Serena's Closet

After watching this week's (truly amazing) episode of Gossip Girl, I can't stop wondering a few things, but the most important two are could this show be anymore addicting and who has the amazing job of picking out Serena van der Woodsen's clothes?

While I don't know the answer to my first question, although I think the answer is no, I do know the answer to the second. The envied job of stylist on Gossip Girl belongs to Eric Daman, a former assistant of Patricia Field. This means that Daman also had the coveted job of helping to dress one of our other favorite skinny NY socialites with long blond wavy hair - Carrie Bradshaw on Sex and The City. Eric worked on SATC for seasons 2, 3, and 4 which gave us some of Carrie's best looks such as:

Looks seen in episodes : (l to r) Top Row: The Real Me (2001), La Douleur Exquise! (1999), The Chicken Dance(1999); Bottom Row: Time and Punishment (2001), Ghost Town (2001), and Was It Good For You? (1999).

While Gossip Girl may have the same low style retention rate as Sex and The City, Daman says, "we were [in] New York and it was Sarah Jessica -- something would be in one minute, and one show later it wasn't," he has given Serena a different look than Carrie. There are striking similarites - their ability to throw anything on and look fabulous, to mix and match high and low fashion, vintage and couture, and their penchant for amazing designer accessories and shoes a la Fendi, Manolo, and Gucci to name a few - but Serena is more casual and conservative than Carrie (meaning we probably won't be seeing her in a bare midriff anytime soon), although she also knows how to push the envelope like Carrie (like when she wore just a long t-shirt to Blair's birthday party).

Looks seen in episodes: (l to r) Top Row: The Wild Brunch (2007), A Thin Line Between Chuck and Nate (2008), A Thin Line Between Chuck and Nate (2008); Bottowm Row: Blair Waldorf Must Pie! (2007)Bad News Blair (2007), Pilot (2007), Pilot (2007).

About dressing Serena on Gossip Girl Daman has said "I feed off of the East Coast socialites -- Tinsley Mortimer, Lydia Hearst. They're different than the L.A. girls, more cutting-edge. They go after the up-and-coming designers, like Alexander Wang and Vena Cava. Of course, you mix that up with the bigger houses like Chanel and Ferragamo, but these debs are getting the newest stuff all the time. It's all still very Upper East Side-y, but just not old fogy socialite-y." In addition to the East Coast influence, Serena's style seems similar to that of Kate Moss as well - lots of layering and somewhat of a rocker chick meets couture look.

For those FB&F girls who are a little more fabulous than flat broke, you can follow Daman's lead and shop like the socialites on Gossip Girl "often skipping Fifth Avenue for New York's Meatpacking District and such stores as Opening Ceremony, Jeffrey and Stella McCartney."

Special Note: Eric Daman quotes are pulled from Ginny Chien's article "Primetime Couture" from L.A. Times August 8th, 2007; picutres courtesy of CW.com and HBO.com