then says one of the most iconic lines uttered in the film: “If I’m going to be a senator, I need to marry a Jackie, not a Marilyn.” There is so much to unpack in that one single sentence! Let’s take a quick detour through pop culture history. During the early 1960s, Jackie Kennedy was First Lady of the United States and was also the first first lady to really be seen as a cultural icon. She was so cultured, so fashionable, so well-mannered — so much so that she seemed like royalty. Her husband, JFK, was her match in looks and charm — however, he was quite the philanderer. JFK had a one (or two) nightstand with actress and sex-symbol Marilyn Monroe during his presidency. Culture loves nothing more than to put two women up against each other, and thus Jackie and Marilyn have been seen as the two opposite, but perfect, versions a woman can aspire to be.

Truth be told, I find this comparison highly fascinating, especially since I resonate so much with Jackie (after all, she is my favorite fashion icon). To complicate this even further, there was an episode of Mad Men (created years after Legally Blonde) that had a whole storyline that was about creating an ad campaign based on the Jackie-Marilyn complex, further cementing the public’s ideas about the two women. Again, I’m getting too far into this, but it’s important for the dynamics between Elle, Warner, and his fiance throughout the rest of the film.

Anyway, now back to our fashion analysis of Legally Blonde. So, Warner dumps Elle. Elle is then distraught, so she decides to apply to Harvard Law School where Warner is attending in the fall. She thinks that if she becomes a “serious law student” (aka a “Jackie”), Warner will want to marry her. She then goes on to create one of the most iconic application essays of all time, which features shots of her in a fabulous sequined bikini and another pink halter dress.

Elle’s plan works, and she gets into Harvard. Obviously, the outfits she wears while on the East Coast are still incredibly feminine, but they have a different vibe to them. Elle is trying to take herself a bit more seriously, so she wears what she thinks is appropriate. Essentially, some of her earlier looks at Harvard look more like costumes because Elle is wearing what she thinks a “serious law student” would wear, except she’s adding her own personal twist.

Her first look at Harvard is her arrival outfit, which is a pink leather driving suit. She completes the look with black sunglasses, a red handbag, and grey/tan leather boots. This is also the first moment where she looks like a fish-out-of-water. Compared to all of the other students gawking at her in muted tones such as grey sweaters and brown pants, Elle looks like a misfit as she is not only the only person wearing pink, but the only person wearing something bright.

My favorite outfit in the whole film is the one Elle wears for her first day of classes. Its perfection: a pink button down with a purple tie, a metallic turquoise sweater, a metallic turquoise pencil skirt (in a different shade), brown leather boots, a red bag with a pink scarf, and glasses with faux lenses to top it all off. Just glancing at this list, it sounds like the outfit would look like a complete disaster. In actuality, it’s perfection. It seems like it’s too much, but it’s just the right amount of costume and charisma.

The quality of this screenshot is absolutely horrible, but I have to give you a full shot of the outfit and show you the magic of how it all works together. It’s also fascinating that Elle decided to adapt to the more muted tones of the East Coast after she saw how everyone dressed when she first arrived. She’s not morphing into everyone else, but rather, trying to adapt to the environment and not stick out like a sore thumb as much. However, she still outshines everyone in the hallway. As she clicks her heels, Warner is conveniently standing right in front of her, and it is during this moment that he realizes that Elle goes to Harvard. His reaction is amazing, especially once we learn later on in the film that Warner was originally waitlisted.

The next scene is Elle’s first class, which is a rough, to say the least. We do, however, get to meet the incredible (well, at first awful) Vivian. She’s the evil WASP stinging Elle’s Malibu Barbie during a sunny day at her beach house.

Remember that detour through history I went on about Jackie vs. Marilyn? Here’s where it becomes relevant. Vivian is not just the WASP to Elle’s Malibu Barbie, but she’s the Jackie to her Marilyn. She has perfect, shiny, short dark hair, bold brown brows, and a strand of pearls. She looks conservative and traditional, while Elle looks fun-loving and playful. The first time we meet her, she’s wearing a blue sweater vest (on a side note, sweater vests are totally underrated and very chic) over a blue button-down.

