Why Did Lorelai Pick *That* Outfit?
July 10, 2009 by Arieanna
In the second episode of Gilmore Girls, ‘The Lorelais’ First Day at Chilton‘, you may have wondered, Why, oh why, did Lorelai choose THAT outfit? I know I did. Granted, it’s still one of my favorite scenes from the episode, but seriously? Did she have *nothing* else to wear?
It was Rory’s first day at Chilton and Lorelai had set her alarm clock to 5:45am. Unfortunately, the fuzzy clock did not purr, and Lorelai overslept to 7:10am. In a panic, not wanting Rory to be late, Lorelai stares at her closet in distress. All her good clothes are at the cleaners!
When Lorelai runs down the stairs, she’s wearing cutoff shorts, a tie-die tshirt and cowboy boots. Really? She had no jeans? No sweaters? No other shoes? Couldn’t she borrow something from Rory? Why did Lorelai grab *the* most inappropriate outfit ever?
Watch this episode of Gilmore Girls on TheWB.com here.
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I’ve always wondered that too! I’m sure she at least had a pair of sweats she could have worn. Just about anything would have been better. Then again it is one of my favorite scenes too.
lol omg i was seeing that episode yesterday lol the rodeo is in town! lol thats what rory says haha! but her pjs looks better then that outfit seriously !
Lol! I love the outfit too! Was this not at a time when the show was regarded as more of a comedy than either a drama/dramedy?! I don’t think any mother in their right mind would have chosen that but it def made the ep funnier! Another coup for the writers!
I love the little wince when she takes off her coat in the headmasters office “laundry day!” so funny!
I guess the obvious answer is to make sure the audience are certain, if they weren’t already at this point, that she is meant to be the exact opposite of Emily and the world she represents. Though I am certain she could’ve pulled out any of her official-looking Independence Inn outfits (compare her skirt suits to the low-cut wrap dresses of the later seasons!), I’m sure the 80s loving teenage part of her is a little bit excited to make such a statement.
I do find it really embarrassing and awkward, and it doesn’t seem very logical (especially as has been pointed out, they share clothes a lot) but it does the trick to establish Lorelai, even if just as a metaphor to the attitude/approach/feelings Lorelai and Emily have towards Chilton and even family life. Emily wears her nicest clothing, has arrived early, and clearly believes the school will work perfectly in terms of social contacts/networking as well as education for Rory. Lorelai, while obviously taking Rory’s education seriously, thinks Rory will be just fine as long as SHE looks the part, does her work and stays on track.
This is the first time I’ve posted here, but I’ve been reading this website for so long. I did my dissertation this year on GG, so it’s been a great source
Thanks for all the good work!
I don’t thinks there is any particular reason behind this. I always saw it as a funny trick the writers pulled off their hat. And it worked! That’s one of my favourite episode (nice Luke and Lorelai moments too) and the scene with Emily and the Headmaster is hilarious.
never understood why she didnt just stay in her pjs
I don’t think there is any particular reason behind this.
I always saw it as a funny trick the writers pulled off their hat. And it worked! That’s one of my favourite episode (nice Luke and Lorelai moments too) and the scene with Emily and the Headmaster is hilarious.
I’m glad the site has been helpful Astrid! What did you write about in your dissertation?
I’m afraid Astrid was not the first one who had the idea to write a dissertation on GG. That said, I’d really like to read it.
I notice she never wore shorts in any other episode. Her skirts were musch shorter in the first couple of episodes, as well. She has great legs…too distracting perhaps?
The “outfit” did make for some good jokes. Lorelei in the principals office where she probably spent a lot of time as a teen, surrounded by judgmental authority figures shows we always have a child in us.
I liked the first year or two because they wore clothes we all would wear. They would also wear them numerous times, like the Brady Bunch. We knew their entire wardrobe…it was just like ours, five things.
After the second year, Lorelei and Rory dressed well above her little income. It’s all improbable that she could afford a house that big on that much property in CT, let alone eat out every meal.
But, it was the first time you had two gals who loved food and coffee (actual eating of the food was pretty sparse, order a stack of pancakes, then run). I appreciated that they enjoyed life.
maybe it was a joke to upset Emily but what about Rori ? she was not that happy.
