Binge Worthy Fashion: Midge Maisel from “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”

Today is the sixth and final blog post in my Binge Worthy Fashion series, and I’m featuring the hilarious and insanely stylish Miriam, or Midge for short, from the Amazon Prime show “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”. I arguably saved the best fashion for last because not only are Midge’s outfits fabulous, but they’re also retro and the epitome of 1950s chic. You know I love a good vintage outfit, and even independent of the fashion, the show is amazing. Read on to find out why I love it!

The Show

“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” first aired in 2017 and there are three seasons so far, all available on Amazon Prime (I can’t wait for Season 4 to come out at some point in the unforeseeable future). The show takes place in the late 1950s/early 1960s and features Midge Maisel, who seemingly has the perfect life: Living with her husband and two children in the most amazing apartment in New York City, wearing all the best clothing, and eating allll the brisket (you’ll get it once you watch the show). BUT THEN Midge’s husband suddenly decides to leave her. And what does one do when your husband has an affair? Why naturally, you decide to become a stand-up comedian—duh! So the show follows Midge’s journey as she navigates single life and pursues a career in the male-dominated world of stand-up comedy.

Not only is the show (and Midge, played by Rachel Brosnahan) absolutely hilarious, but the story also has some heartfelt moments and even some real-life people sprinkled throughout the storyline, like comedian Lenny Bruce. Oh, and did I mention Midge’s hysterical manager who everyone thinks is a man? Listen closely to her voice… You may recognize her as Lois from “Family Guy”. Anyway, all of the characters in the show (especially her dad) add some laughs to the series, and I often find myself noticing similarities between her family and mine, or even between her and myself.

I first heard about the show during the fall of my freshman year of college, when a professor asked me if I had heard of it and I said no. Well, the show remained unwatched until almost a year and a half later until, of course, quarantine came around. My dad and I were browsing for our next series to keep us occupied during dinner, and we stumbled across “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”, which he had heard of and wanted to see. Needless to say, after only one episode, we were absolutely hooked. I must warn you that it can be a little inappropriate, but honestly what isn’t these days? Watching it is 100% worth the scandal.

The Style

Midge’s style is what retro dreams are made of. Her outfits are always extremely put-together and perfectly feminine, whether they include an amazing hat, a boldly colored overcoat, matching gloves, or all three. Since it’s the late 1950s/early 1960s, the styles and silhouettes Midge wears includes fit and flare dresses, high waisted pants, sheath/fitted dresses, modest necklines, t-length/midi dresses, bows, wide belts, and buttons. Oh, the gorgeous, big, retro buttons (I’ve got all the heart eyes over here). And the hats! Seriously, her hat collection is amazing, albeit, sometimes her head pieces are a little weird. In modern times, her hats make her look either like British royalty or like she’s going to the Kentucky Derby every day. Nonetheless, I so wish women still wore gloves and hats! I think they’re so pretty and chic.

Beyond the quintessential 50s/60s matchy-matchy style and accessories, I love Midge’s outfits because of her color combinations. She pairs colors in such unique and unexpected ways! (And by she, I mean her costume designer.) I get so much inspiration from her as she often pairs shades together that I would never think to combine, like a light olive green with lavender, for example. As my dad likes to say, she creates “slant rhymes” with color, meaning that the colors don’t exactly match but somehow still seem to go together. You can check out the entire Pinterest board I dedicated to Midge Maisel and 1950s/60s style to see some of her amazing looks.

Beyond just her outfits, I find Midge very inspiring because she knows what she wants and goes after it. While her personality would probably be a bit much in person, she is so confident and brave that she’ll just march up to whomever and make stuff happen. I love that about her! And as I’ve said on the blog before, I’m sure her fab outfits help with that confidence.

The Re-Creation

I had to get a little creative with Midge’s outfit since, you know, it’s not the 1960s anymore, and most of my clothes are modern and/or comparably immodest. Unfortunately, I did not have an amazing hat to wear with this outfit. It’s a real bummer, I know. But sometimes, with her more casual outfits, Midge wears a headband instead, so I opted for a hair scarf and left the ends hanging over my shoulder (seems 60s-ish, even if it’s not Midge’s style exactly).

