Episode Synopsis: Over four seasons, Gossip Girl has developed a fairly successful formula that the producers have exploited to an inch of its life until we’re all a little sick of seeing the same tired tropes. This week, however, they tried to reinvent the formula—not so much that we could skip the Big Party, but small steps, yes?
Lily leaned so hard on her inner bitch that Rufus might have finally had enough. He even ventured out of the penthouse without his mistress. Serena (as usual) fell for her latest temporary male co-star, but said guest star insisted he didn’t care for her blond bombshell-ness. Blair predictably owned the snappy comeback, but she had to share the limelight with both her new boss, Epperly, and her fellow intern, Dan. Dan did underestimate Blair, as per usual, but instead of staying on his skyscraper-high horse, this time he actually waved the white flag. Chuck's still cornering the market on condoms, but this time it seemed to all be for a good cause. Nate looked as lost as ever—a few confused, hurt looks summoned for the Captain’s betrayal as he spent his whole day playing pool.
Lily reaches a new low (or is it a new high?) this week. I think she needs to simply embrace her manipulative, controlling self and stop pretending that this has anything to do with wanting the best for her children. Has she forgotten about the years spent cavorting with a Conga line of Klauses?
I think this ensemble portends rather strongly in that direction.
Rufus has to know that when his wife shows up to breakfast wearing a jacket made entirely of silver sequins, he’s in for a rough day. If this jacket had been made of a different fabric, I would have liked it better.
The bow belt is cute and her dull silver slacks aren’t so terrible. But the inappropriateness of wearing an entirely sequined jacket during the day kills the entire outfit completely.
Rufus, I can’t believe that I actually miss your rock ‘n roll, lumberjack-inspired ensembles, but I find I prefer them vastly to these UES Stepford Husband coordinated shirts and cashmere sweaters. They don’t look bad on him exactly, but they aren’t him at all.
This suit with an open collared shirt that he wears to the party that night is a slight improvement. He even goes as far as to claim that he needs some time away from his vindictive bitch-wife. Or maybe he just has a headache after looking at those blinding silver sequins all day.
Rufus actually looks rather dashing here—I’m not sure what the proper color of his shirt because of the poor lighting, but I love the slate gray pinstripes of the suit. It fits him flawlessly and his hair even looks better.
It isn’t until the next day that we finally see Rufus break from his wife’s pernicious influence and also from her ironclad control of his wardrobe.
Is it coincidence that this is the most Rufus-like that Mr. Lily Bass has looked in months? I say no. Love the olive green military jacket, and the casual gray sweater. Plus his hair finally is rumpled enough for me to believe he’s been out walking in Brooklyn like the Rufus of old.
Pobre Eric. . .not only is he lonely and single and both his mother and sister are unbearable, he wears pants like this:
Clearly he only looked in the mirror from the waist up.
If you’re a male on the Upper East Side and you’ve got a yen to wear the ubiquitous collared shirt and sweater combination, this is the way to do it. Love the shoulder detailing on the sweater, the color is gorgeous on him, and the shades in the plaid shirt complement it beautifully.
I even love this jacket—even more than I love the fact that Eric might finally be getting a juicy storyline.
For the W party, Eric pairs a neutral shirt with a black suit and a black skinny tie.
It’s a classic, fairly uncomplicated look but he pulls it off so well. You can really begin to tell he’s the son of Lily and brother to Serena, because the boy works the shit out of everything he wears.
Eric’s ex-boyfriend Jonathan, makes a reapparance. Is it just me or has he fugged it up? That hair cut is truly unfortunate.
Not only does the hair make me sad, his clothes are literally putting me to sleep. Eric, trust me, you’re better off without this loser.
This isn’t much better. Uptight businessman isn’t what a boy as young as Jonathan should be leaning towards. That tie looks like he might have bought it in a yard sale when the Captain went under.
Damien, Eric’s new “friend”, makes his second appearance this season and I have to admit, his smarmy, Euro-trash machinations are actually growing on me. Or maybe it’s his ultra-sexy wardrobe? Hard to say.
Love the varied grays he has going on—all that gray could be boring—but the sleek simplicity and ultra-modern cut of the separate pieces make the outfit more than just the sum of its parts. Nevermind that the gray shirt fitted to his muscular physique is definitely a mark in the plus column.
For the Party du Jour, Damian changes into a gray suit with what initially looks like a matching gray shirt.
However, it’s not gray, but a deep slate blue that looks amazing on him.
I like that Damian might have more to offer than just being one of your Gossip Girl sub-standard villains, and he’s definitely dressing like it.
Ben, however, is another story entirely. Typically GG doesn’t exactly reside in reality, but I appreciate how they dressed Ben Donovan in clothes that he might have been able to get his hands on once he was out of prison. They’re don’t fit quite right, and aren’t very flattering, though he’s still handsome enough to tempt Serena (of course).
Really, if anyone is allowed to wear plaid, it’s Ben. An appropriate look for someone who probably doesn’t have a lot of clothes that aren’t orange jumpsuits.
This suit doesn’t fit right at all, and it’s definitely more wrinkled than it should be—but then, why would a halfway house have an tailor on retainer? A few vagaries of dress have to be forgiven when it comes to our dear ex-convict Ben, and Serena seems to be more than ready to do so. Ben, however, maintains that he isn’t interested. But tell me, does this look like the face of an uninvolved man?
But tell me, does this look like the face of an uninvolved man?
Nope. That’s the face of a man in the midst of a Serena-cane. It’s too bad, really, because it would have been brilliant to see one man able to resist our dear blonde Barbie.
Jen live-tweeted during the episode that Serena had fallen so low that she’d finally worn Fair Isle mesh.
I have to admit, I went into this episode expecting the outfit to be awful. Was it? Well, under any sort of normal circumstances, yes, but under Serena circumstances, I actually didn’t think it was too bad. It definitely has a lot of interest and it does what so little manages to do—cover Serena and her assets up.
Serena wears it with her typical too-short skirt, but she pairs it with opaque black tights that make her look vastly more respectable than usual.
When she goes to visit Ben, Serena pulls on a dark charcoal coat with a lighter gray chenille scarf and a bright purple python bag that I’d love to borrow (or steal).
After dressing so circumspectly all day, Serena’s ladybits are feeling clausterphobic, so it’s time to let them out again at night.
Actually, I want to hate this dress, but I just can’t.
She just looks too damn good in it. Bella remarked in her "School Lies" retro recap that Serena’s “color” is gold, and here she pairs it to perfection with the form-fitting, but still classy black chiffon dress.
Admittedly, those side cutouts are a little odd looking, and I’m not entirely sure what that tumor-like item is growing out of her halter top—but overall, for Serena eveningwear, this is downright lovely and classy. I especially adore her styling. The earrings are simple but work perfectly with the dress, and even her hair and makeup look nice. S should really wear her hair up more often; she has gorgeous features and her typical windblown mane doesn’t do them justice.
Monday, February 7, 2011 at 6:38PM 