Areanna: It was called ‘‘I Highly Doubt That Madame Curie Was Voted Most Likely to Dress Like Jennifer Lopez’: Femininity, Class, Sexuality, and Family in Gilmore Girls’. Basically, it was three chapters à 2500 words, one for each for Paris (in terms of gender and friendship, and how she works to make points about Rory), Rory (her class journey through her boyfriends and how she works to heal the relationship between the Lorelai and Emily) and Lane (discussing her typically masculine interests and how she subverts gender stereotypes, sexuality as well as her role as an ethnic and religious “Other” on the show). It’s hard to explain it in any shorter form, as it’s 10500 words! I had so much fun writing it, and my main argument was showing how the team behind the show worked to depict a unique view of young women on television in that time.
Martin: I’m sure there are countless dissertations on GG! There are already two books, the less official Coffee At Luke’s (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Coffee-at-LukeS-Smart-Pop/dp/1933771178/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1247273664&sr=8-1) and the more formal academic collection of essays, in Gilmore Girls and the Politics of Identity (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gilmore-Girls-Politics-Identity-Television/dp/0786437278/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1247273680&sr=8-1)
Both are really interesting to read! Sorry for the essay comment again, haha!
I feel like I read somewhere like they dressed Lorelai in Daisy Dukes in this episode as a subtle reference to using the set from the Dukes of Hazzard. Of course, that does not explain why she wore them at that moment. I like what Astrid said about trying to establish the difference between Lorelai and Emily. Every time I see this episode, I cringe at the scene where Lorelai takes off her coat. I keep thinking she will leave the coat on and not show what she is wearing. But its cute and funny.
Like the outfit which hammers the point home. In addition to demostrating the obvious differences between Emily and Lorelai this inadvertent episode of failed responsibility on Lorelai’s part sets up the many humerous role reversals to follow for Lorelai/Rory interactions where Rory seems like the primary adult and Lorelai the teenager.
@ Astrid
I have read both, thank you.
What I meant is that I’d like to read yours, as long as it’s available for the public.
I never really thought aboout this. I never wondered why she picked it because she’s Lorelai. there’s very rarely a logical explanation for the things she does and thats why i love her. I love this outfit because it defines lorelai completely and it is the classic i couldn’t find anything to wear or wash day outfit.
Just to add that there was maybe some logic behind Lorelai’s thinking.
She kept her coat pretty close to her all the time she was in the Headmaster’s office, maybe she thought she could get away with not taking her coat off, and so people would think she’s just wearing a short skirt.
So, Lorelai panicked, used her quick thinking, and thought the coat would cover it all up.
Of course, then Emily ruined it all.
I was just watching this episode yesterday on ABC Family and wondered this exact thing. Why in the world would Lorelai wear that outfit to take Rory to an elite prep school? When she stood in front of her closet it was full of clothes to pick from. I’m quite sure not everything she owned that was decent was at the cleaners. Since the show was so early in its run, I think the creators wanted to illustrate Lorelai’s quirky side and establish her character as a bit kooky and playful and as a mother who despite trying her damndest, wasn’t always perfect. I think the budget for clothing grew over the years because as the show progressed, both Lorelai and Rory were dressed to the nines. I’m enjoying going back and starting at the beginning and watching how GG grew and evolved over its seven season run.
For me one of the funniest moments was when Lorelai was flirting with the Chilton dad, feeling pretty good about herself, and then Rory said something like “Would you like me to get you a mirror?” and she came back to reality. And then when Emily made her comment at the end and Lorelai did her sound effect in frustration. Awesome scenes!
It may not have been the most realistic outfit, considering all the stuff hanging in the closet, but it was funny.
Astrid, if you haven’t already, consider putting your dissertation online for the rest of us to read – we’d love to see it!
The more important question about this episode to me concerns the reason I started watching the show – because it presented a realistic portrayal (at least in Seasons 1-4) of a young girl who was smart and trying to achieve something of substance, with a specific career ambition.
The scene in the Headmaster’s office is fascinating to look at the character being established, one that the writers abandoned once they got her to Yale. Notice how Rory says that she wanted to study Political Science and Journalism, part of her desire to be a foreign correspondent. And yet, aside from a few stories at the YDN, the show completely forgets about the academic Rory who makes lists and is intensely focused on her goals – she studies literature instead, shows little interest in studying foreign cultures, and keeps saying she wanted to be a foreign correspondent while spending all three summers unfocused on her career. None of this was ever reconciled or seemed to have a point other than to focus on Rory’s love life at the expense of her true goals.
