Rachel from Friends fashion

[AKissAndASmile]

Watching Friends reruns on Comedy Central and I'm struck by how Rachel's clothes look really nice even by today's standards. Everybody else looks proper 90s in the show. For those that watched Friends in the 90s, how were her clothes seen at that time?

90s fashion is back in to be fair, so it’s not surprising the styles look current.

Rachel was considered very stylish at the time, there was even a hair cut called ‘the Rachel’!

I love her dress when she kisses Winona Ryder, the purple scarf she wears when she visits Carol and Ben when he plays tricks on her, and the outfit she’s wearing when she tells Ross she’s pregnant. The very worst one is the brown ensemble at Thanksgiving when she fights with Amy

Well there can’t have been a lesbian wedding can there?

What about the bridesmaid dress she has to wear 😂

If you notice gay people will quite often be the butt of jokes, Chandler's dad, Carol etc. It's not with malice and as I say I still love the show, but you wouldn't see those kinds of jokes today.

I don’t think gay people are any more the butt of jokes than anyone else in the show to be honest. All the main characters (and supporting actors) had the piss taken out of them for a whole host of things. It may have not been handled in the most sensitive manner but the fact that Carol was a lesbian and Chandlers Dad was Trans in some ways was ahead of its time. Many shows at that time had zero gay characters at all.

The lack of ethnic diversity on the other hand is pretty bad. How I met your mother was about 10 years later and no better if I remember correctly. SATC was also lacking in BAME representation (I remember Miranda having a black boyfriend at one point but not much more). Maybe it’s a NY comedy thing of that era? Certainly not a representation of the city.

@LittleRa

What about the bridesmaid dress she has to wear 😂

I'm guessing the bridesmaid dresses were meant to be bad? I've certainly been asked to wear worse as a bridesmaid!

@Lilybet1980

If you notice gay people will quite often be the butt of jokes, Chandler's dad, Carol etc. It's not with malice and as I say I still love the show, but you wouldn't see those kinds of jokes today.

I don’t think gay people are any more the butt of jokes than anyone else in the show to be honest. All the main characters (and supporting actors) had the piss taken out of them for a whole host of things. It may have not been handled in the most sensitive manner but the fact that Carol was a lesbian and Chandlers Dad was Trans in some ways was ahead of its time. Many shows at that time had zero gay characters at all.

The lack of ethnic diversity on the other hand is pretty bad. How I met your mother was about 10 years later and no better if I remember correctly. SATC was also lacking in BAME representation (I remember Miranda having a black boyfriend at one point but not much more). Maybe it’s a NY comedy thing of that era? Certainly not a representation of the city.

Not every thing has to have BAME representation. I say that as a 'BAME' and as someone who hates that term.

That LBD she wears at Halloween when she's pregnant. "I'm a girl who's wearing a dress I won't be able to fit into for much longer" I'd still wear that these days
Maybe not 90s but 00s but still

I can't remember any homophobia but I do think episodes like the TV stuck on porn one wouldn't be shown these days

Only because it wouldn't make sense as a skit since porn is easily accessible everywhere now. Porn was probably a lot softer back then too.

Funnily enough I was just talking to DD (13) about the lack of ethnic diversity in Friends AKissAndASmile and I made exactly the same point. It was a comedy about a particular group of 6 people - not everything has to have BAME representation. And it could easily be a bit cringey if you had a token BAME character.

@AKissAndASmile Yes, seeing as the wedding Rachel is a bridesmaid at is Barry (her ex that she jilted) and Mindy (her friend) I’d definitely say the bride was making sure she didn’t look her usual stylish self! Concreted with the fact she walks down the aisle with the bridesmaid dress tucked in the back of her knickers 😂

I can’t find a pic but it’s from one of the last season episodes - a knitted jumper with cut-outs and leather straps. It’s dreadful, but that is one of the only terrible outfits on Rachel. She dressed brilliantly, and I love the way her style got sharper as she got older.

@pastabest

I can't remember any homophobia but I do think episodes like the TV stuck on porn one wouldn't be shown these days

Only because it wouldn't make sense as a skit since porn is easily accessible everywhere now. Porn was probably a lot softer back then too.

