PicoBlog

[This post contains discussion of suicide and sexual assault.]

Of all the Gossip Girl characters, Lily Rhodes has the most consistent style and the least consistent surname. For this piece, I chose to use her maiden name rather than one of the three married names (van der Woodsen, Bass, and Humphrey) that she uses during the series, not only because it was simplest but also because, at her core, Lily is a Rhodes: always in pursuit of the perfect exterior, even when the interior is crumbling. Her style, both on her body and in her penthouse, is her way of choosing the image she wants to project; the only time her wardrobe noticeably varies is in season one, when she frequently visits her old love, Rufus Humphrey, in Brooklyn.

Throughout the series, Lily’s style is grounded by tasteful, unquestionable pieces: She loves pairing a tailored jacket or blazer with a pencil skirt or dark-wash jeans, often with a bow blouse underneath (think Jackie Onassis, book editor). Satin is her favorite fabric, and turquoise is her favorite gemstone. Lily usually wears a statement necklace or earrings, though rarely both; a statement necklace is often accompanied by a pair of not-too-big diamond solitaires. She carries a classic luxury bag: an Hermès Kelly or Birkin in a neutral color. (Her actress, Kelly Rutherford, is a collector and used many of her own pieces on set.) Lily is even absent for an entire episode (4.21) because she is bidding on a vintage Birkin on eBay.

Still, the most important—though latest emerging—piece in Lily’s wardrobe is the “Lily dress”: a day dress, always fitted but never tight, short, or low-cut. She plays with “new colors, a new silhouette” (“5 Years of Iconic Style”), but the fundamental idea is the same: her dress says, “I am a woman of infinite, unshakable taste” and “I have other things to do.” The Lily dress evokes other wealthy, image-conscious women and their go-to pieces: in reality, Anna Wintour’s printed day dresses; in fiction, Emily Gilmore’s suits.

In total, Lily’s wardrobe pieces are meant to create an image of refinement, elegance, and grace. “[Lily is] so graceful,” says producer Joshua Safran. “That’s the word that always comes to mind. . . . She can just walk into a room and float through it. . . . She really is like Grace Kelly” (“5 Years”). More specifically, Lily embodies one of Kelly’s most iconic roles, Lisa Carol Fremont in Rear Window, “the Lisa Fremont,” Jimmy Stewart’s character says, “who never wears the same dress twice.” As the movie’s costume designer, Edith Head, explains in Deborah Nadoolman Landis’s Dressed:

Hitchcock told me it was important that Grace’s clothes help to establish some of the conflict in the story. She was to be the typical sophisticated society-girl magazine editor who falls in love with a scruffy photographer. . . . Hitch wanted her to look like a piece of Dresden china, something slightly untouchable.

Sub “musician” for “photographer” and you have the persistent conflict of Lily Rhodes. She is an Upper East Side WASP in love with a Brooklyn former rock star. She adores the trappings of an artsy, unconventional lifestyle when wrapped in the privileges of whiteness and money, and she will never relinquish the latter for the former. Take, for example, her penthouse—filled with expensive art, a Prada Marfa sign not far from a statue of Buddha. Considering Lily has never spoken of practicing Buddhism, I can only assume that she sees the statue as another piece of art, an emblem of her nonconformity amid her conformist life.

But let’s go back to season one, when the penthouse was being renovated and Lily and her children, Serena and Eric van der Woodsen, were living in the Palace. Like her temporary home, there was a certain transiency to Lily’s style then, an adaptability, an ease, that was lost in later seasons, as she became not just a Bass or a Humphrey but truly a Rhodes.

Season One

Lily first appears at the Waldorf party, where Serena finds her after returning home from boarding school; unbeknownst to the rest of the party, her little brother, Eric, is living at the Ostroff Center following a suicide attempt.

Lily wears a little black dress paired with diamond jewelry: earrings and a pendant necklace. The diamonds are classic Lily, symbolic of a woman known for regular engagements and marriages. The dress, however, has a similar neckline to the black dress Jenny Humphrey makes for the Kiss on the Lips party; significant, as it was Serena who told Jenny the dress would look better in black. Perhaps her advice was inspired by the most sophisticated Upper East Side woman she knows: her mother.

