Hello my sweet doves.
Welcome back. If you haven't noticed,
there's a new background and... I can explain. So, basically, I just moved to
a different part of my bedroom. I'm still in my bedroom. But I was just getting a little
bit tired of my desk table set up. Part of the reason is because I do try to
dress up a little bit every time I do a video and I felt like, the desk was
stunting that for me. And also, I was just thinking about
my older videos a lot, recently; and I really liked my older cozier
vibe of me just sitting on my bed. And even though this is like,
not a very cozy vibe right now, because I haven't decorated
this wall or anything-- Well, technically
I have decorated this wall . I put one, one painting. One print up there. And you just can't see it
because it's out of frame. But I'm thinking about
decking out the walls behind me and then seeing how that looks. I might hate it. I might go back to my desk,
who knows... Another thing you might notice is
I have a different microphone. And this is my first
actual microphone upgrade. The microphone that you were seeing
in my previous videos on my desk was the microphone that
I had been using for a really long time and the only reason people
thought it was new was because it was closer to my mouth
because it was on my desk, so it was picking up the sound better, whereas before
it was out of frame and on my bed somewhere. The reason I got this mic was because
I just wanted something to hold and I really like like, the more
retro hand mic feeling of just, you know, talking--
I don't know. I don't know what I'm doing. But I thought it could be cute, so... Yeah! This is my mic, now. We're trying a lot of new things lately. Today we're going to be doing a video
on Fran Fine's fashion in 'The Nanny'. - What's that? - That's the nanny. So, 'The Nanny' is a 90s sitcom
and it was recently put on HBO Max, earlier this month,
so I thought it'd be a good time to just revisit the series. If you need a little recap, 'The Nanny' stars Fran Drescher
in the role of Fran Fine. She plays a bridal shop sales girl
from Flushing, Queens, New York. And, in the first episode,
she gets broken up with by her longtime boyfriend,
who is also her manager, so she also like gets fired. And she goes and finds a new job
and subsequently lands a job as the nanny of Broadway producer/wealthy
widower Max Shuffle-- Max Sheffield's three children. And now, that's not a spoiler.
Please, don't get mad at me for that, because the entire thing that I just said
is recited in the show's intro sequence. The fabulous intro sequence that never
changes throughout the entire run. ♪ She had style, she had flair, she was there ♪ ♪ That's how she became the Nanny ♪ The show takes a lot of inspiration
from Drescher's personal life and her jewish New York
upbringing as well. 'The Nanny' is one of those shows
that I think is known greater for Its impact on fashion
than for the actual plot. At least with younger
millennials and Gen Z. - We knew that we wanted
her to have a specific look and I said, "this is going to be
a major part of the show". I remember the first time I heard
about the show was via Tumblr, because someone had posted a bunch of
Fran Fine outfit compilations onto Tumblr, but I hadn't actually gotten around to
watching the entire show until this year. For this video, I basically just want
to cover how to get the Fran Fine look. I'm going to go in on
the anatomy for style, I'm going to talk a little bit
about behind the scenes info, when it comes to costume design
and I'm also going to share my thoughts on a couple of her iconic looks. So, let's get started! First, the general things
on nailing the Fran Fine look. The Form Fit: I feel like contemporary
costume designers don't get as much attention or respect
as period costume designers, which, you know, can be seen by the Oscar nomination categories for
Best Costume Design every single year. The fact that 'Clueless', for instance,
didn't get any Oscar nomination for costume design is truly baffling. Considering how much of a cultural touchstone
the movie's costumes were and still are today. Especially Cher's
Dolce & Gabbana plaid yellow suit. - Who has bridged a gap
between this grunge period. And then now fashion was fun and girly. You went from a period of time
where it was just cool to just not care and jeans and your flannel,
and whatever. And now to like, I care
and I'm gonna make really cute outfits all the time
and you're welcome and I'm sorry at the same time. Though I do want to add that Fran
did the yellow plaid look first in the Second Season of 'The Nanny',
which came out in 1994, and that was one year
before 'Clueless' premiered. The account "whatfranwore"
says that Fran's suit is by Jean-Paul Gaultier, but honestly, it looks to be the exact
same outfit as the one that Cher wears. Like, down to the black trim
at the hem and the cuffs. So, I have some questions... But, anyway! While I think period costumes
OBVIOUSLY take a lot of effort, like even in the cases
when they don't do that much research and they don't do like,
a fully accurate portrayal, it's still a lot of work. Like I think and I've never tried this,
but I just feel like this is the case, which is why I haven't tried it,
but I think sewing a 1770s gown is probably one of the most
labor intensive garments to sew. Point blank. Contemporary and late
20th Century vintage costumes, on the other hand,
are usually sourced and then styled. But for 'The Nanny', even though
costume designer Brenda Cooper sourced most of the clothing
from department stores, she modified almost every single
garment before it went on set. For example, there's this one striped
coat that Brenda found while shopping and she said that it was, quote: "Too big, too long.
