Fashion from Glee: How to Dress Like Your Favorite Glee Girl
Though new episodes won’t be on for months, Fox’s hit musical-comedy “Glee” has stolen the hearts of TV fans and critics alike. Following a high school show choir on the pursuit of a national championship, Glee is a can’t-miss guilty pleasure.
Aside from the hilarious story-line and all the drama in the world, Glee’s leading ladies have attracted attention for their cute and unique senses of style. If you want an outline of some of Glee’s most popular fashionistas, this article is for you! Think of it as a fashion cheat-sheet to tide you over until the April 13th season premiere!
Emma
Emma Pillsbury, guidance counselor and Mr. Scheuester’s love interest, is Glee’s resident fashion maven. Her style is totally unique and adorable–the perfect mix of J.Crew prep with a touch of sophisticated vintage flare. Emma’s outfits are ultra ladylike and feminine, with a more mature design and silhouette than her student counterparts.
Style Basics
- Classic preppy/retro look. Emma’s wardrobe staples include work-appropriate pencil skirts, blouses, and cardigans. Though her look is current, it definitely alludes to a more vintage era. Outfits that are all the same color, but with pieces in slightly different shades, are prevalent.
- Cropped styles. Emma wears lots of short cardigans and adorable cropped jackets that are perfectly proportioned for her petite shape.
- Layering. Because she’s a fan of sweater sets, layering is commonplace in many of Emma’s outfits. An easy way to imitate Emma’s layering genius? Try a floaty vest layered over a colorful tee.
- Embellishments. Though individual pieces of Emma’s outfits are classic and simple, they always have unique accents. Her blouses tie with bows, while her ruffled cardigans are pinned together with vintage-inspired sweater clips.
Inspired by Emma
Product Information: H81 Cropped Lace Cardigan, Forever 21. Crosshatch Cotton Pencil Skirt, J.Crew. Nixon Burning Heart Belt, Zappos. 32″ Big Bead Necklace, Girl Props. Xhilaration Stasya Mary Jane Pumps, Target.
Rachel
Rachel Berry: The little girl with the big voice. Not meant to be a fashionista by any means, the best way to describe Rachel’s style is… eccentric. She looks cute, yes, but as Glee costume designer Lou Eyrich mentioned in an interview about her style, “She makes it her way, which is more quirky. The popular girls find a way to make it look cool, but Rachel makes it look nerdy. She thinks she’s taking a trend and making it cool, but she wears it wrong.”
Regardless of how she rocks the trends, Rachel has some great pieces in her wardrobe!
Style Basics
- Prep-school inspired. Rachel’s style has a definite prepster influence. Her squeaky clean style matches her perfectionist personality. For a youthful look, she’s styled in shorter skirts and select trendy pieces, but the preppy influence is always present.
- Girly staples. Rachel is almost always in a skirt, usually mini a skirt with pleats. If she wears a dress, it’s usually a jumper with a feminine puff-sleeved tee underneath. These silhouettes would look great on a variety of body types, as they skim over curves and accentuate those legs!
- Love for prints. Rachel often wears plaids, herringbone, and other fun patterns on both her tops and bottoms.
- Quirky additions. Ms. Berry has been known to sport argyle sweater vests, tall socks, and sweaters with unicorns/ponies. Because of this, her style often borders quirky-cute and weird. If you want to wear any of these fun pieces, try to keep the rest of your look more simple and classic.
Inspired by Rachel
Product Information: Denim Full Circle Skirt, Windsor. Flower Petal Cardigan, Fred Flare. Lahaie Oxfords, Aldo. White Frill Front Shirt, Miss Selfridge. Pelerine Knee Socks, Topshop.
Quinn
Quinn Fabray, former Cheerios captain, epitomizes the role of the stereotypical hot popular girl… minus the whole unplanned pregnancy thing. Regardless, when she isn’t in her cheerleading uniform, Quinn too has great personal style. Often seen in feminine basics like dresses and cardigans, Quinn’s look is youthful, girly, and sweet.
