Style Analysis: Alaska Young, from Looking For Alaska

*This is an unpublished article to showcase my content writing skills, with no affiliation to IndieWIRE.*

Alaska Young's suitcase is a time capsule from the 70's. She absorbs the signature styles of her mother's own teens, foreshadowing her old soul that will never reach outward adulthood.

She wears meager crop tops to ease the Alabaman heatwave, written so well in the book, you can feel the sun's fever through the page. A pair of weathered Vans. Her choker, strung of olive beads. Bell bottom pants. Blazers. She muddles vintage with early 2000's casual wear, dunking you in nostalgia for a hop, skip, and a coming–of–age ago.

John Greene's writing summoned fresh fanfare with this 8–episode show. It came out fall 2019 but is set in a boarding school in 2005, same year the book was published. As author of Looking For Alaska, John and the producers worked together to channel the source material's mood into film. They looked through those lichen–green eyes, into her labyrinth. They went psychic, styling characters just like those I saw in my mind while finishing the paperback in a single, hypnotized afternoon.

Mini–series costume designer, Matthew Simonelli shopped secondhand for most of what Kristin Froseth wore as Alaska, the way her character would have; he says, "I wanted Alaska to have a sophisticated thrift shop appeal compared to the other kids at Culver..she has an eye for special pieces, and a fearlessness about standing out."

Brandy Melville Laura Halter Top

Miles's first sight of Alaska— she's in this sun and sky striped halter, high–rise trousers, and lugging a liquor crate to her car christened 'Blue Citrus'. She's wearing it as she buries strawberry wine in the woods for safekeeping.

She has the pair above, Alice McCall Bluesy Jeans, and another in apricot, (an untraceable brand).

Alaska plucked this frock from Pelham Thrift while finding formal wear for Chip aka. "The Colonel"(played by Denny Love), with Miles(Charlie Plummer) and Takumi(Jay Lee).

That's Vans Old Skool shoe. The tangible theology, the girlishness of down–to–earth shoes with angelic gowns equals a style trope that tugs me in every time.

This kimono appears right before a tense event in the season, the evening Alaska is accused of snitching. She's all dressed up, a summer night wrapped in a damsel. Wind chime earrings, black skirt threaded with tinsel, like streaking stars, her sleeves swooning like curtains in an open window.

It's from Free People, the Nightbird Burnout Kimono.

Cool, plummy tones are her color.

The eve of Thanksgiving— Alaska and Miles have Culver Creek almost all to themselves. She wears this lace–detailed chemise while they wander campus.

If this were not an untraceable thrift find, it would be in my closet.

The cloth is like spying a cornucopia through a kaleidoscope, with American Indigenous motifs that are a feast for the eyes. Her teeny earrings match. She wears this dress during the Thanksgiving supper she helps Chip's mom serve. It's my favorite fit, mixed with my favorite segment of the show: Alaska tastes family life, even a morsel of mothering since loss, over slices of sweet potato pie.

An heirloom item, worn by the late Mrs. Young. Debbie, sewn in cursive over her collarbone. Kristin and the cast loved the varsity jacket. According to Simonelli, it was one of the most asked–for mementos when the show ended. To Alaska, this mahogany coat feels like the closest thing to a last hug from her mother.

Looking for Alaska, PDF now free on Archive.org 🌱