Legally Blonde Pink Dress And Fashion Review

The film, Legally Blonde, was released over twenty years ago, and today is remembered not only as one of the best rom coms from the early 2000s but it also stands as an influential moment in pop culture fashion history. Today, when we think of “style icons” we may think of social media influencers, celebrities, or someone in our own real lives. Before the age of social media however, many of the most iconic fashionistas were fictional characters, such as our girl, Elle Woods.

Elle Woods is an incredibly loveable and fashionable character. Throughout the movie Legally Blonde, she is on a mission to not only prove herself but also prove to the world that beauty and brains are not mutually exclusive. From the outside looking in, Elle Woods appears like any other Malibu Barbie or “dumb blonde.” As the movie goes on, the audience and those around her soon realize she is so much more than what she looks like, which only goes to show that you really should never judge a book by its cover.

Let’s take a deeper look into the movie Legally Blonde, and see the role fashion plays in telling the story.

We can’t begin talking about the fashion moments in Legally Blonde, without highlighting Elle’s signature color: PINK. Every color has a science and symbolism behind it. Blue is often a tranquil calming color, yellow is associated with bright happiness, green represents good luck and nature, and pink represents tenderness, acceptance, and femininity, all qualities that directly correlate with Elle Woods as a person. In fashion, the color pink has been regaining much popularity as recent trends like Barbie Core have surfaced in pop culture.

Throughout the film Elle Woods rocks numerous pink outfits (which we will get into later) but would you believe that at one point, pink was almost NOT going to be Elle’s signature color. According to the film’s costume designer Sophie de Rakoff, at first they began to question the choice and asked themselves “Do we really want it to be pink? It's so on the nose. It's so feminine. Could we do lavender? Could we do light blue? Is there another color that we could do?” After their field research of real life sorority women however, the costuming team came to the conclusion that no other color could truly embody Elle Woods like pink.

If you for whatever reason have not seen this iconic film, here is a run down of the plot and also how fashion plays a large role in the storytelling of the movie. We are first introduced to our queen and style icon Elle Woods (played by Reese Witherspoon) when she receives an invitation to date from her longtime boyfriend, Warner Huntington III. Thinking that this date could be the date where he pops the question, Elle and her besties quickly make their way to the mall to find an engagement outfit and choose a pink halter cocktail dress.

For any young ladies that are or or hoping to be engaged, your engagement outfit is an important outfit! Elle made a point to pair this memorable moment with an outfit that is just as memorable. Unfortunately however, this night is memorable for less than ideal reasons…

Later that evening, Elle’s date takes a turn for the worst and rather than getting engaged, Elle gets dumped as Warner shares he wants to date someone more “serious.” This is the first (and unfortunately not the last) moment when Elle is put down for how she appears on the outside rather than judging her for what she has from within.

After struggling to get over her heartbreak, Elle comes to the realization that in order to be considered more “serious” she should follow Warner to law school, and not just any law school, Harvard Law School. (“What, like it’s hard?”) After months of preparation, studying, a hilarious video personal essay, and passing her LSAT with flying colors, Elle gets into Harvard.

On her move in day at Harvard, Elle arrives at the school dressed in a hot pink, pleather, two-piece outfit. Right off the bat, she brushes off the many remarks and cat calls she receives while moving onto campus. This marks strike two of Elle once again being judged for her femininity and sense of style.

Elle’s first day of law school is one of the first times in the movie we see her not wearing pink. In an effort to dress the part of a lawyer, Elle arrives at school in a teal-ish blue sweater, pencil skirt and of course her black rectangular glasses that scream “I’m an intellectual.” Unfortunately, Elle does show up to class unprepared, receives little to no sympathy from her professor and classmates, and ends up getting kicked out of her first class.

This scene and the few following Elle realizes that getting into law school was one challenge to overcome, and proving her value, intelligence, and worth was a whole other battle. After being humiliated in class and later at a small get-together where she is tricked into arriving in a bunny costume, a flip switches and a fire ignites in Elle as she sets out to show those around her just how determined and capable she truly is.

As Elle begins excelling in her classes, she is one of the lucky few chosen to intern on a very high profile case. The style she embodies at this point in the film is classy, serious, lawyer vibes. Elle Woods walked so the ever so trendy #BossBabe power suits of today could RUN! At this point, Elle’s outfit is stripped of the bright colors she dawned earlier in the film, but the silhouette is still very feminine and chic. Unfortunately however, even though she has proven herself through her studies, her outfits, and her overall demeanor, her intellect and character are still put to question by those around her. After a very inappropriate exchange from her Professor, Elle almost decides to give up and call it quits to law school. Luckily, her female professor (yes the same one who kicked her out earlier) talks her out of it.

The final courtroom scene is one of the most iconic moments in the film. It’s the moment where Elle comes to show your looks don’t define you and that she is so much more than she appears. Elle struts into the courtroom dress head to toe in once again, her signature color, pink. This outfit is the perfect combination of Elle’s earlier feminine fashion and the serious lawyer style she adopts in the movie. This is the scene where everyone literally has that “OMG” moment as Elle proves that she really is a force to reckon with. Elle gets back at the man who took advantage of her (her professor) by kicking him off the legal team and also gets back at the man who broke her heart (Warner) by dumping him on the steps of the courthouse. Elle is an icon, she’s a legend, and in this scene specifically, she truly is the moment.