Pretty Little Liars was a popular teen drama and mystery series that aired for seven seasons on ABC Family and then Freeform. It was incredibly popular during its entire run and truly helped kick-off the way social media and livetweeting would impact the future generation of celebrity and fan interaction during television season.
The show was also one of the most popular series on Freeform. Aside from the big mysteries on the show, another big aspect of the series was the fashion. Sometimes the fashion played a pivotal role in the plot and other times it just helped to highlight the differences between the girls. Here are some interesting costume details about the series!
Aria's Black Swan dress
One of the biggest theories from Pretty Little Liars was that Aria was secretly Big A all along. Marlene King, the series showrunner, purposely left tons of clues hinting at Aria potentially being A. Unfortunately, all the clues wound up being worthless but that doesn't mean it's not fun to look at past theories!
There was a lot to be said about Aria's masquerade ball dress from early in the series. King hinted her outfit would be important and we know the girls were looking for someone dressed as Black Swan. It wound up being Melissa but it cannot be denied that Aria's outfit was eerily similar to some alternative Black Swan cover art.
Emily channels Barbarella
Pretty Little Liars was known for going big in its Halloween episodes. The girls got to dress up as everything from Britney Spears to Queen Elizabeth over their seven years on the show. But one of the most standout costumes was easily Emily's Barbarella costume, based on the Jane Fonda film from 1968.
The costume stood out because Emily's fashion taste was changing quite a bit and it was a stark contrast from the early days where she was typically clad in more tomboy-like clothing. The costume itself was handmade and the outfit connected to the boots, says the designer herself in an interview with In Style.
Aria's love of lip prints and lightning bolts
Another one of the reasons many fans believe Aria might be A is because again, Marlene King tweeted out something that seemed to hint at her real identity. At one point, King tweeted out something as simple as a string of emojis with lip prints and lightning bolts.
The only character on the show who has worn clothes with those exact patterns is Aria. She once wore a shirt with lightning bolts on it and then in another episode, she wore a shirt with lip prints. King should have realized that eagle-eyed fans were always going to read into anything and everything she tweeted.
The girls often wear different brands of clothing
It's obvious that each of the main liars on the show have their own individual style of dress and fashion, but did you know they all typically wear different brands too? Some get their outfits from places like Zara and others from Forever 21 and more.
The large extent of places their costumes come from is too much to list and there is certainly some overlap but each of the characters has their own individualized sense of fashion that helps make each girl feel more realistic.
Emily's fashion sense evolved the most
All of the girls have had an evolving sense of fashion, the show does follow them from high school into their adult years, after all. As each girl matures and finds out who they are and what their career of choice will be, their fashion choices and clothing reflect that. Out of all the main characters, Emily Fields is easily one whose style has changed the most.
She's gone from wearing a lot of sporty clothing to reflect her original tomboy style to wearing something that is far more mature and even sexy. As Emily has come into her own in both her personality and sexuality, it has reflected in her clothing choices.
Usually, only the jewelry is custom-made
On a show like this where the clothes and outfits are so varied, you might expect that many of the outfits are custom-made, but that's typically not the case. The costume designers do take their time in looking for the perfect pieces to compile their outfits and they often do large shopping sprees to pull a ton of different choices, but typically they make things in-house or combine outfits.
It's not often that they order custom-made pieces due to the high price of doing so. However, there is an exception made for jewelry since there are several jewelry pieces that are important to the plot of the series. If something has to be custom-made, it's usually jewelry.
Daisy Buchanan hits the Halloween dance
During the same Halloween episode that Emily went as Barbarella, Aria dressed as Daisy Buchanan from 'The Great Gatsby'. It was pretty fitting of her character and the costume was exemplary.
According to the same interview with In Style we mentioned above, Aria's outfit was hand-beaded and came from a Sue Wong line of fashion. Apparently the entire outfit almost weighed more than Lucy Hale!
The actresses helped decide their costumes
You can't have a group of fashionable young girls without having actresses who are up to the part. The girls who were cast to play the leading roles, Shay Mitchell, Ashley Benson, Lucy Hale, and Troian Bellisario are all fashion icons in their own right.
Each girl has amassed millions of followers on social media during their time on the Freeform series and because of their own influential lives off-screen. As such, it makes sense that the girls were able to add their input to the costume selection process for their characters.
Aria has the edgiest fashion
Out of all the girls on the show, Aria easily has the edgiest fashion. This was most prevalent in the first season when she even had the pink streak in her hair to match her somewhat punk and rebel outfit choices.
This helped to set Aria apart from the other girls since she was the only one who had been living somewhere way off the grid before the series started and Aria and her family returned from Iceland.
Spencer's style is the most conservative
While Aria might have the edgiest fashion taste, Spencer definitely has the most conservative taste. Her clothing was often inspired by more subdued or bohemian outfits.
They somewhat reflect Troian's own taste. As the show continued, the costume designers were further influenced by the girl's real-life fashion choices and would combine those with their character's personalities to create unique looks.