The wrong shape and unflattering". She and her team reconstructed the
coat to be form-fitting and sexy. Fran's style is very dependent
on the tight-fitting silhouette, so a lot of her garments were altered or
shortened to accommodate that signature fit. Fit is so important for the character's
style that Fran actually said that, in a lot of instances. Brenda would reach into her pantyhose
and like, pull on her butt, so that everything was in the right position. Bold Colors, Patterns, Textures: - We built the set in
a certain tone of color, so that she'd be able to wear anything
without the set contrasting what she wore. So the whole set was
designed around her wardrobe. A lot of the clothes were also
modified to look more embellished or to better match
the other colors in the fit. For example, buttons were often
changed to look more glamorous and showy... Brenda and our team
sometimes added rhinestones or hemmed jacket lapels
with different colors and fabrics to make everything
look a bit more cohesive. Brenda also said
this in an interview: "For the most part, "there's never a piece of clothing that
came out of a store and went on set. "It always got shifted or changed,
or embellished". - You think this look
happens by accident? [Mina] One of the most obvious parts of Fran's
style is heavy use of bold colors, prints-- Especially animal prints. And textures like sequin dresses
and leather coordinate sets. - I think she liked leopard
prints because, you know, it's kind of racy and sexy
and very Queens. And, you know, I think
that's what her MO was. In an interview with ID Magazine,
Brenda talks about how this particular Moschino vest was one of her
major references when designing 'The Nanny'. Brenda had used this vest in a
previous show she worked on with Fran, called 'Princesses', but the vest was
actually worn by Twiggy's character. Brenda said she loved the color, boldness
and form-fitting silhouette of the vest and it became the inspiration
for the rest of Fran's style. She says in an
interview with HelloGiggles: "I intentionally wanted to make a
statement of style, wit, and humor, "all combined. "I wanted color,
I wanted it to be sexy. And there was lots
of color available in 1993. "We would always shop in Beverly Hills. "Going to Neiman Marcus was
just like style heaven". Something that Fran Fine
does really well is that she matches the colors in her
outfit to make a very balanced look. For instance, this outfit that
she wears in Season Two, the magenta in her dress perfectly matches the
magenta accents of the jacket. And she also wears a lot of coordinating
sets and monochromatic outfits in general. This outfit she wears in Season Three, the jacket and the skirt match the
printed vest matches with the printed hat and the black purse matches
the black turtleneck and black tights. All her outfits while loud are very harmonious, which I think makes her look
more elegant in high fashion. If nothing matched or if they just
used a bunch of random clashing patterns, then she would have ended up
looking really tacky instead. The Designers: Fran Fine wears a lot of
high-end designers like Moschino, Todd Oldham, Anna Sui, Chanel, just to name a few. It is admittedly pretty unrealistic,
because Fran claims, allegedly, to buy everything on sale at Loehmann's. - Do you like my party dress? Loehmann's, 70% off. - She'll never shop retail again. When it's very clear that most of her
clothes are straight off the runway. There's a really great
Instagram account called @whatfranwore,
run by Shan Brown, and, on it, she sources some of
Fran's outfits back to the designers. Brenda also worked with a lot of young
and emerging designers at the time, like Val Piriou, who made this orange blazer,
worn in Season One. I feel like also using a lot of younger
designers made Fran look a lot more fresh, and fashion forward, and adventurous. Fran's closet wasn't
entirely designer, though. Brenda has talked about sourcing
from just about anywhere, including Kmart, garage sales,
thrift stores... She even found a jacket that she used
for C.C. Babcock in the trash can, because some other TV show had thrown it out. And even though I've criticized
other characters before for not being able to afford the wardrobes