Serena is going to a Lincoln Hawk concert with Dan, the son of Lily’s former love and Lincoln Hawk lead singer, Rufus. When Lily visits Rufus’s Brooklyn gallery to warn him off, he remarks, “Are you shopping for some art to match your furniture?” (Stunningly accurate, as her first line in the series is “I don’t care if it’s Murakami. It clashes with my sofa.”)

In the scene, Lily mixes Upper East Side with Brooklyn: a gold scarf and trench, a brown Birkin, paired with jeans and a white cami. The juxtaposition is perfect for the scene, which lays out Lily’s dating history: after Rufus, she moved on to Trent Reznor and other musicians, then “switched up rock stars for billionaires.”  

In episode two, we learn which billionaire: Bart Bass, the father of Chuck Bass and seemingly the richest real estate developer in Manhattan. Lily wants Bart to date her exclusively, and when she tells him so, she wears a little cream jacket with a jeweled collar, a pair of small, tasteful diamond studs. The jeweled collar becomes a Lily staple as the series continues: built into her wardrobe, just like her wealth and position.

By episode five, another signature Lily outfit emerges: a cream blazer over a green bow blouse, dark-wash jeans with an Hermès belt, and, of course, small diamond studs. She goes on a shopping spree to “think”: both Serena and Eric want Eric to come home from the center, but Lily isn’t ready yet.

That evening, Blair and Jenny break Eric out of the center, but Lily believes Serena is responsible. Because Lily insisted that Serena swap her brown hobo bag for a black purse, leaving her phone behind, she has no way of contacting her daughter and turns to Rufus for help.

For her visit to the Humphrey loft, she trades her blazer and blouse for a quilted leather jacket and gray T-shirt, her brown Birkin still swung over her arm. Since her gallery drop-in, she has grown even more comfortable in Rufus’s world, with his leather jackets and T-shirts; her necklace even looks like a (hawk?) feather. She tells Rufus about the Ostroff Center and Eric’s suicide attempt, information she hasn’t admitted to anyone outside her family, even Bart. By the time she returns to Manhattan and checks Eric out of the center, she has become a softer, more Humphrey-like parent, at least for now.

In episode seven, the gray T-shirt returns, this time paired with a camel trench, jeans, and diamond studs. A mistaken Chuck tells Lily that Bart is still dating other women on the side, and so she goes to the gallery to see Rufus. Unlucky for Lily, Jenny is just about to bring her mother, Alison, home from Hudson, and Rufus and Lily’s emerging relationship will be put on hold for Rufus and Alison’s last stab at saving their marriage. (Spoiler: it’s not successful.)

Lily’s mother, CeCe Rhodes, makes her first appearance in episode ten, her society-matron special (pale blue suit, draped scarf, large pearl studs, and half updo) contrasting with Lily’s simple gray sheath, brown Hermès belt and bag, gold studs, and loose hair. CeCe, the chair emeritus of cotillion, wants Serena to make her debut; once she reveals to Lily that she’s ill, Lily insists upon it, much to Serena’s chagrin.

CeCe doesn’t think Dan is a suitable escort for Serena, having, many years before, “told Lily to choose between [Rufus] and her inheritance.” Lily chose her inheritance, believing her mother “knew who [she] was much better than [she] knew [herself].” Two decades later, Lily is still following her mother’s advice, even rewriting Serena’s statement to conform to high society’s expectations.

At cotillion, CeCe is dressed in a black suit, trimmed in gold to match her granddaughter’s gown; pearls on her ears and neck. Lily wears a low-cut black gown and diamond studs, her pearl lariat covering her exposed breastbone and echoing her mother’s taste in jewelry. Unlike CeCe, she wears no gold, her costume mirroring the story line: Serena believes, initially, that her grandmother is on her side, that her mother only cares about her daughter’s reflection on herself. While the latter is often true, Lily didn’t master image from just anyone: her mother, after all, complains of having to clean up the Rhodes family name after Lily’s rock-and-roll exploits.