True!

@workinwomanblues yes, I mean, it doesn't look like a really old show!

@workinwomansblues sorry mistyped

@DuckonaBike

Funnily enough I was just talking to DD (13) about the lack of ethnic diversity in Friends AKissAndASmile and I made exactly the same point. It was a comedy about a particular group of 6 people - not everything has to have BAME representation. And it could easily be a bit cringey if you had a token BAME character.

I agree!

I always thought she looked fantastic. Always worse it well and looked good at every which angle. She absolutely is attractive

However.... I wouldn’t describe her as beautiful. I actually think many women could relate to her as she wasn’t perfect looking,
aesthetically, but absolutely made the best of herself.

I think she has an amazing figure, gorgeous hair and stunning eyes. She looked good from all angles. She always worse lovely clothes off screen too.

Whilst she was always seen as the prettiest, I actually think that Monica was classically more beautiful looking- although Rachel just ‘had it’!

Wore it well

@notheragain4

I loved it in season....9(?) when she's just come back from maternity leave, sparring with Gavin, and she has a white work shirt without a collar, sort of sweetheart neckline almost off her shoulders, with a tie around her neck, that outfit has always stayed with me lol.

When she couldn't get her office chair to raise back up off the floor 😂

Some good looks here from a Reddit thread on similar topic

@TableFlowerss

I always thought she looked fantastic. Always worse it well and looked good at every which angle. She absolutely is attractive

However.... I wouldn’t describe her as beautiful. I actually think many women could relate to her as she wasn’t perfect looking,
aesthetically, but absolutely made the best of herself.

I think she has an amazing figure, gorgeous hair and stunning eyes. She looked good from all angles. She always worse lovely clothes off screen too.

Whilst she was always seen as the prettiest, I actually think that Monica was classically more beautiful looking- although Rachel just ‘had it’!

I agree with all that, including Monica being the prettiest. But Rachel showed us that styling and personality can really make you very attractive!

@Lilybet1980 I see what you're saying but there is a running joke if the male characters are are effeminate or might be gay, like that's a bad thing. Although Carol was gay it wasn't really something that was celebrated, Ross was mocked consistently for it, lesbians were often sexualised in the show. As I say I don't think it was in malice but I think there were a lot of jokes around being gay that wouldn't be written today, remember it was the era when "gay" was a word we used as an insult "that is so gay!" Just feels reminiscent of that era. It's widely written about the homophobia that was present (although I appreciate that sounds a bit strong for what it was) it's not a niche opinion.

Just to add...still bloody love the show, but some parts do make me wince (the Freddie Prinze Jr nanny programme most notably!)

[quote notheragain4]@Lilybet1980 I see what you're saying but there is a running joke if the male characters are are effeminate or might be gay, like that's a bad thing. Although Carol was gay it wasn't really something that was celebrated, Ross was mocked consistently for it, lesbians were often sexualised in the show. As I say I don't think it was in malice but I think there were a lot of jokes around being gay that wouldn't be written today, remember it was the era when "gay" was a word we used as an insult "that is so gay!" Just feels reminiscent of that era. It's widely written about the homophobia that was present (although I appreciate that sounds a bit strong for what it was) it's not a niche opinion.

Just to add...still bloody love the show, but some parts do make me wince (the Freddie Prinze Jr nanny programme most notably!)[/quote]
Clearly you don't know many teenage boys. 'Gay' is still very much an insult with a large proportion of pupils in the school where I work. (Obviously it is absolutely forbidden to use homophobic language and dealt with very seriously but it's still very common.) And while not current, that kind of language was used in things like The Inbetweeners, which is far more recent than friends.

@waitforitwaitforit no I don't, but I hope the parents of those teenage boys are correcting them and explaining why it isn't appropriate, I certainly wouldn't let my boys say that now. The Inbetweeners is over 10 years old itself I'm not sure that makes a good modern comparison! A lot has changed in the last 10 years in regards to gay rights and equality.

Plus, The Inbetweeners started only 4 years after Friends. And as you say gay as an insult is largely forbidden now, I remember teachers in my high school would say that's gay (genuinely!) it was a completely acceptable insult. It isn't today, even if it's still around.