How to Dress Like the Stars of The Vampire Diaries
The show's designer shares the secrets of the cast's killer looks.
- Delaina Dixon, BettyConfidential.com
Not only have you been dying to sink your teeth back into The Vampire Diaries, which returns with new episodes on The CW this Thursday, but we know you've also been itching to steal some of the hot styles from the show.
Thirst no more, fellow Bettys. We caught up with the series' costume designer Jennifer Bryan, who has the majorly cool job of dressing Diaries' hot stars, Paul Wesley (good vampire Stefan Salvatore) and Ian Somerhalder (his older brother, evil vampire Damon). With the siblings inhabiting both the 1800s, when they became vampires, and the present day, their styles span two centuries of fashion.
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"I wanted you to know they are brothers and vampires, but I had to be careful I didn't dress them alike," Jennifer says. "Ian told me he wanted Damon's wardrobe to have a sense of timelessness. So I put him in things that existed back then but have a modern interpretation." That means lots of collared, button-front shirts. "They've basically stayed the same for 80 years," Jennifer says. As for Damon's jeans, "I put Levi's on him. You couldn't ask for anything more classic."
For Stefan, who's chosen to live a more normal life among mere mortals, it's all about his wardrobe allowing him to blend in. "He's trying to fit in the high-school environment," Jennifer explains. "He'll wear plaid prints and hoodies with color to make himself just a little more palatable."
To pull together the styles for the 1800s, Jennifer turned to books, the Internet and collections of period clothing and her own sense of style. For the show's first flashback episode, she designed the billowy cream- and peach-colored gown worn by the brothers' romantic interest, Katherine (Nina Dobrev).
She also had to give her stars a crash course on how to wear nineteenth-century styles. "The dresses from that time are much more restricted," Jennifer explains. "The fabrics and cuts were designed to constrain the body. Because sometimes you can pass out in a corset, you have to change your posture and breathing," Jennifer says. (But no matter how painful it is, she says, a corset does give "incredible cleavage.")
Walking in a hoop skirt doesn't come easy, either. "Stand tall and hold your head high, and when you walk, take smaller steps and kick the hoop out of the way in front of you," Jennifer advises. "You have to be in sync with it when it rocks back and forth or you might fall on your face."
There are moments when Jennifer has to think beyond how the clothes are just going to look on screen. "Remember when Elena was driving her car and it overturned? I had to think about the stunt driver who was doing the scene, and I had to make sure that she could have protective clothing underneath Elena's outfit," Jennifer says. "The stunt driver actually did flip that car, and it was amazing to watch."
And who doesn't love pulling off a Halloween-party look for a frightful series? "That was a challenge!" Jennifer exclaims. "For Elena's costume, I used pieces from four different outfits to pull together her sexy nurse outfit.
As for her own wardrobe, Jennifer follows one simple rule. "I never buy anything that itches," she says with a laugh.
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"The color palette for Vampire Diaries' is narrow," Jennifer says. "It's smoky, foggy and suspenseful." Think darker hues like black and grey and minimal patterns. Concentrate on texture and tone, Jennifer suggests.
Elena
"Elena has a simple, classic high school look," Jennifer says. "It's fitted jeans with tops, either scoop or v-neck, in solid colors with some texture. I'll layer that with a tank that has touch of lace, my twenty-first-century homage to 1864 as the link between Elena and Katherine. It's her little connection to the past. Because she wears the vervain [an herb said to keep away vampires] around her neck, she always has her neckline clear, no high collars. That's what protects her from the dark side of Stefan."
From left: Sexy stretch scoop-neck tee ($19.50, express.com), True Religion Stella skinny classic jeans ($172, piperlime.com) and Women's Mossimo Supply Co. Kalya Western Boots - cognac ($36.99, target.com)
Bonnie
"She is like a young earth mother because she is the one who is in touch with her supernatural side and aware of her powers," Jennifer explains. "She and her grandmother both have a bohemian, free-spirit feel. I do jeans and skirts with little sweaters and peasant blouses with little necklaces. It's natural fabrics and easy cuts that are little folksy and hippy and coolly spiritual."
From left: Sheer Clara peasant top ($34, fredflare.com), Fire peasant top ($30, nordstrom.com) and Spotlight peasant skirt ($49.95, freepeople.com)
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Caroline
"She's a chirpy, optimistic, I want-to-be-popular cheerleader. Her look is a little Junior League on steroids. She gets thigh-high socks, and I do use color on her: pinks, turquoise and plaids. But they're not Easter-egg colors. Those shades are still in darker hues so they're not out of the palette of the whole The Vampire Diaries feel.
From left: Planet Gold top, cotton plaid shirt ($24.99, macys.com), Juicy Couture Classic Velour Hoodie in blue ($65, bergdorfgoodman.com) and Report Women's Annett flat ($59.95, endless.com)
Tell us: are you excited for the season premiere of The Vampire Diaries?
TV DivaGal Delaina Dixon is an entertainment journalist who's written about just every form of television over the last 10 years. You can read more of her work, with her own dash of divaness, at her site DelainaDixon.com.
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