But here’s a love interest CeCe can approve of: on Christmas Day, Bart proposes to Lily, but Lily, still in love with Rufus, decides to run away with him instead (1.12). When packing jeans and gray tops for their weekend getaway, she wears an eggplant-colored blouse, her first lively color in weeks, a sign of her renewed happiness. Serena, however, is not jazzed by the idea of one day becoming her boyfriend’s stepsister and asks her mother to prioritize her daughter’s feelings. Lily agrees, and at the end of the episode, she celebrates her acceptance of Bart’s proposal in a mournful black blouse, pearl drops, much like CeCe’s, in her ears.

As the season continues, Lily begins her self-imposed march of wedding planning, dressed in various shades of black, white, and gray—a color she once wore when visiting Rufus, now sad and drab. Then, in episode sixteen, her wardrobe explodes into color: Rufus, seeking guidance on Jenny’s rebellion, accompanies Lily to her dress fitting, even helps her clasp a diamond bracelet. Beside him, she seems more relaxed, vibrant, forgoing her usual careful coordination: a tan-and-black jacket over a floral-printed yellow-and-white blouse, tucked into a green pencil skirt.

For a family dinner, perhaps buoyed by her successful parenting advice and interaction with Rufus, Lily chooses a bright-blue sheath with Van Cleef & Arpels earrings and a black Hermès belt. Her high, however, is cut short: When Eric is outed by Georgina, Lily reacts poorly and turns to Rufus for his own advice. At the end of the episode, she apologizes to Eric, and you know what, it’s actually quite sweet. 

The next episode (1.17), Lily is back to black for the rehearsal dinner; to her, it’s a funeral, both to her own happiness and Serena’s reputation. She continues her newfound appreciation for Van Cleef’s Alhambra jewelry, pairing her black dress with an earring and necklace set. (The Alhambra line is inspired by the four-leaf clover, so Lily obviously thinks she needs some luck.) 

Earlier that day, Lily discovers what she thinks is a sex tape of Serena, then confronts her at the dinner, furious that her daughter has gone far beyond her old partying ways. “I always knew you had a wild side,” Lily tells Serena, “but how can you look at yourself? What have you become?” There’s pain in her words, a remembrance of her own wild-child, rock-and-roll days, her one true love, all pushed aside for her Upper East Side life. One wonders if Lily can look at herself, if she longs to remind Serena that she gave up her own happiness for a teenage relationship that’s now irreparably damaged.

Later, Lily is told the true story behind the tape and helps Serena come to terms with what happened, then takes her to find Dan at a Lincoln Hawk concert. Naturally, she sees Rufus there, and they sleep together.

The next morning, she almost breaks her engagement to Bart while wearing her first real Lily dress: a coral A-line number with diamond studs and a clear beaded necklace. Bart uses an extended real-estate metaphor to ask Lily to “let go” of Rufus, and she agrees. The bold color may signal her happiness with Rufus, but the silhouette and the statement jewelry show that she’ll soon leave him behind for her new life as a billionaire’s wife.

At the wedding, Rufus appears in Lily’s dressing room, fastens the same diamond bracelet she tried a few episodes before. He is prepared to help her call off the wedding, but Lily isn’t. They part ways, and Lily walks down the aisle in a strapless Vera Wang gown, one side blooming fabric flowers. In addition to the bracelet, she wears a diamond necklace and diamond flower earrings, orchids in her hair. She is embracing being Lily, or whoever she thinks that will be; if she doesn’t have romance, she’ll create it with as many flowers as possible.

Season Two

Lily is absent for the first few episodes of season two, returning in episode four from a vacation with Bart. She and Bart must’ve swung by Tiffany, because her diamond studs are noticeably bigger, a little more ostentatious: perfect for the new wife of New York’s most moneyed new money. 

Unfortunately, her new diamonds are not big enough to fill her loneliness. Lily stops by the gallery, having traded her studs for a turquoise Van Cleef set, worn with a floral blouse, dark-wash jeans, and a Kelly bag. Like her outfits from the last few episodes of season one, the look is composed of her usual classic pieces, infused with bright color.

