Twenty years ago, Fox’s teen drama, The O.C. premiered. Feel old yet? The premise now feels familiar: A down-on-his-luck teenager, Ryan Atwood (Ben McKenzie), attempts to assimilate into the rich Orange County, California lifestyle after he is taken in by the wealthy Cohen family. In 2003, The O.C. was a complete phenomenon—the cast became stars, California culture became cool, and Death Cab for Cutie became a fixture on emo playlists.
It also had a huge impact on fashion at the time. Watching it as a teenager, I desperately wanted Marissa Cooper’s (Mischa Barton) low-slung Marc Jacobs skirts and to have a Seth Cohen–esque (Adam Brody) boyfriend who wore Paul Frank tees. It impacted my personal style so greatly at the time, I tested out velvet blazers, skinny scarves, and even a truly dreadful newsboy cap. But tendrils of The O.C.’s style still linger in my wardrobe today—mostly as a penchant for flats and Converse as an alternative to the heels that I still can’t maneuver in.
Through Marissa’s effortless cool-girl style, Summer Roberts’s (Rachel Bilson’s) California boho chic, Ryan’s utilitarian uniform, and Seth’s indie dream-boy quirkiness, The O.C. helped make high/low outfits, the aforementioned flats, and Marc Jacobs trendy. Now, with early aughts fashion coming back in fashion, Gen Z and TikTok creators are discovering the aesthetic anew. Below, the three women behind the costumes of The O.C. discuss its impact on fashion, their experiences on the show, and what trends should stay in 2003.
Season 1: Alexandra Welker
While Welker had worked on many films before The O.C., she had never done costumes for television. She got the chance to create the blueprint of Ryan, Marissa, Seth, and Summer’s style, and she was heavily influenced by California—obviously. “It’s funny to think about now, but at the time, California culture had not created popular culture. And I think The O.C. really had a lot to do with that certainly with music and clothes and so forth,” Welker says.
When beginning to think about what Ryan and Seth would wear, Welker was inspired by skate and surf culture. She was not interested in having them wear the baggy styles of the time, so she tailored all their clothes for a slimmer silhouette and bought quite a bit of vintage. She saw Ryan’s now-infamous white tank top and leather jacket combo as his “armor”—something that would give him the illusion of a cool bad boy and show that he is not to be messed with.
As for his choker, that was all Welker. “I had dated a lot of musicians and I had a couple of boyfriends who would do a guitar string and a piece of rawhide and something else around the wrist, and boom, they suddenly had some cool-looking bracelet. I had been wearing that rawhide around for a few days to soften it up. It was going to be a bracelet, and then at the last moment I decided he needed a necklace.”
Seth was a bit of “an old Jewish man” on the inside, according to Welker. She bought a lot of vintage for his slimmer fit and put him in brighter colors to counter Ryan’s neutrals. Seth’s Chrismukkah sweaters were also vintage, and inspired by Welker’s own love of ugly Christmas sweaters. “That sweater was great because it was weird enough, but it wasn’t horribly ugly, and it wasn’t like a kitten with jingle bells attached to it. It had some dignity.” She put Seth in many Paul Frank shirts because she had become friendly with the guys through a friend when the company was just getting started—starting the great graphic tee boom of the aughts.
When Seth and Summer finally get together during season one, it’s clear that Summer slowly adopts Seth’s graphic T-shirt habit. “I wanted to get her a little more on Seth’s wavelength while still being true to Summer,” Welker says. But as Summer evolves from quintessential Southern California beach girl into the most intelligent presence on the show, Welker got to have even more fun with her clothing. “I always had this idea that Summer’s approach to clothing was very playful and costume-y, and that she was trying out different looks. I loved when they went to Palm Springs, and it was very 1960s Joan Didion–inspired.”
Marissa’s style was the opposite of Summer’s.“Marissa out of the gate was supposed to be the golden girl. But one of the reasons Ryan is attracted to her is—even though she’s wrestling with her problems—she’s still this individualist with good taste in music and books that everybody’s surprised by. She’s a trendsetter quietly rather than a trend follower.” Welker liked Marc Jacobs and flat shoes, so Marissa became known for those items. But it was also practical, since Barton, who played Marissa, was taller than everyone else.
Marissa is supposed to be effortless and have a rich air about her. Hence the Chanel bags (many of which were fake in season one) and other designer mentions. Two of Marissa’s best dresses from season one show how the series’ fashion influence grew. A metallic Missoni minidress in episode 10 was likely bought at, as Welker says, a “deep sale price.” But when the show became a hit, designers started calling her. So in episode 13, Marissa dons a gray Chanel fall 2003 dress with white paillettes.
While Welker may be too humble to label herself as a trendsetter, I’m not. She still loves the shrunken jackets that she put Marissa in, but she does not like that the exposed thong of the time is worming its way back into fashion. She laughs, “Nobody needs that.”
Season 2: Karla Stevens
Going into season two, The O.C. was a bonafide success. Welker had decided to leave the show to go back to working on film. Her successor was Karla Stevens, an assistant during season one.
With the popularity of the show, Stevens was able as she describes to really “lean into the fashion of it all.” That even included a trip to help launch an affordable clothing line inspired by the show which was sold on The O.C. Insider, a fan site where Stevens also had a fashion blog.