I knew I wouldn’t be able to make the hat-part of Midge’s style a reality for this outfit, so instead I focused on creating an interesting color combo, which, naturally, started with these gloves. My grandma gave me this green purse, matching gloves, and matching shoes for my 16^th birthday. They belonged to her back in the day, and she wore them in the 50s and 60s! She was extremely stylish, just like Midge, so I’m glad I was able to incorporate such special pieces into my outfit.

After picking light green as one of my colors, I browsed my closet for the perfect dress, looking for something retro-esque in a bold color that had a longer hemline. While I have some other dresses in my closet that are arguably more fitting for the time period, all of those dresses were dark/neutral colors. Midge wears so many bright and fun colored pieces that I had to find something to mimic that. I ultimately decided on this gingham sheath dress that touches my knee and has a high neckline. While I’m not entirely sure how retro this style of dress really is (the neckline, mostly), it felt the most “Midge” out of the pieces in my closet. I threw on a thick navy belt with big retro buttons, which also belonged to my grandma, to spice up the dress a little. While you can’t see the green heels very well in the grass, they are very tall. Dang, my grandma could rock a heel! Meanwhile I was over here hobbling through the grass as I tried to take these photos. I also didn’t have a chic and boldly colored overcoat to pair with this outfit, so I just decided this is Midge’s summer look, once it’s too hot for a coat. You make do with what you got, ya know?

For makeup, I kept it simple like Midge does—some mascara and a red lip. Rather than completely applying my red lipstick (which is a very bold, rich color), I put on some chapstick and then lightly dabbed the red lipstick around my lips. (The chapstick helps blend the lip color and make the dabs more even.) I finished it off my smearing my lips together. That way, the color was a lot softer and mimicked Midge’s more subdued red lip. While Midge has the cutest short hairstyle with big curls, I decided not to do a faux-bob hairstyle. I wanted to create a look that was more wearable and attainable, and I knew if I went all-out with the hairstyle, my outfit would become too costume-like. However, I think I might regret that decision because this outfit would’ve looked even cuter with big, short curls! But regardless, I opted for a low bun instead to keep my hair out of my face and make the outfit the star of the show. I also threw on some green/pink crystal clip-on earrings, again courtesy of my ever-so-stylish grandma. Voila! Midge Maisel, at your service.

Have you seen “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” before? I really can’t recommend it enough. It’s great for a laugh, is well written, has hilarious and dramatic characters, and of course, showcases the most amazing style. Sometimes you get a glimpse into Midge’s closet (hint: she has an entire separate bedroom dedicated to her clothing) and all I can do is swoon.

And lastly, would I actually wear this outfit? I think the headscarf and hair in general is a little much for the modern day. However, I think the dress, purse, earrings, and even gloves would make the prettiest brunch, Easter, or graduation guest outfit, especially if I left my long hair down and loosely curled. I have no shame trying to bring the glove trend back!

Binge Worthy Fashion: Mindy Lahiri from “The Mindy Project”

Binge Worthy Fashion: Jessica Day from “New Girl”

Binge Worthy Fashion: Jane Sloan from “The Bold Type”

Binge Worthy Fashion: The Ladies of “Riverdale”

Binge Worthy Fashion: Blair Waldorf from “Gossip Girl”

You can click above for the previous posts in this series, where fashion and binge worthy TV shows collide. I hope you enjoyed the series as much as I enjoyed making it, and I also hope that you found a new show or two to watch. Have a wonderful Monday, and stay tuned on WEDNESDAY for this week’s second blog post, rather than on Thursday (I’m collaborating with the Magnificent 8 again). Thanks for stopping by, and as Miss Susie always says before Midge goes on stage to perform, “Tits up!”

Miles of smiles,

Grace

Navy Gingham Dress: Banana Republic, $80 // Navy Belt: Hand-me-down // Green Purse: Hand-me-down // Green Gloves: Hand-me-down // Green Hair Scarf: Hand-me-down // Clip-On Earrings: Hand-me-down