TV Ate My Wardrobe

It’s that time of year when most shows are ending the season and so this edition of “Look of the Week” is focusing on the season finales of three shows. As always this is a snapshot of what I have been watching and each pick is for a variety of reasons including; what it adds to the storyline, what it tells us about the characters involved or simply because it looks good. Narrowly missing a place on this week’s list is Mad Men which featured the stunning costuming that we expect from this show, but it didn’t fit in with the finale theme. After last week’s foray into set design this week is returning to the clothes that people wear, but don’t be surprised if locations pop up again (particularly from a show like Hannibal).

Winner: Mindy Lahiri on The Mindy Project “Take Me With You”

I wrote earlier in the week about The Mindy Project producing stronger episodes over the second half of the season and a lot of this is thanks to Mindy’s friendship with Danny; Mindy Kaling and Chris Messina have terrific chemistry. The last scene in the finale pushes them further into the ‘will they/won’t they territory’ which will certainly change their dynamic on the show. This comes directly after Danny pulls the old playground move by telling Mindy how much he dislikes her new hair (and he notes that they are now matching). What follows is a moment that made me hold my breath as he took of her glasses to clean them (I have short hair and wear glasses so this scene is extra swoon worthy). Mindy has made no attempt to hide that she cares about how she looks and so cutting her hair off (which I know is a wig really, but she looks cute) is her grand romantic gesture for Casey and it works. Mindy also shows off her professional skills (the inclusion of M.I.A.’s “Bad Girls” echo the pilot) and some of this season’s best moments have been when Mindy is using her medical expertise (“Teen Patient” springs to mind). Mindy is a someone whose wardrobe I tend to covert, but it’s this drastic haircut that works as Mindy’s boombox over the head and gives Mindy the number one spot this week.

Runner Up: Cece on New Girl “Elaine’s Big Day”

Cece managed to get rid of her accidental henna beard and unsurprisingly she looked stunning as she walked down the aisle in a lehenga choli (a traditional Indian wedding gown). New Girl costume designer Deb McGuire tells InStyle this was one of four options and when Hannah Simone put this one on first “it took our breath away. We didn’t even attempt to consider the others!” This is a very colorful wedding and New Girl tends to have a very bright color palette; Jess’ blue sari (which you can see here) fits in with this motif and allowed her to stand out against the orange backdrop. Bonus points go to Nick Miller for carrying Jess’ pink purse and being comfortable with this look.

Runner Up: Caroline Forbes, Elena Gilbert, Bonnie Bennett on The Vampire Diaries “Graduation”

It’s not easy to graduate from high school in a town that is full of supernatural beings and Caroline, Elena and Bonnie successfully manage this achievement on the season 4 finale of The Vampire Diaries. The main snag is that all three are dead in one way or another; Caroline and Elena are both vampires and Bonnie is now a ghost. Caroline and Elena are blissfully unaware of Bonnie’s demise and thanks to some nifty magic Bonnie has the appearance of someone who is very much alive. Considering how much these three women have been through this season it was good to have this moment of happiness together, even if it is tinged with sadness (the Olivia Broadfield track “Gone” that accompanied the ceremony reminds me of a more melancholy “Sway” by Bic Runga) and the screen got a little blurry. This episode also demonstrated that a mortarboard can be more than just as a graduation accessory as Klaus made a rather dramatic and deadly entrance using one. It was pretty awesome.

What is your look of the week?

Tags: Candice Accola, Hannah Simone, Kat Graham, Mindy Kaling, New Girl, Nina Dobrev, The Mindy Project, The Vampire Dairies