Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Lois & Clark Lois Lane's outfits

I just feel like Lois had more attractive, more feminine outfits in S1 and S2. In S3 and S4 they started sticking her into these unflattering pantsuits and there were no more harem costumes with 7 veils, cocktail dresses, and sexy yellow-chicken outfits. What gives?!

It's like when Lois and Clark got together, Lois just started to dress LIKE Clark instead or FOR Clark. T_T

Lois's outfits for S1 and S2 were some of the nicest classic office outfits I've ever seen. I've had a good number of them copied for me to wear (I teach in a university). I also liked the whimsicality of her costumes for the first two seasons. I really admired how she could do a lot of amazing things in these knockout professional outfits AND HEELS! i know -- major suspension of disbelief but it IS a show, and aesthetics counts for a lot! T_T

Ooh, and I liked the first wedding dress better than the second. I was groaning at the little bow on the veil that came with the second dress.

Off-topic: I liked Clark's country-gent tux in the first wedding better too, but that's a whole other thread.

Have to say I wholly agree. I thought she was perky and cute in the early episodes. Some of the things they stuck her in in later seasons had me cringing. That white pants suit - urgh. And that Annie Hall homage in...gosh darn it, I'm so appalling at episode names these days...the man's suit with the tie. What episode was that? That's going to bug me all day now.

LabRat

You think that's bothersome? My boyfriend made me a look-book (like a photo album?) featuring all of Lois's outfits from Seasons 1-4 so I can give them to my seamstress friend and she said, "Wow... she went from pretty to handsome, didn't she?" Needless to say, only the S1 - S2 outfits got made for me to wear. lol.

I don't remember it exactly, but for some reason I think it was the episode where Lois gets Clark's powers and becomes UltraWoman. I always thought they put her in the suit with the tie so they could play off Clark's gesture of removing his tie when he wanted to be Superman.

So... he's going off to do something Super, so he starts by fiddling with his tie... now Lois has his powers, so she has to remove her tie.

That's my opinion, anyway.

Agree with you that the man's suit on Lois was not flattering.

Aha. You know, now that you mention, it, Iolan, I think you're right. And that makes absolute sense.

Still looks awful, but at least they had a plot reason for it. <G>

LabRat

The irony is, that after spending five years observing journalists as an employee at one of the nation's biggest newspapers ... reporters really don't dress like Lois or Clark, unless they have a specific reason, like a meeting with the governor or Bill Gates, or something involving the state legislature.

Otherwise, they generally wear sweaters, slacks, sometimes jeans, and this one guy wears these terrible Hawaiian shirts that remind me of Ralph. The only women who dressed like Lois were the VERY high-up editors, one who was the second-in-command of the paper, and the other being the editor in charge of hiring and recruitment. They wore suits, blazers, tailored stuff, etc. Heck, I think I'm the only copy editor to have worn heels on a regular basis in YEARS.

That being said, I think Lois' look evolved with her standing at the paper. She was a badass in Season 1, but being 26, she hadn't been at The Planet THAT LONG (assuming she graduated from college when she was 22, since she was a Libra), so in four years, she definitely had made some inroads, but I can see the reporters with more seniority thinking she was a tad overzealous -- and got lucky a lot of the time with stories.

Lois called herself a senior reporter, but really, at a paper that big, there's no way someone who had been there four years would be a senior reporter. Ace reporter, yes. Senior reporter, no. I think she tossed that term around with Clark just to ensure he was aware of his standing -- under her.

Furthermore, it was emphasized that Lois was the better reporter, but Clark was the better writer, so as a team, she probably began to earn respect for her work. (And the fact that Clark didn't put up with her crap -- and yet still was able to work with her -- probably helped her reputation in the newsroom, too.) As time passed, they became a formidable duo, and she began to dress the part of a more respected, conservative journalist.

