When we look back at 2008 in a few years months on VH-1’s “I LOVE 2008″ we’ll no doubt be reminded of the precocious teen drama Gossip Girl.
Gossip Girl has been cultural phenom since it’s start earlier in the season. The show has struck a chord with the young crowd affecting the way they watch it (mostly online until the CW lowered the axe for the last few episodes) to how they dress.
The clothes featured on the show are having as big an impact on it’s viewers as Sex and the City had for a (slightly) older set. In fact, so influential are the clothes and accessories, that the show is finding itself upstaged by it’s couture.
Never one to let a blip on the cultural radar pass, Old Gray Lady has tapped it’s ear into this effect on the young wired set in this weeks Styles section. The shows viewership of teens and young women fall right into the coveted set sought by companies and the show is playing it up. “Thanks to the point-and-click shopping on its Web site and the fees it charges some brands to be featured in the series, ‘Gossip Girl’ has been able to profit from its power to generate trends. It is not the first show to collect revenues from product tie-ins, but it probably is the first to have been conceived, in part, as a fashion marketing vehicle.”
“We tried to launch trends from the get-go,” said Eric Daman, the show’s costume designer, whose past work includes work with “Sex and the City.”
The show has only had 18 episodes but has already influenced trends on the runways.
The clothes also make a mindful effort not to alienate it’s audience. “Some [viewers] like the deft mingling of mass and class, through a smorgasbord of merchandise culled from stores like Barneys New York, progressive boutiques like Opening Ceremony in downtown Manhattan and cheap chic chains like Urban Outfitters.” Which also fits into the current trend of high/low chic.
Expect the show to kick into even higher gear in the coming season as the producers realize their plan of culling a powerful stable of young adult consumers has become a reality.
You know you wanna watch!
XOXO,
H.C.
