Photo: Courtesy of Netflix1/20Pink Tie-Dye/Daisy Dukes/Cowboy Boots
After a pilot episode of boring work suits and colorful sweaters, this is the first time we see Lorelai's real style in action. The pink tie-dye shirt! The Daisy Duke cutoffs! The cowboy boots! (Sure, they're fashionable now, but this was almost 20 years ago.) Lorelai's outfit quickly becomes a point of contention as she chooses to drop Rory off at her fancy new school wearing it, but it's a perfect time capsule of the year 2000.
2/20Graffiti-Print Blouse
Lorelai usually kept it pretty toned down for work, but this shirt represents a bold departure. It's sort of a distant cousin of Carrie Bradshaw's Galliano newspaper dress, with a much stronger clearance-rack vibe.
Photo: Courtesy of Netflix3/20Graphic Band Tee
New wave nostalgia was all the rage in the early aughts, as Lorelai proves with her sleeveless graphic muscle tee in a uniquely 2000 shade of pea-green.
Photo: Courtesy of Netflix4/20Leopard-Trimmed (?) Print Sweater
Ah, now we really get down to it. Lorelai hosts Rory's birthday party in a long-sleeve shirt so achingly aughts, with its contrasting prints, long sleeves, V-neck and vivid colors, that it's almost hard to believe.
Photo: Courtesy of Netflix5/20The Bandanna
Lorelai Gilmore was nothing if not a headband-and-bandanna lover, and while the accessory makes sense in the context of cleaning out her fridge, she also loved to bring it into her everyday wear (as was deemed sartorially acceptable back in the day.)
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Photo: Courtesy of Netflix6/20Chinese Character Shirt (Yikes)
It was…a different time, a time when many felt perfectly comfortable appropriating Chinese characters and symbols to put on clothing and accessories. Still, this one doesn't hold up great.
Photo: Courtesy of Netflix7/20Puppy Shirt/Messenger Bag
Could there be a more early-aughts combination of clothing and accessories than a cap-sleeved dog shirt and a cross-body messenger bag? If so, I'm having trouble imagining it.
Photo: Courtesy of Netflix8/20Shrug/Cami
I'm not sure why, but I blame Kate Hudson movies for this trend of throwing a shrug over a lacy/barely-there camisole and calling it a night.
Photo: Courtesy of Netflix9/20Faux Pearl Tee
Sure, the newspaper veil is a joke, but the sleeveless tee emblazoned with femme-tastic strands of pearls is all too real.
Photo: Courtesy of Netflix10/20Rhinestone Ombre Long-Sleeve Shirt
Ombre made a resurgence at the beginning of the 2010s, particularly in hair color, but Lorelai Gilmore was questionably rocking it—emblazoned with rhinestones, no less—all the way back in 2002.
Photo: Courtesy of Netflix11/20Gold Ruffles
This shirt looks like something a pre-presidency Donald Trump would force cater-waiters to wear while serving mini hot dogs at a Trump Towers event. No bueno.
Photo: Courtesy of Netflix12/20Headband/Shiny Shirt
Something about Lorelai's style is not just early-aughts, but specifically teen-girl-in-the-early-aughts; this pink satin shirt/headband combo is giving me ninth-grade flashbacks.
Photo: Courtesy of Netflix13/20Viscerally Upsetting Dog Sweater
You would pretty much have to be as beautiful as Lauren Graham to appear in public wearing a pink knitted turtleneck emblazoned with the image of a small, annoying dog (although it's surprisingly easy to imagine some vintage-clothing influencer layering it over a lace petticoat today.)
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Photo: Courtesy of Netflix14/20Even More Viscerally Upsetting Cat Shirt/Juicy (?) Hoodie
I hate this cat wearing a tiara. I hate everything about it. I hate its fur, its mouth, the Claire's Accessories PTSD it provokes in me, and God help me, I hate the pink velour zip-up hoodie layered over it, which may or may not be Juicy Couture.
Photo: Courtesy of Netflix15/20‘Funny’ Shirt
Remember 2002, when you didn't actually have to be witty yourself as long as your T-shirt was cracking a joke? Lorelai does.
Photo: Courtesy of Netflix16/20Bucket Hat/Pendant/Pink Lace
Okay, I'll give Lorelai retroactive points for the bucket hat, which has seen a resurgence of late, but there's simply no excuse for the tacky rose pendant and straight-from-Delias lacy pink shirt she's wearing.
Photo: Courtesy of Netflix17/20Wide Belt (!)
Ah, oui, le wide belt, staple of the early aughts. Or, in the words of Mindy Kaling: "'Cinch together the whole look with a wide belt' was a very popular style in the early 2000s, which we believed accentuated our curves but in reality made a generation of women look like we were wearing lumbar support braces.”
18/20Golf Cap
True story: I received a lemon-yellow Burberry golf cap almost exactly like this one for Chanukah in 2006 and left it at my camp friend's house in New Jersey. I miss that hat.
19/20Peace Sign Tee
There's nothing technically wrong with this shirt, but it brings to mind the 1970s-hippie sartorial nostalgia that was so popular during the first half of the 2000s, particularly once the Iraq War was underway.
Photo: Courtesy of Netflix20/20Bow Tee
“Put a bow on it” feels a little literal, but that's exactly what Lorelai is doing with this look. Candy-pink zip-up hoodie and ultra-girly tee embellished with not one, but two images? That's early-season Lorelai, and we love her for it.