that the costume designer gives them, I feel like in 'The Nanny', because
the show is just so campy in a way and-- I don't even know
if I use that term right. But it's very fun and a lot of parts
aren't realistic to begin with, like, for example, Fran Fine
meets Fran Drescher in one episode. - Excuse me, miss Fran Drescher,
but I am your biggest fan! - Oh, thank you! - Thank God, you really
do talk like that! - I would make this up. [ Laughs ] Like it's just a very fun light-hearted
show that I think some detail, like, "oh, Fran couldn't afford the
stuff on her realistic salary". Doesn't take away from the show And also they do break the
fourth wall a bit with it, so I think that's fun as well, - Oh, just look at the
clothes she's wearing! How could she afford to dress
like that on her salary? - Oh, wow, I wish that I had a job where I could
change into designer outfits every five minutes! The Layering Technique: According to Brenda,
there's a Fran Fine base formula: A short pencil skirt,
a black turtleneck, opaque black tights and black suede
high-heeled stilettos. All of this is combined to
create a sexy elongated base. And then, blended with layer
on cooler statement pieces. The other base formula, which I
really only noticed in Season One, was the white shirt formula. This consisted of a white blouse
as the alternative to a turtleneck. Brenda said she bought these
blouses from Anne Fontaine, Beverly Hills. Using a white blouse,
adds a neutral color and also elevates the outfit
to look a bit more formal, it came more job appropriate. Later on in the show,
the Fran formula deviates and we see Fran wearing less white blouses,
more pants, more colorful turtlenecks and a more diverse selection of shoes. This is partially because the show's
budget increased as the series went on. In the First Season, you actually see Fran re-wearing some
of her pieces in different episodes. In an interview with
COOLS magazine, Brenda says: "In the beginning it was
turtlenecks and mini skirts, "the black and pink tights
and black square heels, "and then changing out the other pieces. "As the budget increased, "I would spend Monday
and Tuesday shopping at will, "on Wednesday we would do
a fitting for a couple of hours, "and we'd find the outfits": Also, after Season Four,
Shawn Holly Cookson and Terry Gordon took over costume design
because Brenda left to have children. In an interview with the Huffington Post, Brenda said they did a pretty good job
maintaining the look after she left, but there were some decisions
that she wouldn't have done. Scandalous! And, honestly, I definitely did
notice the change in direction, but because Fran gets
pregnant in the Sixth Season, I thought maybe it was just because
they were having trouble finding maternity wear that suited her style, but nice to know that they did
actually change out designers. I feel very validated. Maybe my eye is pretty good after all! Now, let's talk more in depth
about the actual garments. The Tops: I already talked about why the turtlenecks and the white blouses were essential
for Brenda's layering technique, but it's also worth noting that in the 90s,
especially the early 90s, white roughly, frilly blouses,
were in fashion in general. And I think as of recently,
like within the last couple years, white frilly blouses
have come back in in fashion, because of the whole
cottagecore and picnic aesthetic. As someone who
definitely bought into that trend and is now a proud owner
of several white frilly blouses. Ii'd like to say that I don't think white
frilly blouses will ever really go out of style. We saw them all the way
back in the 18th Century, so... I think it's safe to say that
they've withstood the test of time. My favorite ruffle blouse look is,
probably, this outfit from Season One, episode three. She's layered on a
Moschino Sheep and-- Sheep? Sheep & Chic. Cheap & Chic blazer. And I just love the scalloped
detail of this blazer so much, as well as the form fit. I love how the ruffle
pokes out through the cuffs and I really really love the
exaggerated jabot look at the front. It's giving 17th Century
and I love it! Fran also wore a lot of vests,
particularly in the First Season. According to Brenda: "Vests would add that sexiness to an outfit". I love vests.
