Happy Golden Girls Day!
A Valentine to Costume Design
Okay, so it’s not technically Golden Girls Day. Google tells me that the official Golden Girls Day shares July 30 with National Cheesecake Day (naturally). But in my household, it’s always February 14.
Nice with an Oreo crust, too!
Back in 2017, my partner, Daniel, and I wondered how to celebrate our first Valentine’s Day together—hopefully sans crowded restaurants and sad prix fixe menus. The answer came in The Golden Girls, a show I’d long loved in TV reruns but had just started streaming that February. I found my dad’s famous chocolate cheesecake recipe and we got mixing.
In the years since, Daniel and I have kept up this tradition—watching a few random episodes, eating something rich in dairy—and as a practice, I can’t recommend it enough. Pick a number between one and seven, and you’ve got your season; pick a number between one and twentysomething, and you’ve got your episode. Like any classic sitcom, Golden Girls works in and out of order. There’s little continuity in plot, only setting and character. In any given scene, you can expect Rose to say something daft, Blanche to say something horny, Sophia to say something both devastatingly cruel and hilarious, and Dorothy to tolerate them all through clenched teeth. (Shady Pines, Ma!!) An episode would not be complete without at least one inane tale from Rose’s hometown, St. Olaf; one sultry story from Blanche’s little black book; and one questionable lesson from Sophia’s younger years in Sicily.
The girls also frequently engage with social issues, from homelessness to HIV diagnosis, and while most are carefully handled, the jokes sometimes aren’t. (In a two-part episode, for example, Dorothy’s health issues are dismissed by doctor after doctor. Finally, one specialist diagnoses her with chronic fatigue, only for Sophia to laud him with every Asian stereotype—a sour end to an episode otherwise ahead of its time in its portrayal of invisible illness.)
All this is to say that Golden Girls is a consistent show, its characters, and their style, well established from the pilot. The girls work together separately and together, within their setting and their costumes. They’re a classic example of the “Four-Girl Ensemble” that I discussed in, of all things, my John Tucker Must Die post: each woman embodying and playing against type.
This coral skirt suit, and matching necklace and studs, are classic Rose and perfectly suited to the girls’ living room.
Always coordinate with the backdrop of your telethon (7.6)!
Let’s start with Rose Nylund: our earnest Midwesterner, full of can-do spirit and wide-eyed sweetness. She loves helping other people, and she’ll always be the last to get the joke—if she gets it at all. The other girls often call her dumb, but I think Betty White was right to say Rose is more accurately “naïve” (Golden Girls Forever). Our girl is smarter than most give her credit for, and more spiteful, too.
Rose in 5.17
Rose in 5.18
Rose’s clothing embodies her innocent, even traditional nature: Her frequent employment of skirt suits, belted shirtdresses, pearl necklaces, and button earrings are eighties does fifties, while her more casual clothes are eighties does, well, playclothes. Of all the girls, she’s the one most likely to don denim, in light-wash jeans or jacket form, and she has a penchant for colorful patterned sweaters over button-downs or polos. The ones above are favorites of mine, though this teddy bear one really says it all, doesn’t it? She could easily be a member of the Sunshine Cadet troop she leads.
Notice, too, how Blanche’s and Dorothy’s blues complement each other’s (1.13).
Blanche in one of her many sets (3.4)
Next is Blanche Devereaux: our Southern belle, accent thicker than the heat in a Tennessee Williams play. Blanche loves her “many, many men,” and even more so, she loves Blanche: Of the four, she tends to the most self-centered and vain, though she cares deeply about her girls. Like Rose, she is easily boxed into stereotype, but as Rue McClanahan pointed out, Blanche actually has “fewer dates” (GGF) than the other characters . . . she just talks a big talk!
Only Blanche would have a robe that matches her Beverly Hills Hotel–inspired bedroom (2.17).
This robe, which was used throughout the series, is a favorite of mine (3.8).
As Rose’s clothes reflect her naïveté, Blanche’s reflect her knowing. Costume designer Judy Evans loved to put Blanche in “light and flighty fabric” to play up her sensuality (News & Record), and slingback heels helped Rue nail Blanche’s signature walk (GGF). Around the house, she favors a drapey two-piece set—usually a pair of pants and a sweater or a blouse with a figure-defining tie at the hips. On a date, she loves a flirty outfit: often a dress with a lower or even off-the-shoulder neckline—dangly earrings to highlight her neck and décolletage. And of course, Blanche is the queen of nightwear: Forget the other girls’ terry-cloth bathrobes and ruffly nightgowns, Blanche is wearing a negligee.
Many of Sophia’s sweaters have a homemade appearance—perhaps some knitting projects over the years (6.5).
This housedress is made interesting by the funky shoulder detail, which feels like a little nod to Dorothy and her broad-shouldered styles (6.5).
Third is Sophia Petrillo: six feet of New York Sicilian attitude in a four-foot-eleven body. She’s the mother of our fourth heroine, Dorothy Zbornak, who took her in to the Golden Girls house after the Shady Pines nursing home burned down. Sophia is snarky, with seemingly no filter, but her kindness and wisdom come out at just the right moments.
Like Rose, Sophia favors more traditional clothes—so traditional, in fact, that I can only assume she has not bought new ones since 1954. She, too, loves a shirtdress, usually in a darker color, like forest green or navy, with a coordinating cardigan. Sometimes, she’s even wearing a housedress—one of those loose styles favored by mid-century housewives. You can imagine this was how Sophia dressed when she was a housewife, back in Brooklyn: looking, above all else, for “comfort” (GGF).
