What "Desperate Housewives" are wearing
By Suzanne S. Brown
Denver Post Staff Writer
October 14, 2004
We were getting a little restless on Sunday nights, considering
that "Sex and the City's" fashion-obsessed Carrie Bradshaw
and her girlfriends aren't around to entertain us anymore.
Then along came "Desperate Housewives," ABC's new
primetime soap and the network's top-rated show for the past
two weeks. We find ourselves tuning in not just to see what
will unfold next on Wisteria Lane - a street rife with marital
strife, adultery and misbehaving children - but to see what the
characters are wearing.
The twist on suburban chic that costume designer Cate Adair is
giving the women on "Desperate Housewives" is welcome
relief from all the police uniforms, hospital garb and grubby
"Survivor" gear that rule the small screen. In
addition, we get plenty to look at in "Wives" since
the female leads typically have between five and a dozen changes
per episode, according to Adair.
"These are women who wouldn't wear the same thing to yoga
class as they would to the grocery store or to pick up their
kids," says Adair, who scours department stores, specialty
boutiques and vintage shops to outfit the characters. She's
also working with such L.A.-based designers as Bradley Bayou
and Eduardo Lucero for special-occasion dresses.
To recap, the show's narrator is Mary Alice (Brenda Strong),
who has committed suicide and listens in from the netherworld
as her neighbors buzz about what must have been very wrong in
her seemingly ideal life. The key players are Susan Mayer
(Teri Hatcher), a divorced single mother who illustrates
children's books; Bree Van De Kamp (Marcia Cross), an icy
perfectionist whose children refer to her as "the mayor
of Stepford" and whose fed-up husband wants a divorce;
sizzling Gabrielle Solis (Eva Longoria), an ex-model who is
looking for love in all the wrong places even as her spouse
showers her with precious jewelry, designer clothes and cars;
Edie Britt (Nicollette Sheridan), the neighborhood's serial
divorceé and unabashed sex machine; and Lynette Scavo
(Felicity Huffman), who traded the executive suite for the
living hell of having four children under age 6 and a husband
who is never home.
Here's how we break down the show's fashion appeal:
True blue: Susan has a hip but approachable style, wearing trendy
Hudson jeans (they're about $150 at department and specialty stores)
and T-shirts by James Perse, giving her a with-it vibe that seems
to us more Cherry Hills than Highlands Ranch.
"She looks like an awful lot of the moms I know, not that
I've used it as a conscious model," Adair says. "These
women are in great shape. They don't have to look conservative or
boring."
Viewers can also relate to situations Susan finds herself in,
whether she's causing accidents or blushing with embarrassment
when she's spotted by her hunky new neighbor Mike Delfino
(James Denton) while bare-faced and dressed in her pjs and
bathrobe. As costumer Adair notes, "There's a fallibility
to her that's appealing."
June Cleaver on steroids: Bree is the show's reigning domestic
diva, clad in prim suits, pastel twinsets and an ever-present
string of pearls. Adair says she's glad fashion is in a retro
mood at the moment because it's making it a cinch for her to find
outfits that she adapts for the character.
"We tend to cut and rework things for her," Adair says.
"Almost nothing goes from the hanger straight onto a body."
We're keeping our eyes on Bree because we think she has the most
potential to bust out of her gleaming fortress and give up her
mop and broom, as well as her Talbot's suits, for something more
alluring. "She might just surprise you," Adair says.
Designer diva: A former model married to rich guy Carlos (Ricardo
Antonio Chavira), and the only childless wife on the block,
Gabrielle has the best wardrobe, as well as plenty of time for
shopping. Viewers get to see her in everything from La Perla
lingerie to designer evening gowns.
"She's always coordinated, wearing just the right shoes and
bag with each outfit," Adair says.
Gabrielle also has a decidedly un-suburban way of dressing, which
makes you wonder how she and Carlos ever wound up on Wisteria Lane
to begin with. With her preference for plunging necklines, short
skirts and megawatt jewelry, she'd be at home in a slicker show,
like "Las Vegas."
Blonde ambition: With her cleavage-baring bustiers and low-slung
satin Gucci jeans, Edie is the vixen your husband is dreaming about,
and the woman you'd like to be - on occasion. Adair dresses Edie in
everything from Dolce & Gabanna outfits to sweats from American Eagle
Outfitters.
"I'm trying not to have her stuck in a rut, but to mix it
up," Adair says.
At 40, the actress can still wear hot pants, but we'd be a little
more careful with the tops if we were in charge of the show's
costume shop.
Been there, worn that: Poor Lynette. With three devilish boys and a
baby girl to tend to, she's lucky to find a clean shirt and jeans.
And then there's that disheveled hair, the barely disguised anger
in her eyes and those hands tightly gripping the steering wheel of her minivan.
The guy thing: Finally, the men on the show are so uniformly drab
and Docker-clad that they're practically indistinguishable from
one another. Only the cute Carlos and Mike are shown as having any
flair. Maybe they'll spice the guys up in future episodes.
We'll be watching.
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