I think Brenda is totally right. I think, recently, sweater
vests have been the big thing, but I think we're going to move into
the structured vest look very soon, if not already... It just makes sense,
because I think the structured vest is like, the marriage between
the sweater vest and the corset, which are both, arguably
at the tail end of their time, right now. And also, the 70s
is majorly in, right now; and the 70s was THE time for vests. So my favorite vest look
on the show is, honestly, this leather one
that she wears in Season Two. She's layered it over a white turtleneck
and she's wearing a scalloped plaid skirt. I believe the ensemble is also Moschino. The plaid and leather
definitely create an edgier look, but the lack of accessorization,
the clean white turtleneck and the soft scalloped hem of the
skirt pull it back from being too punk. I also love this vest look. This is from Season Two, episode 17. The red vest is by Donna Karan
and, I don't know-- It's just giving business on
the top party on the bottom. The mini shorts and the thigh highs
definitely give the look that Fran Fine sexy touch. But I also just love the
peppiness of the silky white blouse, simple vest and tie combination. Plus adding on the plaid blazer. I'm sorry, but 'Emily in Paris'
could literally never. The Mini Pencil Skirt: - You know, everything that we did,
we did with a certain judge that made it kind of sexy
and I think that we really kind of made the mini really
synonymous with the 90s. Okay, so Fran doesn't
only wear mini pencil skirts. She also wears mom jeans
and she wears pants throughout the entire show as well. But I would say that her most
reliable garment is the miniskirt. - Mr. Sheffield fell in love with you
when you were just a nanny and you didn't have any formal
education or fit into his circle of friends. - Yeah, but I could fit into a size 2 miniskirt
and that kind of gave me an edge. And Brenda was really insistent on this,
shortening them as far as she possibly could. There's so many designer collections
that were featured in 'The Nanny' and if you notice,
if you look really closely, the skirt was definitely shortened. This is because Fran's character
is supposed to be like, you know, sultry and inappropriate. Fran was also supposed to look
at the visual opposite of C.C. Babcock, Max's high-strung business partner, who's very town and country,
and proper and a lot more conservative
with her fashion. - Then, fine. I am perfect for Maxwell.
I am dependable, respectable and men are always drawn to
my classic Swedish features. - So you're a Volvo. Unfortunately for you, Mr. Sheffield wants
to get his hands on something a little sportier that he can take the top down. The miniskirt is also stereotyped
as being a very youthful garment, because they were first worn in the
1960s as part of the "Youthquake movement". The designer Mary Quant is often
credited for creating the miniskirt, but she has admitted that the skirts
were rising and hemline already among London's street styles. Jenny Fenwick, who gifted a 60s dress
to the Victoria and Albert Museum, said: "Mary Quant epitomized the style "which was different to the norm
and meant that teenage girls, like me, "didn't have to look like their mothers". So not only does Dran wearing a
mini skirt give her more sex appeal. I'm honestly thinking about-- Maybe I shouldn't keep saying the word
"sex" because I might get demonetized. I think it makes total sense
for her character to cling on to a more youthful style. One of the main running jokes
in the series is that Fran always lies about her age and pretends that
she's a lot younger than she actually is. - Fran, are you a lot older than me? - Well, let's put it this way
when you're 20 I'll be 40. When you're 30, I'll be 40. And when you're 40,
you'll understand why I'm still 40. Miniskirts were also very popular in the 90s
due to the 60s revival trend. In a March 1991 article, published in the San Francisco
Chronicle Trish Donnelly writes: "Andre Courreges' architectural
influence easily spotted in the "many 60s style
fashions in vogue this spring, "has surfaced in the collections
of top designers for fall as well. "Claude Montana's line for example,
has strong echoes of Courreges, "down to white ankle boots
and silver accents". My favorite Fran Fine miniskirt look
is this Vivienne Tam's Mao Zedong skirt that she wears in
Season Three, episode five. It actually comes in a set,
but Brenda chose to put Fran in just the skirt. Vivienne Tam's Mao collection
was the designer's breakout collection and the collection actually led to her
being dubbed designer of the month by Vogue, for February 1995. The collection was a
pretty political statement, symbolizing both the positive and
negative effects Mao had on Chinese culture. Her ideas spurred a lot
of controversy at the time and, actually, she
initially had a lot of trouble, because several Hong Kong
manufacturers refused to produce her designs. But, you know, I really
