Our favorite dresses (and dressers) in YA
It’s National Dress Day people, so I figured on this all-important of holidays we should celebrate our favorite YA dresses and dressers! These gowns will make you swoon, drool, or some combination of the two. Prepare yourself for fashion with a capital F and envy with a capital E.
Serena’s gowns and Blair’s entire look from Gossip Girl
Okay, because it’s National Dress Day, I have to call out Serena’s gowns. Because, my god, does she wear some pretty dresses. They’re the kind of dresses that I dream of one day wearing to the opera as my millionaire fiancé walks me down the stairs to bask the adoring gazes of New York City’s elite. But if we’re choosing a style icon of Gossip Girl, Blair takes the crown. Sure, Serena has more black tie ensembles, but Blair is fashion heart of the series. She sets the style standard the other characters try, and largely fail, to meet.
The white and blue dress from The Cruel Prince
If you don’t know what dress I’m talking about, then clearly you don’t love a mystery dress storyline the way I do. It’s the dress that Jude receives and wears to the coronation, but its not the dress she ordered! It’s a mystery dress, and I’m HERE FOR IT. By The Queen of Nothing, the mystery indeed pays off and it made me squeal aloud. But much as I love that beautiful ballgown with the midnight blue-to-white fade and the trees embroidered on the skirt, Jude is not the most notable dresser in this series. Let’s be real, Cardan’s the real fashion star of this power couple. Raven feather cloak and velvet doublet? Gold and black eyeliner to match a perfectly off-kilter crown? Rakish grin and tail to match? Yes please, and thank you.
Feyre’s silver dress from A Court of Wings and Ruin
Did you really think I could name my favorite dresses in YA and not mention ACOTAR? Come ON. And did you really think I would name any dress other than that icon that is her silver gown from Starfall? For those of you who may not be familiar, Starfall is a celebration of the yearly migration of stars/spirits across the sky. And for the celebration, Feyre wore what I can only imagine is the fabric embodiment of Starfall – a glimmering, liquid silver with glittering sparkles… If my wedding dress doesn’t bring big Starfall energy I swear...
Scarlett’s shape-shifting dress from Caraval
Who doesn’t wish their clothes could change upon command? Cut, fit, color, the whole nine yards (of fabric, heheheh). Well, what Scarlett initially believes is just a brown sack of a garment turns out to be the most magical piece of clothing that can change upon the command and based upon the situation! And let’s not forget that Caraval is a world in which almost anything can happen. You can bet the shapes that dress transfigures itself into are nothing less than spectacular. It’s an absolutely brilliant gown and yet another example in which fictional characters get everything and its not fair!
Anything Monique wears in the Finishing School series
Will I ever shut up about the fashion in the Finishing School series? No. Monique de Pelouse, while being the most obnoxious of villains, is also a fantastic dresser – making her all the more infuriating. She knows how to dress to the nines, making the most of her figure and stature making her look and feel more powerful. I adore how the clothing in the Finishing School series is about not just the way you look, but the way you look and the way you’re perceived. The clothing in these books are just as useful a weapon as a knife, and sometimes more powerful.
Evie and Theta’s wardrobes from The Diviners
I’m calling a tie! I can’t decide who is more fashionable, but I do know that these two flappers have excellent taste! Every dress that’s described is one I want, need, and cannot live without (though I must carry on, for fictional clothing does not, in fact, exist for the buying). My personal favorite moment is when Evie is described as wearing stockings with peacock feather embroidery and I’m just like dang. They have pearls! They have spangles! They have cloches! And most importantly, they have flapper dresses embroidered with beads, sparkles, and of incredible fabrics!