At the end of season one, Ryan goes back to Chino, but he returns to the Cohens and Marissa. To show Ryan’s assimilation into Newport, Stevens brightened up his color palette and made sure his now infamous choker was gone for good. With the introduction of Trey—Ryan’s brother, played by Logan Marshall Green—they were able to dip a bit more into the bad-boy pool. Stevens says, “They’re both bad boys, but you just have to differentiate them a little bit. [For Trey] it was the white tank top and the shirt over it open and like the jeans with like, you know, the badass belt.”
Stevens got to morph Julie Cooper’s (Melinda Clarke) style a bit to reflect her new social status. Marissa’s mom married Caleb Nichol (Alan Dale) swathed in Vera Wang at the end of season one, and in episode two, she’s back and wearing a fabulous black Dior bikini with gold studding. There was supposed to be another element to the already memorable outfit, Stevens says. “I tried in that moment to put a gold turban on her. It would’ve been fabulous. But that was the one time that Josh [Schwartz, the creator] put his foot down and said, ‘absolutely not.’”
Both Marissa and Summer’s respective styles develop throughout season two, and are especially impacted by who they date. At the beginning of season two, Summer is dating Zach (Michael Cassidy), a popular guy at school. Her style leaned more boho chic then. She mentions Summer’s baby blue winter dance dress with silver sequins in episode five as an all-time favorite (it’s one of mine too) and is “99 percent sure it was Marc Jacobs.”
One of the series most memorable love interests is Alex (Olivia Wilde) who first dates Seth and then Marissa. Stevens got to create wardrobes for multiple new characters in season two, but dressing Alex was the most fun. “Gwen Stefani would’ve been my inspiration for her,” Stevens said. “It was the hollaback time and very edgy, with the tank tops and the platinum blonde hair.”
Alex was also the manager of The Bait Shop, a music venue where bands like The Killers and Modest Mouse played. Stevens says this also allowed her to give everyone a bit more of a rock edge since it was the new spot where they hung out. So Marissa added a lot more skinny scarves and band tees to her wardrobe.
The end of season two—when Marissa shoots Trey soundtracked by Imogen Heap’s “Hide and Seek”—was an enormous cultural moment to the point that Saturday Night Live parodied the scene. Stevens was meticulous when it came to the outfits for that scene. “She was trying to help him, so we dressed her in Chuck Taylors according to that, a real difference to her otherwise normal Prada and Chanel flats. I do remember now, choosing the blood orangey/red sweater as a subtle forewarning as to what was to come. I also specifically put a cream waffle on Logan Marshall Green under his short sleeve blue Dickies shirt, to ensure the blood of the gun shot would read immediately for the audience.”
In the scene, Marissa is wearing low-rise jeans—a trend that Stevens describes as “wicked” . But she’d love to see scarves come back, which Marissa and Alex both don frequently. Stevens ended up leaving after season two, but describes it as a highlight of her career.
Seasons 3 and 4: Robin Lewis West
For seasons three and four, in came Robin Lewis West. She knew the production designer on The O.C., and had just done Gilmore Girls, so she went straight from Rory and Lorelai to Ryan and Marissa.
Lewis West didn’t need to do too much to the guys’ style. Ryan was less of a bad boy since he fit into the Newport world now. And while Seth’s style didn’t change much, Lewis West says that Adam Brody was by far the most invested in the costume design for the character out of the cast. “He just wanted to wear things that are really slim fitting, before anybody else.”
By the end of the series, Lewis West says they had their choice for the women’s wardrobes. “By the time I got there, they were sending us stuff. We were getting sent Chanel bags to borrow, not to keep, and Dior bags. Also, we were sent stuff from Lamb and from Burning Torch. That was the most I’ve ever seen that on a show before.” Despite the bigger budget, Lewis West still sourced vintage Jessica McClintock dresses for Summer’s boho chic look. For Marissa, she used lots of wide belts and camisoles, although she laughs thinking about long camisoles worn over jeans today.
Season three ended, shockingly, with Marissa dying in a car accident. Lewis West still has the cream colored, silk Theory camisole that Marissa died in. “Somehow I ended up with one of them in my stuff. So I thought, ‘Well, I should just keep this in case anybody ever needs it for a museum.’”
Moving into the final season, Lewis West got to dress the new characters who became main players after Marissa’s death. She particularly loved dressing Taylor Townsend (Autumn Reeser) because her style was so different from the other women’s. “Cute, preppy, little pleated skirts, argyle sweaters tied around her neck. She’s like a country club, beachy-type gal with money.”
As the characters grow up and start college, we see their style mature. Especially Summer, who went to Brown University and got into environmentalism. “She was wearing that T-shirt that said ‘More Trees, Less Bush.’ There was a little tree on it…that was just a little phase.” One of Summer’s most memorable looks throughout the The O.C. is what she wears to marry Seth in the series finale. Lewis West designed the dress, and she remembers the day well. “It was so cold that day, and the girls all had shawls for something warm. You see her dress, but you don t really see the bridesmaids as well in that, because I do remember it was so cold that day, I thought, ‘Oh, we re not even seeing those dresses.’”
The O.C.’s infamous choker is something that Lewis West doesn’t want to see coming back, alongside capri pants. She could see a camisole comeback, but “maybe not over jeans anymore.”