love Fran and the skirt, because I just love a good strong
fashion reference in film and TV. I also love how simple
the rest of her outfit is. It's all black, so it really
brings attention to the skirt and, I think, if Brenda did anything more
then it would just have been too much. The Coordinating Sets: As the show goes on, Fran starts to gradually wear more and
more coordinated two-piece suits or sets, which usually consists of a blazer
and a matching mini pencil skirt; but she also wears more
casual sets and pant suits as well. The blazer and miniskirt combo
was really popular in the 90s, in part because of the success of 'Clueless', but even before 'Clueless',
designers like Karl Lagerfeld and Anna Sui put out collections of matching
blazers and miniskirts in 1994. Unlike 80s power suits,
the 90s suits were sleeker, more form fitting, more youthful, preppier and they didn't have as
big shoulder pads. My favorite set that Fran wears is
probably this Anna Sui tartan set. I love the fur trim around the cuffs
and the layering that Brenda did. She said that she added the yellow
Donna Karan vest to make it sexier and she added the shirt and tie
underneath to make it sassy and elegant. The color's all matched. Like, even the pink is brought out
by the pink blouse underneath, so... Yeah, I love all that good stuff. I also really love this Courrèges set
from Season Five, episode eight. You can see the little logo at the chest. It's straight up space age mod,
but it totally works for Fran! I love the vibrant green, and the white belts, the gogo boots and headband. They even styled her hair
to flare out in a super 60s way. I love the dedication. The Dresses: Fran wears a lot of dresses in the show. One of the ways that Brenda made
Fran's cocktail dresses less formal was by layering them with... You guessed it!
A turtleneck underneath. Fran's long dresses are pretty elegant
and follow the columnar silhouette that evening dresses of the 90s had, which were inspired by 1930s
old Hollywood silhouettes. A couple of Fran's dresses have even
showed up in other areas of pop culture, including this Bob Mackie dress,
that Sharon Stone wore in the 1995 movie 'Casino'; and this Bob Mackie dress that Fran borrowed
after Madonna wore it to the Oscars in 1991. My personal favorite of her dresses
is this ICONIC Hervé Léger dress that I'm sure everyone who was on
Tumblr has seen screenshots of, paired with her Moschino bag. This dress is honestly my
dream little black dress. I do not currently own an LBD and I probably won't unless
it looks like this one. It's just so... I don't want to keep saying that word,
because I might get demonetized, but, you know... It's THAT word
and it's the perfect fit. And it just shows the right amount of cleavage
with that delectable sweetheart neckline. I also really love this yellow
Escada wool dress and coat that Fran wears in the last Season. You can see she's pregnant,
but she's still looking as fabulous as ever. The black and pale yellow
combination is chic and, once again, we definitely
see some 60s influence in Fran's wardrobe. The Shoes: the original nanny heel was a four
and a half inch pump by Charles Jordan. Brenda found copies of it out of
J.C. Penney for fifty dollars, so she bought all of the ones
that they had in the store in Fran's size and dyed them different colors
to match Fran's outfits. The shoes were also suede
and that was purposeful, because suede doesn't reflect light. Later on, Fran wears boots and sandals, but her shoes, for the most part,
are usually black to create that long line we talked about earlier. Faux Fur Coats: In the 90s, furrier started
producing a lot of fun fur coats. Basically, just fur in a bunch
of wacky colors. - Oh, nanny, fine! Cute coat! How many muppets
had to die for that? And this was because
animal rights activists were pushing a very resilient
anti-fur campaign at the time. - Oh, my God, Fran! What is that dead animal? - Where?! - On your back!
- Oh, this. Oh, I inherited it,
but I refused to accept it. And a lot of furriers thought that if
they dyed the furs in specific ways, it would help people not realize
that what they were wearing was fur, like it would be easier for them
to disassociate the fact that the fur came from an animal. But, of course, this subsequently
led the fake fur industry to also create a bunch of colorful
textured patterned furs as well. Designer Isaac Mizrahi talked about
how fake fur was redefining luxury, saying that, quote: "Up to this point, it was a very
luxurious thing to have a fur coat; "at this point,
it's the least luxurious, "because you walk the streets
and get harassed. "It just seems much more luxurious
to have a fake than to have a real one". Even Karl Lagerfeld wanted to
initially send a collection of fake furs down the runway for
Fendi's Fall 1994 collection, but, in the end, he was persuaded to make a
collection of both real and fake furs. He's quoted in the
New York Times saying: "It doesn't really matter anymore.