Style Basics
- Trendy but feminine. Quinn’s clothes are often on the more expensive side–her closet is filled with ladylike tops and dresses from Anthropologie, Nordstrom, and Bloomingdales. She rocks trends on occasion, but she mostly sticks to her staple high-end pieces.
- Pastel palette. Quinn is into a soft, feminine look. Most of her outfits feature pastel pieces–she rarely wears dark or bold colors. This is also true for her beauty look: Quinn prefers a light, natural touch of makeup.
- Sweet. Though Quinn had a definite snarky side at the beginning of season 1, she and her style evolved (along with that baby bump!) throughout the show. Now, she’ll wear soft colors, floral prints, and feminine embellishments. Quinn also shies away from anything too tight or short, with the exception of her Cheerios uniform, of course!
- Dresses, dresses, dresses! Quinn is 100% girly-girl. She is almost always in a cute sundress. On the rare occasion that she does don pants, they’re ultra-feminine and in a light color, paired with an empire-waist, flirty top.
Inspired by Quinn
Product Information: Versailles Headband, ModCloth. Betsey Johnson Ski Bunny Pink Pearl Charm Bracelet, Zappos. Livia Floral Dress, Delias. Boyfriend Cardigan, Alloy. Hollywould Liz Flat, Heels.com.
What do you think?
Do you watch Glee? Do you have a favorite episode? Who is your favorite character? Most importantly, who has the best style? Tell everyone what you think with your comments!
*All images from GleeImages.com.
Posted on on January 28, 2010 / Filed Under: Fashion Tips / Tags: Celebs, Emma Pillsbury, glee, How To, Quinn Fabray, Rachel Berry, TV
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Julie
For style I like Quinn. As a character, I like Tina, Mercedes and Emma.
I like how girly Quinn is, my favourite outfit of Rachel’s is the one she wears when Puck get slushied and she cleans him up. I loved that little skirt.
I love the coat that Emma wore in te latest episode, at the end, it was so cute!
tess
great article, but what about Tina and Mercedes? Both have distinctive styles that, while not typically in line with the kind of advice College Fashion gives, many girls would want to emulate. Why leave them out?
Madeleine
I don’t watch Glee because it doesn’t come on here in Europe :’( I don’t have a favorite episode seeing as how I can’t watch it. This also means that I don’t have a favorite character. Based on these sample outfits I think that Rachel has the best style because it’s so quirky and cute.
Kae
I second the question about leaving out Tina and Mercedes… particularly Mercedes. What is the point of that? Mercedes is just as fashionable as these three, and moreso than Rachel even.
Jen
the outfits are spot on. :)
Cecily
I have been wanting to see you post on this forever. Glee is my favorite thing in the WORLD. I love both Rachel and Quinn. I would be interested to see a post on Quinn’s Hair because she does lots of cute things with braids and barrettes that people don’t normally think of doing.
caroline
i agree about tina and mercedes…
haha and what about kurt? you could make some outfits inspired by him too!
Isabelle
I dont watch this show but the styles are totally adorable and beautiful. Great outfits!
thisizkim
I love Glee!! My fave show on TV right now :)
lisa
the first season begins in my country next week…. cant wait
Karlee
i realy like the rachel outfit you picked out. very cute!
Audrey - Ohio State University
I love love love this! I like Emma’s style the best. So prim and proper. I also like Rachel.
Glad you didn’t include Sue Sylvester’s sweat suits :)
Kate
Rachel is hands-down my fav. She’s such a cute school girl!
Both Quinn and her style simply beautiful and so sweet and feminine.