When the Headmaster asks Rory if she wants to be like Christian Amanpour because she’s on television – THIS version of Rory convincingly says no. The one in Seasons 4-6 (and bleh Season 7) seemed to have no clue what it means to be a true foreign correspondent – those who REALLY want it end up going to countries without job guarantees and freelancing.
My guess is that the Palladinos found themselves out of their element once they got her to Yale – invoking the same authors (Hemingway – again) and philsophers (did Dan study philosophy in college – and Joseph Campbell!!!) rather than portraying a character who would have been rigorously taking advantages of Yale’s McMillian Center for International Studies like Anderson Cooper did to prepare her to go overseas.
Very good remark Arieanna, for I thought the same thing when I watched the show at the first time, and go on each time I see it again. Which happens rather often, for, even though I bought the whole seasons, I’m still at the first?
However, any point of view trying to explain why a beautiful sophisticated American women runs out of clothes just the day Rory begins to Chilton may be good. And, if we ask Arieanna to rummage Lorelai’s wardrobe, she will come out with something else, more appropriate, for sure…
Yet, but a show is also a piece of art, even when it’s focused on real life as GG is.
Creators have to find a way to show us the real state of mind, the mood, and the soul of their characters. And one way is using contrasts.
For instance, in the first episode, Rory is taking note about her assignment, while the other girls – more close to her mother’s state of mind at the same age – are comparing colors, and perfumes. If you watch this scene closely, you’ll see that the contrast is not really resolved yet. Why? Because it’s still on the processing?
First, we see Rory becoming for a while the simple teenager she still is, with appropriate thoughts of her age, while her mother is shown as a very mature woman, taking in charge many responsibilities… Yet, it’s not really her character… And one of the striking examples is that she runs to her mother as soon as there is a crucial problem: the fees matters.
So the balance must be reached again, through a new process: the undressing, dressing, and undressing process.
First Lorelai fails to get up on time, and of course it’s the fault of the clock. She undresses her mind from all responsibilities. This kind of regression is pictured through the careless way she dresses, which contrasts the way she is dressed at the inn. (Dressing, undressing, dressing…)
While Rory goes to school to study, the now again teenager Lorelai is going to the kind of high school she remembers going sixteen years ago. And, probably, she would have liked to go there dressed like that if she had been allowed too, even if this state of mind is hidden by a thick coat. But it’s the sixty years old Lorelai that is flirting with the handsome father of a Chilton’s pupil, as if he was someway an accomplice of her state of mood.
But, as if she were sixteen again, she must pay the price of those orgies of liberty: She faces her mother, and Mister Authority, and she must obey the injunction, and appear a little foolish. End of the dream, of the feast, of that orgy of liberty.
Everything has come to an end. When the handsome man – may be “the may be King of the Queen of the promotion Lorelai would have loved to be” – comes to the inn, the teenager Lorelai is not there anymore, it’s Lorelai the women, dressed as the women she is… he meets.
And since the show often relates to the real life, I bet that many mothers shared that sort of feeling when their daughters went to school, high school, and university for the first time.
That’s the reason why Emily, deprived of those many sweet feelings, wants so much be part of that aspect of Rory’s new life.
Everything is dressed again, isn’t it?
Yes, Marie makes a good point here! After the middle of the fifth season, the characters have lost substance. And I think that one reason is that the producers wanted to conform to some other kind of series, transferring Rory’s spirit to another less significant mould. We go on watching the show, hoping to see the magic coming back again, but unfortunately, it never did. Before being canceled, the show had somehow lost its true spirit.
And that remark rise the issue of the ending. Since the show had lost its spirit, it couldn’t end until it had regained it; witch implied that the creators and artists would have been aware of that. And now I think that marrying the two girls would have set nothing. So, this ending is like a pause in music, a kind of respiration that allow us to imagine the show as it was, as it should have been, with an appropriate ending that would have come naturally…
I think she picked that outfit because she was just going to send Rory into see the Headmaster by herself. So she took the long coat to cover herself in the car maybe.