Lily and Rufus see a movie together, but by the end of the episode, Rufus has put a stop to her attempt at “friendship.” “You made a choice to be Mrs. Bass,” he says. “You need to go do that.” In this scene, Lily wears a black dress and her new diamond studs, a callback to the mournful color of her rehearsal dinner look.

By the next episode, Lily returns to vibrant color and an attempt at married life. Lily’s art dealer, Bex, says that Bart has found and purchased a (presumably nude) Mapplethorpe photograph of Lily that she’s been trying to buy. Lily finds the gesture terribly romantic: “That is the kind of husband I’ve always wanted.” She dresses up for him: a purple cocktail dress (purple, as we learn in season three, is Bart’s favorite color) and her larger diamond studs.

Bart presents her with a different, unexpected gift: a honking diamond-and-emerald necklace. Apparently the Bass men’s go-to romantic gesture is a giant, expensive necklace, but unlike Blair’s birthday gift from Chuck in season one, this necklace doesn’t work with Lily’s neckline. Rather, the necklace is almost tie-shaped, evoking Bart’s favorite look.

Turns out, Bart bought the Mapplethorpe to “protect” their family after hiring a PI to investigate Lily’s past. Lily demands to see her file. “I may have concealed things in the past,” she says, “but not anymore. I want my children to know their mother.” She is taking a bold step, choosing to unearth her history after years of burying it to maintain her perfect image.

Bart counters with a mysterious document: “Is this something you’d want your kids to know?” Guess not, because by the end of the episode, Bart is clasping his present around Lily’s neck, the gems brushing awkwardly against her dress.

In episode seven, the Basses throw a party, Lily in a bright red dress with matching flower earrings. She looks more undone than she ever has: her chignon is messy; her dress is draped awkwardly and rumpled. Her lack of control in her wardrobe reflects the story line: Serena is rebelling against Bart and Lily’s new rules, ruining the party by bad-mouthing Lily to, um, InStyle. (I love InStyle, but Serena, a celebrity fashion magazine is not about to run some exposé on your wealthy family.)

Serena leaves the party and runs into Dan. “You ever think that your mom acts like she’s perfect,” he says, “because she’s too ashamed to acknowledge how far from it she’s really been?” Duh, Dan! And with that, Serena returns to the now-over party, where she and her mother make up, and everyone sits around the coffee table and eats cake.

On Thanksgiving (2.11), however, Lily is drawn back into the Humphrey orbit, again counseling Rufus on Jenny’s rebellion. Throughout the episode, she imitates the Humphrey neutral color palette, in this scene wearing a brown coat with the Van Cleef earrings she wore last season, when she was again falling back into Rufus’s family life. She also carries the brown Birkin from 1.5, when she visited the loft. Then, she was worried about Eric, and this time, Rufus is worried about Jenny. Lily and her children ultimately celebrate Thanksgiving at the Humphreys, having found Bart’s files on Serena and Eric.

Lily continues to shut Bart out until just before the Snowflake Ball (2.12); he apologizes and tells her he’s fired his PI. Though her coat and scarf are black, her bow blouse is purple, much like the dress she wore when she saw her own file. She’s still carrying his betrayal, but there’s a glimmer of acquiescence, a desire, perhaps, to return to something moneyed and known, rather than face another divorce and the unknown with Rufus.  

Lily decides to attend the Snowflake Ball with Bart but soon discovers that he hasn’t fired his PI. She cancels their plan and goes alone, wearing a white gown. The look is intentionally bridal: she pairs the dress with her wedding bracelet and diamond earrings that contain subtle flowers. Before Bart’s lie, the outfit symbolizes her willingness to return to him, to recommit to their marriage, but after, it reminds the viewer of the day when Rufus appeared in her bridal dressing room and helped fasten the very same bracelet. This time, she’s not leaving Rufus behind.

Unfortunately, she loses them both—Bart to a car accident and Rufus to a secret, revealed by CeCe: before Serena or Dan were born, Lily gave up her and Rufus’s child for adoption. Through the next few episodes, Lily largely wears black, out of mourning for the two men. After Rufus and Lily learn the fate of their son from his adoptive parents, they reunite, and Lily’s wardrobe slowly regains color.

