The Most Stylish Teen Dramas Of All Time

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I can already tell, Cool Guy, that you’re trying to act like you’ve never watched any of these shows. But you're the one who clicked the link. If you’re not conversant in The O.C., now celebrating its 10th anniversary, what do you discuss with girls born in 1990? Scripted teen dramas encapsulate moments and trends better than any other genre because they’re marketed pretty much exclusively to teen girls, the mercury of what’s hip and terrible. But bad taste is the new good taste and every trend comes back around again, so let’s get prepped with the most stylish teen dramas of all time.

Angelo Spagnolo is a writer living in Portland, Oregon. Read his blog here and follow him on Twitter here.

1. teendramalead

2. 90210


Beverly Hills 90210

The grandaddy of them all. The show that inspired the ensemble teen drama trend in the first place by figuring out teenagers could be interesting if they were rich teenagers. Rich kids have better clothes than regular teens and the inadequacy felt by the viewership was key to getting kids to consume until they thought they were pretty enough. Spoiler alert: they never were.

3. dawson

Dawson's Creek

Alright man, I didn’t watch Dawson’s Creek. It was 1998. I was riding my bike or something then. I’m not a wiener. But the Dawson crew was so emblematic of the late '90s they were in an actual J.Crew catalog. Dawson’s Creek existed in the awkward transition from alterna-90s to Timberlake-fro-90s. A teen drama gets posthumous status points depending on if any of the cast members become actually famous, and Michelle Williams and Katie Holmes keep DC relevant.

4. degrassi

Degrassi

Look, I can’t pretend like I watched Degrassi either. Shit, I’m failing you. I may have caught a few episodes in between Daria reruns on The N, but I’m not intricately familiar with the show’s premise. However, I do respect the list of future teen drama stars that got their start on Degrassi. But it’s Canadian, and what is there to say about Canadian fashions? The only route to go is Drake jokes, but that would be insensitive. I’ll say this: Aubrey made the most of his unfortunate situation, keeping it comfy on the reg.

5. gossipgirl

Gossip Girl

Obviously, GG is the one shot on this that was most conscious of its own fashion sense. It centered on taste-making, teenage socialites. It was set on the upper east side (idk what that means, but it’s supposedly fancy or something). One of the characters was an established fashion designer, another her intern. (Yo, who is a real-life comparison for Eleanor Waldorf? Michael Kors? An older Tory Burch?) But obviously the show’s most flamboyant sartorialist was Chuck Bass, who women thought dressed well because women literally think any dude wearing a fucking tie is “very dapper.”

6. mysocalledlife

My So Called Life

See, here’s what it looks like when you have a show about middle class teens—very drab. But as far as accuracy goes, this show takes the cake. People actually looked like this. MSCL was noted for its dramatic accuracy. I’m not so sure about that, but the mom on this show was one of the most cunty teen drama parents of all-time. Unfortunately, like anything featuring Jared Leto, the show loses points for featuring Jared Leto.

7. onetreehill

One Tree Hill

The stylistic atrocities of One Tree Hill get a pass because it’s set in bumfuck North Carolina. One Tree Hill is the white trash cousin of network teen dramas. Yo, it’s hard out here for small town kids. The mall is all far and shit. I can relate. But one Tree Hill Raven found a way to stand out. Outspoken rebel Peyton, aka former MTV VJ contest winner Hillary Burton, was all up on SmartPunk.com, buying band tees and/or taking them off to make a political statement.

8. vmars

Veronica Mars

I’m weary to even include Veronica Mars because it was more than a teen drama. You know how to years ago your nerdy-cool friends were telling you to watch Party Down? Well that show has much of the same cast and crew as Veronica Mars, except V-Mars was way wittier and ultimately more compelling. Don’t let the CW stink deter you. The CW’s budget issues did reflect heavily in the show’s wardrobe, though—think early 2000s middle-school American Eagle. Shit was so bargain bin, one of the supposed wealthy kids drove an Xterra in an era when he would have had an H2 at the very least.

9. prettylittleliars

Pretty Little Liars

Pretty Little Liars is the most current show on this list. You’ll find the shows stars in all the teen fashion mags. (I stay relevant with the teen fashions, man. It’s my job?) The show makes a killing pumping Kohl’s brands like Bongo to teen girls and I’m not even mad at the hustle. Er’body need clothes.

10. skins

Skins

Like Veronica Mars, the first iteration or two of Skins is remarkable in the scope of recent television, not just teen drama. It was lauded for being one of the first accurate depictions of how cool kids actually live—sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll, etc. It was similarly accurate in portraying how completely fucking stupid teenagers can be when dressing themselves.

11. THEOC

The O.C.

The O.C. might be the apex of the teen drama dynastic cycle; the graduation cap on a stellar senior year known as the 1990s. The premise of Chino outlaws moving to rich and snobby Orange County played well into the show’s trend-setting styling. I didn’t know tough guys from Chino wore wife beaters and chokers, but in retrospect those are truly some inherently violent articles of clothing. And who can forget Seth, who pretty much dressed like your artsy introvert friends whose default style setting was “Weezer"? Happy 10th anniversary, guys. We miss you.

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