Some of her clothes in the first season looked young, like she hadn't cultivated her own professional image yet, and while she had some absolutely gorgeous suits in the second season, some of the skirts would get an eyebrow raised in most professional settings because they were so short. One thing to be considered is that maybe Lois dressed a little sexier back then -- even subconsciously -- because she was trying to get Superman's attention.

As a whole, I think Lois dressed really well. I can think of outfits in all four seasons that I absolutely loved. I have a pair of strappy heels just like the ones she wore in the opening scenes of Lucky Leon -- and the blisters to prove it.

What might also be a factor is changing attitudes and fashions. Remember we're back a fair number of years here and what was acceptable then might not be now and vice versa.

I never knew any reporters back then, but I knew a lot of professional office workers - PAs and managers etc - who wore skirts as short as Lois's - it seemed to be pretty much the uniform back then. I definitely have a memory of it being fairly common among female professionals.

So perhaps that's something else that factors into it.

LabRat

This is very true. Skirts in the mid-90s were on the shorter side, whereas in the last few years, knee-length has been more the norm. It's all about the evolution of fashion.

And speaking of, I have a book that came out when L&C was on the air about TV fashion, and Teri (and Lois) got VERY high marks for her wardrobe on the show, especially fourth season, when the colors she wore were particularly flattering.

Let us not forget that TV shows have to satisfy an audience as well as fit in with the situations in the show. A lot of viewers (myself included - hey, I was in 6th or 7th grade when the show began!) watched due to the sexiness of the two stars.

Clark got to wear the Superman suit regularly, which was revealing in its own right. With a few exceptions in which she wears gowns or disguises, Lois is usually seen in her "work" apparel. Yes, shorter skirts may have been "not work appropriate," but I think the show's wardrobe department was likely trying to satisfy us at home. :p

Wanda's right on the money. It was a show. Aesthetics would have been the name of the game.

But 3rd season... puke. I guess it was mainly the Argh but that orange jump suit thing and some other things Clois wore...ugh. /shudders

@steph: yeah, the outfits on S3 were cringe-worthy. Especially Lois's. Her S1 and S2 outfits were the absolute best!

Third season started off with a huge fashion flub, (that godawful silver lame' suit she wore with the skinny red belt) and didn't get any better. She just looked so classic and timeless in the outfits from the first two seasons. After that it seemed they wanted her to be "trendy". Which honestly, I can't see Lois taking the time to be. I definitely think she'd be too busy to read the fashion pages and spend hours shopping....I feel she would buy more staple pieces that she could wear for many years.

Yeah. And it's canon that she hates shopping.

Hi! I'm new on the boards.... just recently rediscovered Lois and Clark and now can't get enough! Anyway, has anyone noticed how Lois wears more Superman blue and red as her relationship with Clark becomes more serious, especially as Season 2 into Season 3 progresses? They may not always be the best outfits, but I definitely think there is a correlation between her relationship with Clark and these choices of colors.... Now the question is, should it be considered subconscious? She continues this trend after she discovers his secret. (I particularly remember the light blue silky suit with the thin red belt; hideous, but interesting in this context...) Maybe it's a way of quietly voicing her loyalties? What do you think?

Hi! I'm new on the boards.... just recently rediscovered Lois and Clark and now can't get enough!

> congratulations on becoming a FoLC (friend of Lois and Clark), and welcome to the boards!

Anyway, has anyone noticed how Lois wears more Superman blue and red as her relationship with Clark becomes more serious, especially as Season 2 into Season 3 progresses? They may not always be the best outfits, but I definitely think there is a correlation between her relationship with Clark and these choices of colors....

> I haven't noticed that. Just noted that the outfits really really sucked.

Now the question is, should it be considered subconscious? She continues this trend after she discovers his secret. (I particularly remember the light blue silky suit with the thin red belt; hideous, but interesting in this context...) Maybe it's a way of quietly voicing her loyalties? What do you think?

> It could very well be. Thing is, I was thinking that she should have dressed FOR Clark after the revelation instead of LIKE him.

LOL good point... maybe that's what they were getting at with the subtle Superman colors... they just missed the mark on style.