“Single White Female Kimmy”

Doppelgängers, Foils, and Costume Design on Veronica Mars

Originally published on Letterdrop 10/14/2021
[The post contains discussion of suicide and physical abuse.]

Neptune High is in chaos: Pay ten dollars and you can learn the results of a fellow student’s online “purity” test, a series of questions on sex, drugs, and all things vice. The lower the score, the less “pure” they are.

Meg Manning didn’t take the test, but her purchasable score is a 48. Suddenly, she’s the second-biggest pariah in school: unlike most of her 09er friends, Meg is waiting until marriage to have sex, and now everyone thinks she is lying. 

Everyone except for Veronica Mars—she’s believes Meg is the “last good person” in Neptune High. Veronica takes the case, and soon discovers that Meg’s friends Pam and Kimmy are behind the fake scores—Kimmy because, to quote Veronica, she wants to “single white female” Meg.

Kimmy in a light purple camisole, purple cardigan with a sequin appliqué, and butterfly necklace (1.8)

Meg in a striped pink blouse, layered necklaces, and the same cardigan but in pink (1.8)

When Pam finds out that Kimmy confessed, she eviscerates her: “Nice haircut. By the way, does Meg know you bring her picture to Fantastic Sam’s?” Kimmy must’ve taken Meg’s picture to the mall, too: she’s wearing the exact same cardigan Meg wore at the beginning of the episode, but in purple, not pink.

Kimmy is, in some ways, a blond herring. Episode 1.8, “Like a Virgin,” is the first and only time we see Kimmy, but it’s the first appearance in a two-season-long arc for Meg. Kimmy isn’t the real doppelgänger for Meg: it’s Veronica.

Veronica/Meg

I’m certainly not the first person to notice the similarities between these two characters, particularly in their costume design: MTV News used the term “doppelgänger” when asking costume designer Salvador Perez about the characters’ frequent pairing of the colors pink and green. According to Perez, Alona Tal was the “first choice” for Veronica, but she wasn’t able to get a green card. Instead, the part went to Kristen Bell, and Alona ended up recurring as Meg.

Meg wears a light blue velour jacket, pink camisole, and cross necklace in bed (1.8).

On the surface, Meg leads a very different life from Veronica’s: She’s the eldest daughter of conservative Christian parents, a popular cheerleader, and a coanchor of Neptune High’s news show. She wears preppy, feminine cardigans and sweaters, floral blouses, dangly earrings, and miniskirts (often, as MTV News pointed out, in shades of pink and green); she’s rarely without her silver cross necklace. Her bedroom looks like it hasn’t changed since she was a little girl: note the white wicker bed frame, the pink painted walls, the floral curtains and lamp.

Meg auditions in a light yellow button-down, hot pink camisole, and layered necklaces (1.8).

Veronica watches Meg's audition in a light pink leather jacket, hot pink T-shirt, and her usual pendant and choker (1.8).

Meg is able to navigate Neptune with an ease that Veronica is no longer allowed—that is, until the purity test. A few days after her “result” is made public, Meg auditions for the school production of Cabaret with “Don’t Tell Mama.” The students in the audience quickly connect the lyrics (“Mama thinks I’m living in a convent . . . Mama doesn’t even have an inkling that I’m working in a nightclub in a pair of lacy pants”) with Meg’s virginal “act,” and a tearful Meg leaves the stage to their laughter and jeers.

In this scene, Meg wears a pale yellow button-down open over a hot pink camisole and a denim miniskirt. Veronica watches from the audience, wearing her own spin on Meg’s outfit: a light pink leather jacket open over a hot pink T-shirt and pants. Even their necklaces mirror each other’s: Meg has paired her usual cross with a few shorter strands, creating the same layering effect as Veronica’s signature pendant and leather choker. Meg is becoming Veronica post–Lilly’s murder—shamed and ostracized by the 09ers for “betraying” them.

And yet, once her score is revealed to be fake, Meg quickly restores her reputation and her usual wardrobe—unlike Veronica, who advises her to “get tough” and “get even,” Meg is not interested in punishing her peers.

Veronica in her Madonna-esque costume (1.15)

In episode 1.15, Meg asks Veronica to figure out who her secret admirer is—all in time for Neptune High’s eighties-themed dance. Not yet aware that her admirer is Veronica’s ex, Duncan Kane, Meg takes Veronica to the dance, even dolls her up in a black-lace bustier dress and fingerless gloves, black rosaries, and crimped hair.

Veronica is uncomfortable in the costume, labeling it “Manila Whore Barbie.” I’d describe it more as “Desperately Seeking Susan Madonna,” a complicated reference for a girl like Meg to choose for her friend. After all, eighties-era Madonna is known for mixing sexual and religious imagery—and the first episode Meg appeared in is titled “Like a Virgin.” It’s almost as if Meg is working out her own ideas about sex and religion, and Veronica’s “whorish” reputation in Neptune, through this costume. The costume’s jewelry even calls back to Veronica’s own everyday pieces: the star-shaped hoops to her star-shaped pendant and small silver hoops, the rhinestone choker to her leather one.

Meg in her pink dress (1.15)

For herself, Meg picks Molly Ringwald in Pretty in Pink—her iconic pink prom dress. Maybe Meg has found some of herself in the character of Andie Walsh: though Meg is from the right side of the tracks, a “richie” kid herself, she’s seen how quickly the 09ers—the Blanes and Steffs of Neptune High—will turn on her and Veronica.

