A photo taken on the set of the new Gossip Girl series went viral last year, in part for its feeling of déjà vu. The scene was ripped from the original GG circa 2007: hot teens lounging on the steps of the Met, sipping coffee, trading gossip. But it also looked extremely 2021, with a more diverse cast and of-the-moment styling—knee-high boots, cycling shorts, chunky loafers—replacing the headbands and platform pumps of yore.
The image caught the attention of Monse’s Laura Kim and Fernando Garcia, who have remixed prep school icons in the past. But the Gossip Girl frenzy—coupled with a general post-pandemic urge for experimentation—pushed them to go bolder for fall 2021. Giant sweaters emblazoned with crests and symbols come with chewed-up, fraying edges; pleated skirts look like they’ve been unevenly shortened at home, a nod to Kim’s own habit of chopping up her high school uniforms; skirts have the trompe l’oeil effect of a blazer being wrapped around the waist; and tough leather jackets and leggings have sporty, adjustable white lacing up the sides.
It was a tough, punk-ish departure for Monse, mirroring the edgier Gen Z style of the show; in fact, eagle-eyed Gossip Girl viewers will spot many of these clothes on-screen. A few months ago, Kim and Garcia sent the samples to the show’s stylist, Eric Daman, and were happy to report he pulled several looks for the HBO Max series. The collaborative spirit coalesced on Wednesday in a joint event at the One Hotel in Brooklyn, kicking off with a Monse runway show and followed by the premiere of GG’s pilot. (The runway was also live-streamed in Times Square, if you happened to be in the area.)
Designers often cite movies or TV shows as inspiration, but it’s rarely a two-way conversation like this, nor with this sort of immediacy: The collection is available for pre-order on Monse’s website, shipping in the next two weeks. Wednesday’s event was just one glimpse of the collection, a moment in time like any runway show. But for Garcia and Kim, every Gossip Girl episode will be another opportunity to introduce Monse to people around the world. It’s a compelling model for our post-pandemic, digital-first era, where brands are in constant competition for page views and shoppers’ microscopic attention spans. GG fans who aspire to Julian’s look won’t need to scour the Internet or wait six months; they’ll go straight to Monse.
