Friends ran for 10 seasons from 1994 to 2004. Its finale in 2004 was the most watched television finale of the 2000s with 52 million American viewers tuning in. Set in New York City and revolving around the lives of 6 tight knit friends, the beloved show has gone down as one of the greatest of all time with a cast who all became huge stars, and Jennifer Aniston in particular becoming a fashion icon. Aniston's character, Rachel Green, worked in fashion, so she was naturally the style star of the show. The show transformed simple, everyday items of clothing into iconic, era-defining looks. Costume designer Debra McGuire refused free designer duds because she wanted everything to remain true to the show’s vision. If she accepted something for free, she wouldn’t be at liberty to cut the sleeves off if she wanted to. She sourced approximately 75 costumes every week.
"I wanted the six of them, that were together most of the time in the space, to look really amazing together," McGuire says. She created aspirational looks that still resonate today. She specifically wanted it to have a very New York feel and definitely not look like Los Angeles where they were filming. This was achieved by incorporating a base palette of black, white and grey underlying every character and then building on top of that. Debra also wanted to avoid too much denim and plain t-shirt looks.
“They were also meant to each occupy a distinct place on a preppy-to-hippie spectrum, with Chandler at one end and Phoebe at the other," says Saul Austerlitz, author of ‘Generation Friends’.
There was wardrobe jokes in almost every script. Ross’ leather pants and the time Joey put on all of Chandler's clothes at once are good examples.
The latter was actually one garment you walked into- it opened at the back. Balenciaga were inspired by this to create a parka for their 2018 winter collection.
Debra worked on the 1999 series Freaks and Geeks while Friends was still running. She went on to design for a host of other comedy films in the 2000s and worked with Jennifer Aniston again on The Morning Show, Wanderlust and Murder Mystery 2, as well as with Courtney Cox on Scream 4.
Below, we have styled some looks from our sales stock based on each characters' style and done a quick breakdown of each of their overall wardrobe.
Rachel Green
Palette: Rachel liked muted greens and blues with her grey, black and white base.
Rachel had a radical character arc throughout the show, starting off as a spoilt rich girl, then striving for independence as a waitress, then working in retail at Bloomingdale’s before graduating to becoming a Ralph Lauren buyer. Costume designer Debra McGuire says that “the level of sophistication kind of starts to change" as Rachel progresses and comes into her own. Her look is professional and chic, wearing pant suits and mini skirt suits or separates to work.
Debra became friends with the girls at Juicy Couture and used a lot of their cropped tees on Rachel for her casual looks.
The strapless yellow IDOL label dress Rachel wore in season 5 got a big response from viewers and fans still email Debra all the time wanting to buy it.
Monica Geller
Palette: Burgundy and red, as well as plenty of black, white and grey.
Monica’s look was “under the radar cool”. It was very clean, sleek, minimalist and understated. Despite costume designer Debra McGuire wanting to avoid too much denim, Monica was often seen in straight leg jeans. She teamed these with camisole tops, crisp shirts and various solid or striped sweaters and snazzy jackets. She also had a lot of cute button up dresses and mini skirts. Her style has stood the test of time the best out of all the characters and would be seen as fashionable by 2020s standards.
Pheobe Buffay
Palette: Lots of purples and yellows but also pink, blue, orange and green. She was a fan of colour!
Pheobe’s look was the most visually dynamic of the bunch. She mixed florals with other feminine patterns on sheer, flowy unstructured pieces for a contemporary bohemian feel. She wore a lot of slim cardigans or twin sets with maxi skirts.
Debra McGuire bought a lot of things for Phoebe at IDOL while she was in London filming the episode in which Ross gets married.
Chandler Bing
Chandler had the most interesting style of the guys. At the beginning, we saw him in a lot of vintage clothes including shirts, ties and tweed jackets. Costume designer Debra McGuire made shirts with racing stripes down the side, which were inspired by what her dad wore in the 40s. Companies started doing that retro look afterwards and she was able to outsource going forward as time would not allow her to build much from scratch as the series went on. Later on, McGuire also created a number of vintage-looking T-shirts inspired by thrift store rummages. She made them herself to avoid copyright infringement, which she had encountered while working on Freaks and Geeks. Chandler is famous for his sweater vests worn over oversized button-up shirts. He also wore layered t-shirts or sweatshirts that could be tucked into jeans or khaki pants.
Joey Tribbiani
As an unemployed actor, Joey didn’t have much money. However, he is actually wearing an Armani leather blazer in the very first episode. Costume designer Debra McGuire beat it up so no one could tell it was Armani after the thrift store jackets she tried just didn’t work.
Joey’s costumes are big on texture, incorporating chenille sweaters and other knits in a soft palette. However, he also is somewhat reminiscent of a 1950s greaser in many outfits; wearing jeans, white or black tees and the aforementioned leather jackets. Perhaps an allusion to his acting aspirations in admiration of James Dean.
Ross Geller
Often cited as the worst dressed character, Ross was dressed appropriately as a professor in preppy suits and ties, corduroy trousers and tweed blazers with patched elbows for an east coast academic aesthetic. For casual wear, he often sported button-up shirts worn with t-shirts underneath and a pair of khakis. He also had a penchant for V-neck slim sweaters. Overall, it comes off as a little geeky (he wasn’t a style leader) although he did pull out some sleeker turtleneck sweater and leather jackets ensembles too, especially in later seasons.
Visit our Pinterest board to see more inspiration for the looks we put together.
Shop our 90s vintage HERE and our 00s vintage HERE to get your own Friends inspired looks together!