As different as their costumes, their characters, look at first glance, Veronica and Meg are two sides of the same coin, two ways of surviving in the same harsh world.

Mac/Madison

In episode 1.11, Veronica’s new friend, Cindy “Mac” Mackenzie, asks for dirt on her parents—and oh boy, does she get it. Turns out Mac was switched at birth with their classmate Madison Sinclair. Mac is a middle-class computer geek who earns money through schemes like the purity test website. Madison is a spoiled 09er who hocks loogies into her enemies’ Solo Cups. Of course, they are foils for each other.

Mac in a black zip-up hoodie, gray graphic T, and khakis (1.11)

Madison in an off-the-shoulder gray sweater and light blue tiered miniskirt, purse, and boots (1.11)

Their costume design enforces their differences: Mac is a little bit rock, a little bit grunge, in hoodies, cargo pants, plaid shirts, and graphic Ts, a blue stripe through her hair. Madison is wickedly, precisely feminine in pastel sweaters, ruffled miniskirts, and Uggs; her hair adorned with headbands and barrettes. (By god, the lady wears a tiara to prom.)

Still, after this episode, Mac and Madison rarely interact. Rather, over the next two years, Madison becomes more of a foil for Veronica, the female embodiment of everything Veronica loathes and rejects about the 09ers—privilege and callousness and willful ignorance. After all, it was Madison who scrawled “WHORE” on Veronica’s car, who unknowingly roofied Veronica with a loogie-spiked cup. (Though I do rankle at Madison remaining irredeemably nasty while her on-and-off boyfriend and roofier, Dick Casablancas, gets his season-three redemption and comic-relief tour.)

Veronica about to pay for her one-piece lingerie (3.11)

In episode 3.11, Veronica runs into Madison at a lingerie store. Veronica is buying underthings for her boyfriend, Logan Echolls, whom she recently started dating again. Madison gleefully reveals that she and Logan hooked up while he and Veronica were separated, then drops this devastating parting line: “As a friend, he’s not so big on the one-piece numbers.”

Madison holds a hot pink bra and thong set (3.11).

Veronica, of course, was about to purchase black and gray one-pieces; Madison had just tried on a hot pink bra and thong set. It still dangles from her hand, her message clear: this is the kind of femininity you must embody if you want to “keep” your man.

Keith/Aaron

The show also uses costume design to explore different kinds of masculinity and fatherhood: take, for example, Veronica’s father, Keith Mars, and Logan’s father, Aaron Echolls. (Season one culminates in a battle between them in which Keith is the ultimate “good” father and Aaron the ultimate “bad” one.)

Keith in a blue polo shirt and jeans (1.6)

Keith is (to quote Abel Koontz) a “schlubby sheriff” turned private investigator. He wears inexpensive suits and sports jackets in neutral colors for work, polo shirts and khakis or dad jeans for leisure. He’s not about to win “Most Fashionable,” but he’s a kind, dependable father to Veronica, a fair, honest investigator.

Aaron in a brown suede jacket, gray T-shirt, jeans, and sunglasses (1.12)

Aaron, in contrast, is a handsome, glamorous action star, in the vein of Harrison Ford or Tom Cruise. His clothes are well fitted, luxurious yet casual, youthful: suede jackets, trendy sunglasses, artfully distressed jeans, black or gray T-shirts.

And yet, under that cool exterior is the threat of violence. Aaron has a designated closet for his leather belts; Logan must pick one for Aaron to beat him with (1.6). When Aaron discovers his daughter Trina’s boyfriend is abusing her (1.19), Aaron pulls off his own belt and whips the boyfriend with it. (As he explains to the boyfriend, Aaron himself had an abusive childhood: his father beat him and his mother and gave him cigarette burns—just as Aaron does to Logan.)

A small black leather belt dangles from Aaron's car key (1.6).

Even Aaron’s key chain is a miniature leather belt. In many ways, the leather belt is a symbol of Aaron himself: luxury and power wielded with violence.

Lynn/Trina

Lynn in a white cardigan, hoops, and a triple strand of pearls (1.10)

Aaron’s wife, Lynn Echolls, also uses glamour to mask pain. She endures her husband’s abuse and infidelity by self-medicating with alcohol and pills. Her go-to look is a beige or white suit or sweater paired with a diamond or pearl choker—luxurious yet ghostlike, as if she’s already gone.  

By episode 1.15, Lynn is presumed to have died by suicide, but Logan is convinced that his mother faked her death. He and Veronica track her credit cards to the Neptune Grand hotel; Logan camps out in the lobby, waiting for a glimpse of his mother.

Trina in a black hat and trench coat (1.15)

Veronica in a black cardigan, dress, and beaded necklace; Logan in a black zip-up sweater, olive T, puka-shell necklace, and camo pants (1.15)

He sees a woman all in black and calls out to her—but it’s only his sister, Trina, living off Lynn’s credit cards, dressed in her stepmother’s black trench coat and hat. She is Lynn, but she isn’t, a doppelgänger and a foil—Trina quickly reminds Logan that she doesn’t believe his stories about Aaron’s abuse.

Lynn almost always wore shades of white, and so the color black is a sign that she is really gone, the release of Logan’s grief. Both Logan and Veronica are wearing black, too, and she holds him as he finally cries.

[The next post, on uniforms, drops on Thursday, 10/28. If you enjoyed this post, I'd so appreciate if you could like or share it.]