Jessica Jones, Jessica Jones
If your classic superhero is all about a telephone box transformation, Jones’s bandwidth is pretty jammed. Hence she leaves the leotards to the cast of Glow. Instead, she dresses in the kind of clothes that semaphore this is a woman who has too much going on to worry about where to dry-clean her cape. Sure, grey marl T-shirts, hoodies and the kind of ripped jeans preferred by Premier League footballers are never going to see her on best-dressed lists. But file her next to Mr Robot’s Elliot Alderson wearing the ‘damaged genius’ uniform.
Kalinda Sharma, The Good Wife
So much about Kalinda Sharma is all kinds of formidable. The PI skills. The shady past. The slightly suspect methods for getting at the truth. The constant notebook-as-accessory. But the fashion? This is a rare disconnect between character and look. The knee-high leather boots, 10 denier tights, fitted biker jackets and short skirts feel too close to something Presidents Club-approved to fit a woman who is anything but compliant. According to The Good Wife’s costume designer, the character has 60 biker jackets in her wardrobe. We would argue that is 60 too many. If a spin off was in the works (hey, we can dream), we’d advise a trench.
Stan Rizzo, Mad Men
Stan Rizzo’s bro-hemian role in Mad Men can be seen just by looking at him. He likes to spell out his allegiances in caps with his clothes. The Easy Rider jacket. The love beads. The beard. He’s all Cedar Tavern, waiting for a sighting of Dylan or De Kooning, getting wasted and picking up chicks. He’s the kind of man who puts a paperback of Last Exit to Brooklyn in his back pocket to impress. That is, of course – spoiler alert! – until Peggy steals his heart. He’s probably wearing something far more discreet now.
Chandler Bing, Friends
There really is only one question when it comes to Chandler Bing, isn’t there? “Could he have any more sweater vests?” This is the man who immortalised the knitted garment, remaining resolute in his affection for the item for 10 seasons - we’ve never known such on-screen wardrobe loyalty. But it really is something that should have been marked up as: “What were you thinking?” He more or less single-handedly elevated its dad-factor to higher than that of even the anorak. It’s telling that even purveyors of the current dad-core trend chose to let it stay where it belongs in 1994 as it resurrected its sartorial bedfellows from the archive.
Tahani Al-Jamil, The Good Place
There’s no doubt that Tahani, aka Mean Giraffe, is insufferable. Even before she opens her mouth, those floral frocks and blow-dries should send alarm signals – and they do to jeans-and-a-T-shirt-clad Eleanor Shellstrop. What self-respecting millennial dresses as if she’s ready for a garden party at a moment’s notice? It’s suspect in the extreme. And that’s even before we get to the picture hats. We’d like to see her switch it up and be more Jason Mendoza. We’d feel a lot more comfortable with tracksuit and sliders – and, let’s face it, she would be too.
Gus Cruikshank, Love
Don’t let the sheepish expression fool you – Gus isn’t Mr Nice Guy. In fact, as one culture site had it, he’s actually the “biggest asshole on TV”. Just ask the team he works with on Wichita. The real Gus is subtly there in his uniform of thrift finds: preppy shirt-sleeved plaid shirts and chinos. Sounds harmless, right? A bit ironically All-American? Wrong. Actually, that unassuming garb is the sign of sneaky overfamiliarity and economy with the truth. Even with Mickey’s influence in series three, and that cool military jacket, Gus isn’t quite what he seems. His wardrobe spells that out just so.