Funeral wear in 6.12
The purse in 1.8
Of the four, Sophia chooses the simplest jewelry: usually a pair of pearl or gold studs, occasionally a brooch at her collar or a hat for a funeral (you go to a lot of funerals in your eighties!). Her most used accessory is her straw bag—chosen, by Estelle Getty, because she knew a woman of Sophia’s age would have “her whole life in her purse” (GGF). In a way, she does: As The Golden Girls Fashion Corner dissects, the bag’s style is a perfect reflection of Sophia’s “coastal Italian heritage.”
Dorothy in 2.23
Sophia, I blame you (7.26).
Last but not least, we have Dorothy: brilliant, tough—“the voice of reason,” as Bea Arthur put it (GGF). She’s forever plagued by the other girls’ antics, by her ex-husband Stan’s latest scheme. But while Dorothy is often the only adult in the room, she also has her moments of wild abandon: when she auditions for Jeopardy!, or when she and Blanche’s Uncle Lucas prank Blanche with a fake marriage proposal—only to fall deeply in love with each other. (The series-finale wedding delivered the one costume Bea didn’t like, and I really can’t blame her. It looks like Sophia superglued manicotti to the neckline.)
Dorothy loves a nod to menswear, like this bowtie blouse (3.16).
Even Dorothy’s robe has a tailored quality (1.9).
While Rose and Sophia favor vintage silhouettes, Dorothy is modern, like Blanche: lots of matching sets and big, playful jewelry. But where Blanche’s clothes are flowy, almost undone, Dorothy’s are “tailored [and] put-together” (GGF)—the picture of competence. Her high-necked blouses and buttoned-up shirts also show her guardedness; you’re much more likely to see the emotionally vulnerable Rose or Blanche in an open neckline.
Perhaps it speaks to our similarities, but in my eyes, Dorothy is the most stylish of the four: How regularly I crave her asymmetric blazers; her long, slim skirts over knee-high boots. The reason, I think, is Bea’s own height: Because Evans could rarely buy off-the-rack for her, Dorothy’s clothes were custom-built to suit her “architectural type” (News & Record).
This kind of care with the costumes has only aided their endurance. For all the girls, Evans leaned “less-than-trendy” to avoid clothes looking “too dated in reruns” (News & Record). You very well may see a piece worn in an earlier season repeated in a later one—a fact that speaks both to the pieces’ trendlessness and the girls’ fixed financial situations. Indeed, Evans loved separates because she could “mix and match them” in future episodes (GGF).
Even Sophia’s darker dress picks up the other girls’ bright colors in its flower pattern (4.15).
The oranges and creams are well suited to the lanai’s terracotta palette (7.1).
Evans also considered the setting: Though you’ll never see the girls in the “sleeveless shirts” Florida weather would require, their bright colors and patterns are inspired by the city of Miami and their home within it (GGF). Evans was careful to check the colors of the girls’ costumes together and with their décor. The show kept “fifty to sixty” tablecloths and “constant array of throw pillows” on hand, to make sure the girls didn’t clash with their kitchen table or couch (GGF). Among the house’s “pastels and softer hues,” the girls stand out; they don’t compete with the décor’s “occasional pop[s] of bright color”—they are the bright spots (GGF).
Thank you to Sweet Dynasty for this year’s treat: an ice-cream cake that would look beautiful in the girls’ kitchen.
Altogether, their costumes, in and out of their house, speak to the girls’ unity. They are different, but they are united. Though Dorothy moves away with her new husband at the end of the series, she struggles to leave her girls behind: returning multiple times for good-bye hugs. At its heart, Golden Girls always elevates the platonic and the familial over the romantic: the love between a mother and daughter, the love between friends who feel like sisters.
Happy Golden Girls Day, all.
Favorite Golden Girls Episodes
For those who are new to the show or prefer not to select episodes at random, Daniel and I have curated an ~exclusive~ watch list of our five (okay, six) favorites. Grab a slice of cheesecake and hit “play.”
Do you have a favorite we missed? Reply to this email and let me know! I’ll be back with another costume design take on Thursday, 3/14.
“Old Friends” (3.1): Oh, we have a penchant for a Rose-centric episode! This is the first of two: After Blanche accidentally gives away Rose’s teddy bear, Rose must fight to get it back from Ms. Rilo Kiley herself, Jenny Lewis. The episode also includes a heartbreaking storyline about Sophia and a friend with Alzheimer’s.
“Letter to Gorbachev” (3.6): Another Rose for your bouquet: Distressed by her Sunshine Cadets’ fears of nuclear war, Rose writes letters to Gorbachev and Reagan. Gorby loves the letter . . . but only because he thinks its author is an actual child. In a delightful dream sequence, Rose imagines the girls visiting Moscow in outfits straight out of Doctor Zhivago.
“Valentine’s Day” (4.15): This episode has everything: The Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre! A nudist retreat! Condoms, Rose, condoms!!! In total, it’s a lovely seasonal treat that doesn’t lean too heavily on romance.
“Sick and Tired, Parts 1 and 2” (5.1 and 2): I’ve already touched on this two-parter about chronic fatigue, but I think it’s worth watching for Blanche’s storyline alone: After deciding to become a romance novelist, Blanche whips herself into a writing frenzy that ends in my favorite monologue on the show. Any novelist can relate to the experience of writing something that seems brilliant but later proves to be gobbledygook.
“Sister of the Bride” (6.14): Perhaps unsurprisingly for a show with multiple queer writers in its writers’ room and queer allies in its cast, Golden Girls is adept at handling queer issues. In this episode, Blanche struggles with her brother’s desire to commit to his fiancé—only to be schooled by Sophia. While some episodes lean more heavily on one character, this one is a perfect balance of the four girls: The wedding of a family friend brings out a fight between Blanche and Dorothy, a curse that Sophia once laid on her former fiancé, and the horndog in Rose.
