Lena Dunham's terrible clothes on Girls came from actual Brooklyn thrift stores

If you saw Lena Dunham’s outfit on the first Girls episode and thought Gah! That is truly awful! you now have someone to blame. On Fashion Etc., Girls costume designer Jenn Rogien says she shopped Beacon’s Closet to get just the right look for the Greenpoint-livin’ Dunham (Hannah) and her crew. (For those who missed it, Hannah rocked a floral Western-style top, an ill-fitting mini, purplish tights and flat granny boots with white socks peeking out the top.) “We were probably at Atlantis Attic and Beacon’s Closet for every episode because it’s the right stuff, that’s where those girls would go,” Rogien tells the fashion news site.

Basically, Hannah is supposed to look like hell. Rogien, who cut her Brooklyn chops as an assistant costume designer on Bored to Death, tells the mag she wasn’t going for Carrie Bradshaw:

I definitely had the most gigantic girl crush on Lena from our very first fitting…They really wanted someone that got what they were trying to do: that they weren’t trying to do a fashion show, they were not trying to redo Sex and the City, they were not trying to do Gossip Girl. The show wasn’t about clothes. It’s about the girls, and they really wanted someone who could get on board with that and really get that they were trying to do these kind of crazy girls who aren’t necessarily all that put together.

Alright, we get it. Realism. “Not all that put together.” But Jenn, if you are reading Brokelyn, and if you are keeping it real you surely are, please remember that you have some social responsibility here; all the world will be judging Brooklyn ladies by those white socks, that hopelessly boxy coat. They already think that all we do is sip the artisanal mayo we bought with food stamps and use Kickstarter to pay the rent. Would it be so wrong to give our lead character the tiniest bit of style mojo? We know plenty of Brooklyn women who can just crush a thrift-store dress… get in touch and we’ll hook you up with some pros. But this… is just not helping us here:

5 Comments

conaldarcy Apr 17, 2012

There’s got to be a happy medium between granny dresses and Jersey Shore pleather.

Apr 17, 2012 at 2:57 pm

Reply
- Faye Apr 18, 2012
  
  Nice! You’re writing the next fashion critique, Conal.
  
  Apr 18, 2012 at 9:19 am
  
  Reply
Lincoln Tony Mitchell Jun 23, 2012

Interesting article, but what does a veteran nudist like Faye Penn know about clothing?

Jun 23, 2012 at 2:13 pm

Reply
- faye Jun 24, 2012
  
  Though there may be a lucky few who remember me thus, I’m not a nudist. Did you mean Buddhist? Or this being Brooklyn, foodist?
  
  Jun 24, 2012 at 7:08 pm
  
  Reply