Adele
Outfit suggestions are definitely cute & spot on! Great article…
But how about mercedes? and tina? mercedes dresses very well for a curvy girl, could we get some pointers? And kurt might be a good source of inspiration too…
Tamara
Ha, I rocked a Rachel inspired outfit last night, before reading this outfit! I wore:
- a purple-black-white plaid skirt with pleats and a little lilac bow
- a black spaguetti-strap top (just to edge up the preppy thing a bit)
- black low-heeled mary janes
- a white light weight cardigan with medium sleeves
- a small black leather purse (classic)
- black eyeliner (again, to make the look a little less preppy)
Callie
Love! I don’t usually like Quinn’s look – too prissy – but even I would wear the outfit inspired by her, it’s really cute.
I agree about Mercedes, though. And I did laugh at the Kurt comment, but he really does wear a lot of trends that are totally accessible to girls – military jackets, high boots, etc. So an article on either Kurt or Mercedes would be great, too.
LC
Like a lot of other people have mentioned, I think it would be really cool to see Mercedes, Tina, and Kurt inspired fashion!!!
Zephyr - CF Editor
Hey guys! Thanks for the ideas on doing another article on Tina and Mercedes (and possibly Kurt). We decided to feature the three main female characters who get the most air time for this first article, but both Liza and I definitely agree that many of the other characters including Mercedes, Tina, and Kurt have great style, too! Glad so many of you are liking this!
Jessica - Butte College
Great post! You really captured each of the girls’ style stop on! I love the pink sweater you picked out for Rachel.
Keep it up! :)
Liza - University of Minnesota
Hey guys! I’m glad you like this! Glee is such a funny show and I loved watching old episodes for “research” when writing this. I agree that Tina, Mercedes, and most definitely Kurt have their own unique and cool senses of style–something definitely worth writing about. As Zephyr explained though, for this piece we decided that it would be the most practical for me to just cover the three “main” girls. I can definitely appreciate your love for the other characters though, and I think a follow-up could definitely work!
andrea
i am not going to lie, i screamed when i saw this title! i havent even read the post yet and i already love it.
Lindsay
I’m a total Gleek, so I was super excited when I saw this article! Quinn and Emma are my favorite characters. Emma is always adorable with her big fawn-like eyes and super cute and classic look, but I LOVE how Quinn dresses. I can’t wait for warm weather! ^_^
Kristen
Yayyyyyy Glee! Psh, like I didn’t already love CF enough! I wore a dress today, but I definitely want to find some kind of printed dress like your Quinn example.
Nicole
Oh I really enjoy this article.
This show appeals to a lot of us readers so thank you very much for featuring it in your piece!
Cara
J’adore the pink sweater for Rachel!! Seriously, one of the loveliest pieces I have ever seen on CF.
J
Emma and Rachel’s clothes are the best. If Rachel took of the knne highs she’d be perfectly fine, except for the crazy sweaters they throw on her sometimes. But she rocks the shorts skirts.
Kurt -unless you are on a run way you wouldn’t wear. Mercedes is just weird tee shirts and bright colored pants. I don’t see much style there at all. It looks the same to me most episodes.
Tina’s look could be explored more.
Brooke
Totally agreed with J–Mercedes look is very immature, in my opinion.
But I LOVE Emma’s style, particularly. Great post, love the outfits inspired by them!
Rachael
I love Glee. This post captures the main girls’ style perfectly.
With Rachel’s style I think it’s a very individual look that only she could really pull off – with the pony jumpers, short skirts and knee socks. My style is probably closest to Quinn’s but I do think the way they dress Emma is adorable.
Monique
What about Mercedes? I LOVE her swagger and style…and Tina too shes very individual :)
Ana
GLEE! <3 I love all three of these girls style! Ah I would love to see Kurt. He's … fabulous! As well as Mercedes! I LOVE LOVE the outfits, they're really really good! Emma's outfit – love the colours. I would wear Rachel's outfit, and Quinn's is ADORABLE!
Sindi Chambers
Any ideas as to where and how to get the white boots the black girls is wearing when Rachel is giving the girls a lecture about how good the boys were with thier glee-off performance. Please