The doe-eyed Marissa
and her spunky friend Summer are lying by the pool in tiny bikinis,
sunning and drinking Newport Beach iced tea (i.e., spiked) at 10
in the morning. It must be Fox TV's soapy hit series "The O.C.,"
which is back for a second season at 7 p.m. Thursdays.
But those aren't
just any bikinis. Marissa (Mischa Barton) is wearing a white Calvin
Klein with tortoise shell detailing, and Summer (Rachel ) is in
a fuchsia pink Dolce & Gabbana. Many people don't realize just
how stylish "The O.C." is, but in the industry it's considered
one of the possible successors to HBO's fashion showcase, "Sex
and the City," which ended in February.
Clothing is a recurring
character on the show - depending on plot lines - if not exactly
a star. The costume staff shops for the 40 to 60 outfits needed
every episode at the trendiest boutiques and funkiest shops
in Los Angeles and Beverly Hills. Designers lend "The
O.C." their newest styles, the ones not in the stores
yet, as a sort of product placement. They keep the show ahead
of the curve.
Fans can find out
where they can buy the clothes, or a lower-priced equivalent, on
the Fox Web site. All of this is coordinated by costume designer
Karla Stevens.
"The show is quite fashion-forward and
always on trend," says In Style magazine's fashion editor,
Toby Tucker Peters. She remembers watching in horror last season
when troubled teen Marissa jumped into the ocean wearing a Matthew
Williamson dress. "It was ruined," Peters moans. "I
nearly had a heart attack. I had just borrowed the same dress
the week before."
Teenagers on other TV shows
dress like, well, teenagers. On "The O.C.," they sometimes
wear jeans and vintage tops; but the girls also carry Chanel book
bags to school and party in designer duds.
Erin
Hudson, a college student shopping at Bebe in Towson Town Center,
is a former "Sex and the City" fan and current O.C. addict.
"A lot of us watch 'The O.C.,' " she
says, "I don't think we would if they dressed like they bought
their clothes at Abercrombie. They're well put together, and they
dress like they're older than they are."
Older
women on the show do exactly the opposite. If possible, they look
even slimmer and sexier than the teenagers. The clothes they wear
are about as far from matronly as you can get, from bombshell mom
Julie Cooper's marabou slippers and Juicy Couture warm-ups to working
woman Kirsten Cohen's cocktail-party daywear.
Only a few shows lend themselves to
being fashion showcases. "Miami Vice" comes to mind. Like
that groundbreaking 1980s series, "The O.C." portrays
a fantasy world, filled with beautiful people living in a wealthy
oceanside community.
"Oh,
good. You wore the Chanel," said Julie Cooper (Melinda Clarke)
to her daughter Marissa at last season's Newport Beach gala.
One
reason Marissa wore the Chanel is that Barton, who looks like a runway
model and has appeared on the covers of Elle, Jane, Seventeen, Italian
Vogue and Lucky, has a personal relationship with the fashion house.
Chanel dresses her for personal appearances and lends her, new designs
to wear on "The O.C."
People
who don't watch the show assume that the clothes are only of interest
to tweens and teens. Not so, says the 18-year-old Barton, who loves
fashion and sometimes brings magazines to costume designer Stevens
to give her ideas. "It's a wide range. People in their 20s and
30s tell me they love the clothes on the show. It's nice that (the
fashion) kind of took off on its own, but I don't know. It's a lot
to live up to, to be the next 'Sex and the City.' "