We also learn that Vivian is actually engaged to Warner. They dated in prep school and reconnected at his grandmother’s birthday party during the summer (as WASPs do). The Jackie-Marilyn concept is in full form during this moment. As the saying goes, gentlemen prefer blondes… but they marry brunettes. Essentially, Warner liked to have fun with Elle, but Vivian is the perfect wife for a potential junior senator.

It wouldn’t be a true Legally Blonde fashion analysis if I didn’t talk about the elephant in the room — or should I say, the bunny. On Vivian’s tirade against Elle, she invites her to a “costume” party, which in reality is just a casual house party. Elle shows up in a Playboy bunny outfit much to the dismay of everyone else. Also, I can’t help but make another Jackie-Marilyn comparison since I do think it’s interesting that Elle wears a Playboy bunny costume and Marilyn Monroe famously posed for the first-ever edition of Playboy.

Anyway, the most influential moment at the party is when Warner tells Elle that even though she got into Harvard, she isn’t that smart. Elle finally realizes what a jerk he is, and storms out in her cute little costume. Though what Warner says is horrible, it motivates Elle to really push herself.

The next sequence is the incredible studying montage, which features Elle getting her hair done while rigorously taking notes and carrying lots of heavy books. Sure, it’s just her working hard, but it proves that she can really focus and put her mind to something Warner and the others think she can’t understand.

Elle’s hard work pays off, and she is even one of the few first-years chosen to help her professor on a high-profile case regarding the murder of a fellow Delta Nu’s husband. On Elle’s first day at her internship, she wears my second favorite outfit: a black sweater with a ruffled polka dot blouse, a black pencil skirt with the slip peeking out, black heels, and a black briefcase with a bold silk scarf tied on. It’s professional, but it encompasses Elle’s flair.

The rest of the film focuses on said case, and Elle proves that she can make an incredible lawyer. As the trail starts, we get to see Brooke’s (the woman who allegedly killed her very wealthy husband who was thirty four years her senior) incredible outfits. On the first day, she wears a Christian Dior newspaper blazer (this print was iconically worn in the form of a dress by Carrie Bradshaw). Brooke’s making a statement by 1) telling the jury that she’s not going to back down and that she’s comfortable standing out and 2) acknowledging all the press surrounding the trial by wearing a piece that is covered with actual newspaper print (well, Dior newspaper print).

Brooke’s next outfit is another Dior number. This time, it’s a halter top (or dress, I’m not exactly sure). It’s much more revealing than her outfit the day prior, but it still screams that she’s not going to be silenced. I also find this print really fascinating especially since it has gained popularity again with the comeback of the Dior saddle bag a few years ago.

Brooke’s outfit for her final day in court is a chic black suit. I’m not sure if it’s by Dior, but it features her same flair since she adds a long gold necklace in lieu of a shirt.

The real showstopper of the whole scene, however, is Elle Woods in her pink dress and glittery strappy sandals. For the majority of her time at Harvard, she had been wearing only sprinkles of pink in an effort to get everyone to take her more seriously. However, when Brooke fires Callahan after he hits on Elle and still neglects to believe that Brooke really is innocent, Elle takes his place.

Elle begins to question Chutney (Brooke’s step-daughter), and though she gets off to a bit of a rocky start, she eventually proves that Chutney is guilty once she reveals that though she claimed to be in the shower (after getting a perm), her curls were still intact, thus eliciting a cry from Chutney claiming that she meant to shoot Brooke instead of her father. Everyone gasps and Elle wins her case!

The final outfit of Elle is in her graduation gown, three years later. She graduated with honors at the top of her class, got an invitation to join a prestigious law firm, became best friends with Vivian, and Emmett is going to propose that night. If this movie tells us anything, it’s that girls who love glam can also be incredibly intelligent — which is a message that we certainly don’t hear enough!