As the season continues, we get fewer full looks from Lily; Kelly Rutherford was pregnant during filming, and so many of her outfits are designed to draw the viewer’s eye away from her growing belly: big scarves and coats, giant necklaces and earrings, even strategically placed handbags.

Then there’s a whole story line where Lily adopts her stepson, Chuck, and he stops her sexual assault by Bart’s brother, Jack. The show, per usual, does very little to examine this assault’s effect on Lily; she tells Rufus that she’s “okay” the next day, just as Jenny did to Dan. Rather, Lily’s assault is meant to redeem Chuck from his own assaults. By the transitive property, stopping someone’s rape forgives your attempted rapes!

In episode twenty-one, Lily attends the Waldorf-Rose Passover Seder, wearing a purple satin blouse, massive beaded necklace, and citrine earrings. There, she tells Serena of her college acceptance: “I could never think of you as a bad person. . . . You got into Brown.” Lily’s love for Serena, as seen in episode 1.17, is conditional on her daughter’s public image and meeting of certain milestones—in this case, acceptance to Lily’s Ivy League alma mater.

Lily seems to believe she is free-spirited (She went to Brown! She’s dating a former rock star!), but in reality, she has rigid expectations for herself and her children. Her image of herself, and of her rekindled relationship with Rufus, is best reflected by her increasing employment of minerals and “semiprecious” stones. The most notable, particularly season three onward, is turquoise, a gem long used by non-European cultures, including some southwestern indigenous tribes, and later appropriated by white counterculture types—hippies, artists, and musicians alike—as a symbol of their nonconformity. Like the Buddha in her penthouse, Lily’s jewelry says, “She’s not like these other rich white people. She’s a cool rich white person.”

Though Serena also wears turquoise jewelry, Lily gives her diamonds instead, in the form of her great-grandmother’s bracelet (2.23): “Serena,” Lily says, “you’re becoming a wonderful woman, and I want you to have something that represents that.” In this scene, their outfits mirror each other—shawl collars, cream tones, long necklaces—a symmetry that will soon be broken by Lily’s realization that her daughter, in fact, is not perfect. Serena’s boyfriend and her former friend have scammed Lily’s circle with a fake investment scheme, and Lily tries to set it right by quietly paying everyone, including Rufus, back with her own money. Otherwise, she tells Serena, “All anyone will think when they hear the name ‘Serena van der Woodsen’ is how you helped scam your friends and family out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.” When her daughter pushes back, Lily reports the bracelet missing and has Serena arrested, then refuses to bail her out as punishment.  

Rufus decides to propose to Lily with a vintage ring—one that any regular viewer can tell is not Lily’s taste—but forgoes the proposal once he learns of Lily’s payback plan and Serena’s orchestrated arrest. Lily wears a brown sweater and necklace, fully committed to the Humphrey palette, but it’s not enough to convince Rufus. “This is the only way I could protect her,” she tells him, “from creating a scandal, from ruining her future and everything she’s worked for, [from] embarrassing me.”

“You just sounded exactly like your mother,” he replies.

The next episode explores this idea further: “Valley Girls” was a back-door pilot for a Gossip Girl spin-off about eighties-era Lily. The new series was never picked up, but the episode does give us greater insight into teenage Lily’s style: When we first see her, she is extremely preppy and coordinated, dressed in a tweed blazer, pastel argyle sweater and pants, and pearls. Even later, when she visits her estranged sister, Carol, and borrows her dress, she still wears it with gobs of pearls, tying her and her sister back to their pearl-loving mother. After both sisters are arrested, CeCe tells Lily, “If I was a better mother, I’d leave you in [jail]. . . . Lily, the hopes and dreams I have for you. An Ivy League education, life on the Upper East Side, married to the richest man in Manhattan.” Bingo!

By the end of the episode, thanks to the sepia-toned flashbacks, Lily has confronted her mother and apologized to Rufus: “CeCe’s never going to change, Lil,” Rufus says. “But you still can.” The season ends with Rufus finally proposing, this time with a Lincoln Hawk wristband; Lily accepts.

[Look out for part two, covering season three onward, this evening.]

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