21/100: How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003)
Knicks merch, diamonds, and the 2000's Chill Girl Industrial Complex
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003)
Costumes by: Karen Patch
Directed by: Donald Petrie
This movie may be for you if: your dream job was ever an early 2000’s journalist, you’d probably get on the back of young Matthew McConaughey’s, motorcycle, and you’ve wanted that yellow dress for 23 years.
Where to watch: Paramount+, available for rent on Prime Video
Kate Hudson stars as Andie Anderson, a young New York journalist fighting for respect at a magazine that’s clearly supposed to be Cosmo, alongside Matthew Matthew McConaughey as hotshot marketing executive Benjamin Barry. Costume designer Karen Patch relied on a lot of contemporary designer pieces to create the stylish world of young New York industry types of 2003.
“I wanted to use various designers to make it more real,” she told InStyle, opting to pull pieces for wardrobe instead of designing the looks herself. Patch’s take on the stylish young early 2000’s Manhattan journalist included labels like YSL, Prada, Marni and Marc Jacobs. Professional Andie wears mostly neutral colors like grey and white, while her friends and coworkers often appear in more colorful or accessorized looks.
As the story progresses, the costume design in How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days was used to create a visible divide between the “real” Andie and the “fake” Andie. The real Andie was the ultimate 2000’s Cool Girl - she takes huge bites of food, she wears crop tops with no bra, she actually likes sports (wow!), and she was so over writing about unserious women stuff. Her professional wardrobe is sleek but understated designer looks, while her off-duty dressing is laid back and sporty.
The fake version of Andie was demanding, emotional, and exceedingly feminine. Her outfits are clearly supposed to be deeply unsexy: flouncy dresses, kitschy prints, no visible midriff. Her intentionally unappealing persona wears a lot of retro-inspired cuts, like a sort of modest housewife style that the audience is intended to find off-putting for a hot 23-year-old.
“Evil” Andie was obviously played up for laughs, an over-the-top caricature of baby voices and crying, but the stereotypes are a little sad when you realize they’re only half-satirical. When she isn’t just behaving completely erratically, her crimes against sexiness included vegetarianism, When Harry Met Sally, and stuffed animals. In 2003, being deemed desirable as a straight woman really did mean eating meat and pretending to like shit you thought was stupid.
I’ve accidentally been on a 2000’s movie kick for the 100 Fashion Films Project, the timing driven by cultural relevance: last month marked the release of the long-awaited Devil Wears Prada sequel, and today marks the first day of the Knick’s first NBA Finals since 1999. I am very much not a sports girl, but I do love New York, and I’m always happy for a reason for my city to celebrate! This felt like the perfect time to discuss a fashion film that famously featured a faux Knicks NBA Final, with cute Y2K Knicks merch to boot.
The “real” Andie is a huge basketball fan, a not-like-other-girls trait that comes with highly coveted finals tickets and a perfectly worn-in Knicks jersey. In a later scene between Ben and the “real” Andie, her facade slips as further evidenced by a black Knicks hoodie.
Of course, the basketball merch isn’t the reason this movie actually makes the cut. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days earned a spot on the 100 Fashion Films Project for a very different look.
