Legally Blonde is known as a classic from the early 2000s that was the embodiment of feminism. While it is known for its contribution to furthering the movement, it is also widely known for its iconic outfits. However, the main character goes through almost unnoticed style changes based on the phase of her life. The subtle details that create these fluctuations play a major role in making the movie the classic that it is.
The first era of Elle’s wardrobe is her true personality shining through her clothing choices. She wears a lot of pink, which quickly becomes the color associated with her character. Her style during this era was the embodiment of early 2000s style. She keeps her feminine side present in all of her outfits by wearing mainly dresses. These dresses are also typically halter dresses, once again to embody the time periods staple pieces. In one scene we see her and Bruiser wearing a matching cloud print, made specifically for the movie. This understated cloud print is meant to symbolize the hope she has for her upcoming date with Warner where she believes he will propose.
The crushing of these dreams leads us into the next era of her style. After discovering that Warner is looking for a serious girl, Elle decides to push herself to get into Harvard Law. During this time she is completely focused on her studies. We see that she swaps her extravagant outfits for a “uniform”. This uniform consists of jeans and a simple yet stylish top. This, we can infer, is because she is too busy focusing on classes and studying for the LSATs that she cannot dedicate time to looking over the top.
Luckily, the studying pays off and she makes it into Harvard Law. What, like it’s hard? This is where we see her third style evolution. She begins to dress how she thinks Warner would like his future wife to look. She wears more muted colors, yet they still have some color to it. This is a period of time where we see Elle wear very little pink (very out of place for her character). While she is dressed more professionally than her typical style, she still stands out from the Harvard crowd. Most other students are wearing very muted browns, grays and blacks. Their outfits are typically very plain, in order to let the main character shine through and show the audience that Elle is still the same over the top girl underneath.
The next transformation is when we see Elle in her most bland and professional outfits. Bland is a bit of an exaggeration because she still manages to be extremely put together and stylish while interning at Cahill’s law firm. She wears mainly black and white with some brown thrown in. This period of time is when we see that Elle is the furthest from her true personality, and that is reflected in these dark and simple outfits. Her outfits still show us that she is incredibly stylish, but she is trying hard to blend in. Her final transformation is back into her true self as she realizes she does not need to pretend to be someone else to be successful and to be taken seriously. We see the transformation begin as she bursts into the courtroom to overtake Cahill’s position in a stunning pink dress. Elle’s statement made with this outfit that no matter how feminine someone may like to dress or act, they are capable of doing great things.