Real furs often look like fakes". Fur trimmed coats are super in today,
especially shearling ones, because we're going
through another 60s-70s revival. They're called "penny lane coats"
by a lot of people, because of Kate Hudson's
character, Penny Lane, in the movie 'Almost Famous'. She wears a signature
suede for trimmed coat and, I actually read that the
costume designer, Betsy Heimann, was initially inspired by Shirley
MacLaine's coat in 'The Apartment', which came out in 1960. This is probably Fran's
most iconic fur look. It's, once again, another image
that circulated Tumblr and Pinterest. The fit is so simple! It's just a turtleneck top,
high-waisted shorts and white sneakers. It's actually her tennis outfit
in the episode, like she goes off
and plays tennis, but the white coat and the sunglasses just
give it the perfect LA Hollywood starlet energy. I'm pretty sure this is the same white
coat that she's worn in other outfits, but this styling... So simple, yet so fabulous. It just goes to show that
you don't need to over accessorize or over layer like maximalists
like me to look good. Fran has a lot of really cool fur coat looks,
especially in the last couple Seasons, and it's honestly so hard
to pick my favorite, just because I want to wear them all. I really honestly just cannot pick. Accessories: Her most notable accessories
in my opinion are the headbands that she starts wearing
during Season Three. And, of course, her opaque stockings,
which I talked a little bit about earlier. Headbands were borrowed
accessory from the 1960s. Some people like to credit Hillary
Clinton for repopularizing the look, others attribute the look to Jean-Paul
Gaultier's Spring 1990 collection, which featured ultra wide headbands. But I think, overall, the 60s coming back
was the biggest influence for the headband. Opaque tights similarly
followed the 60s revival look. Brenda has talked about how
she really doesn't like it when people call Fran "trashy", because she really tried hard
not to make Fran look trashy. Not that trashy is a bad thing,
by the way, like I think we've started to reclaim terms like "trashy"
and "bimbo" lately, but, you know, it's just--
It's a little bit too not Nanny-like. But I think Brenda
succeeded in her mission, and part of that is because Fran does wear
opaque tights underneath all of her miniskirts. The Bathrobes: And last, but not least,
this video would not be complete without acknowledging Fran's
ICONIC collection of bathrobes. - The network didn't want, originally, the nanny to come down
for breakfast in her bathrobe. They thought that it was inappropriate
and it was like, "yeah, that's the point! "She IS inappropriate!" It also offers a visual juxtaposition
between her and the Sheffields, who all get properly dressed up for breakfast. - No one could ever
replace you, miss Fine. Unless she's going to turn up to breakfast
in those loud inappropriate bathrobes. [Mina] Fran is different! She's informal and she never dresses
like a proper nanny in the first place, so it just makes sense for her character. - See ya. - Oh, miss Fine, wait. - Yes? [Mina] The bathrobes are mostly chenille
robes made by Canyon Group. They were super popular on film
and TV in the 90s and early 2000s. You can see Brad Pitt
wearing one in 'Fight Club' and Hilary Duff wearing one
on the 'Lizzie McGuire Show'. Brenda said that she did want to elevate
the "normal" bathrobe silhouette, though, so she added shoulder pads
into all the robes to give them a more elegant 1940s Katharine
Hepburn, Lana Turner look. Okay, so that's all I have for today! Thank you so much for watching and let me know in the comments
what your favorite Fran Fine look is or what other 90s'
trends you personally like. Yeah, I hope you had
fun with me on this one. I know a lot of people have been asking
me to do 'The Nanny' for a long time now. I think it just goes to show how culturally
significant 'The Nanny' is after all these years. I heard that they're actually
going to be doing a Nanny musical, that's been in the works. I don't know if COVID has stalled that. It probably has, because
Broadway like, shut down. But I'm really excited for that, I guess . And yeah! I'll see you guys next time! Bye!
