Gossip Girl for a New Generation: An Interview with Tyler McCall on the Series Revival
If you happened to find yourself in secondary school or university in the late 2000s and early 2010s, you undoubtedly heard of Gossip Girl --whether you liked it or not. Back in a world where social media was less of a fundamental right of a person’s life as it is today, blogs were the rule of thumb for those who started to discover the ever puzzling power of the internet. There was a blog for every particular person: for those who wanted to try new recipes, all things Disney, the fashion obsessed community, how to use your new flip phone, and of course for those who loved local, national, or international good old hot gossip.
In a scenario where paparazzi, tabloid magazines, and flaunting one’s wealth and celebrity culture are lodged themselves into popular knowledge, a new show popped up on The CW Network. The series Gossip Girl premiered in 2007 and followed the troubled and scandalous lives of rich teenagers from New York City’s Upper East Side as they face the mischievous activity of the Gossip Girl blog exposing their scandalous secrets. The show mirrored what the world was living at the time, including the boom of the internet and the sudden presence of digital surveillance. The series wrapped up in 2012 after 6 seasons, but the show is still remembered as one of the first contemporary productions to influence fashion trends for youth. How could we forget Blair’s headbands or Chanel ballerina pumps that sent many into a frenzy to have their own replicas? Or the heightened desirability of Serena’s massive monogrammatic Louis Vuitton bags? For those who started to explore their love for the fashion world as a kid, the series was the perfect way to venture into high end design. And now after almost a decade, the infamous, ever-present controversial blogger, or shall we say anonymous user, returns to a new era of social surveillance.
Developed by showrunner Joshua Safran, writer and executive producer on the original series, the new extension of the pop culture classic will take us back to the Upper East Side where a new generation of New York private school teens are being introduced to social surveillance nine years after the original blogger’s website went dark. The new series will explore just how much social media — and the landscape of New York itself — has changed in the intervening years. PILOT sat down with Gossip Girl Historian and Editor-in-Chief of Fashionista.com, Tyler McCall (@eiffeltyler), to remember the show's influence on the fashion world and to speculate about how the show’s second-coming will change the legacy of the original Gossip Girl which is as much questionable as it is cherished.
We know you will love our chat. XOXO.
Do you remember the first time you watched Gossip Girl?
It was something that everyone talked about back then; I was a senior in college so I was the age group the series aimed for. I remember sitting down with my friends to watch Gossip Girl because everyone would talk about it the next day. I remember the series being so insane and fun to watch.
We all know that Gossip Girl became famous not only because of its storyline but also because of the show’s sense of fashion of the late 2000s. What I like about your work on Instagram is that you post amazing details about both Blair and Serena’s outfits. How and why did you start doing it and how do you find details about fashion pieces from more than a decade ago?
When the show’s 10th anniversary happened in 2017 I interviewed Erick Damian, who did the costumes of the show, for a story for Fashionista. After that I started posting just for fun about my favourite pieces from Gossip Girl on Twitter and it did really well, people like it.
So I started doing Waldorf’s Wednesdays posting about Blair’s pieces. I was really obsessed with the show’s fashion when it was airing so most of the time I remember small details like “Oh okay, this dress is made by Marc Jacobs” or “This top is from Oscar de la Renta”. There is also a lot of googling. Old blogs have details as well from when the show was airing. Serena’s Saturdays are much easier to do since there is literally a website with the intricacies of her outfits. I think I should start one for Blair.
After sometime the posts about Gossip Girl grew to a point where they got more likes than pictures of myself, on my own instagram. And people started messaging asking me to do these kinds of posts for other characters like Jenny, Serena, and Chuck.I was overwhelmed and had no time but since the pandemic I have had nothing but time so I started doing Serena’s outfits since last summer.
And you’re not afraid to criticize some outfits even though you love the show.
Yeah, I don't love everything! I have a massive respect for Erick Daman and the work he did for the show’s fashion, and just because I don't like some pieces, it doesn't mean it didn't make sense for a character. And sometimes I don't like something not because it doesn't fit the character, but because the outfit might look very 2010s fashion. A lot of the shoes in the show were those chunky platform heels, and nowadays it doesn't work anymore, but at that time it was the signifier of ‘cheeky’. Some haven’t aged well.
How do you feel about the new Gossip Girl?
When I heard the reboot was bringing Erick Daman (Costumer Designer from the previous series) back I was relieved. I’m really into this new era! It is obviously not a retelling of the same old story but an extension of the Gossip Girl universe. It’s a completely different time, they will be focusing on different plotlines; already the cast is much more diverse than the first one. They are also more invested in telling diverse storylines with queer characters for example.
I tweet about the new looks because I’m really excited but I’ve seen people saying the new outfits or characters make no sense or that “it doesn't look like Blair'', but that is exactly the point. I don’t think there are many teenagers today who would dress like Blair Waldorf, right? I feel we can tell a lot about the characters based on what we have seen them wearing so far, which is a good indicator of costume design. It feels so right - modern rich kids from New York mixing Golden Goose sneakers with a new Fendi bag or bike shorts with a bomber jacket. I have a lot of faith for this new era.
Why do you think some people are having a hard time with this new story? It’s been more than a decade since the show ended but old fans still have a hard time dissociating the imagery of Blair or Serena from the series.
Of the uphill battles the producers are going to face with the new show is that the first one is so beloved and in the past few years it has found a new place for a new generation of people due to streaming services as well. The show is iconic and it’s fashion is one of it’s hallmarks. People have an idea of what a glamorous Upper East side teenager looks like because of the old show, which is not so true. In reality when you look at modern fashion, the pieces we are seeing of this new story is what they are wearing in real life; this cool 90s throwback, street fashion with high-end pieces. I believe that is realistic, and it’s glamorous in its own way. The concept of glamorous changes not only in Gossip Girl but in fashion. Old fans are expecting this very high-end Chanel vibe, but in the context of the new show, it doesn't make sense for its world anymore.
We have also seen old fans complaining about how the new characters don’t look as rich as the original ones, which is a discussion that enters the area regarding race and diversity. What do you think?
In the original version of Gossip Girl, wealth is portrayed primarily as a trait of white people. There is also this prescriptive idea of how rich people dress, look or act. In this new version we already know the scenario is completely different, fortunately.
What is so compelling and exciting about this new version is that they will handle a world in which social media rules, which is something that was only starting to gain fraction back when Gossip Girl was airing and the whole idea around the show was the blog that exposed the lives of many people, and nowadays Instagram and Twitter have become the new vehicles. How do you think the new series will deal with this aspect?
That is what I’m most curious about; to see how they will approach it. When the show started (2007) Twitter was only a year old, Facebook was only a thing you could be on if you were in college and Instagram didn’t exist. But now teenagers have all these different outlets to torture each other on their own without the need for a gatekeeper, for a Gossip Girl. Back in the day you would have to share a secret with Gossip Girl so that it could be published, versus now they have Snapchat, TikTok etc.
It will be interesting to see what role the person behind Gossip Girl plays in a world filled with social media, a world where the person behind Gossip Girl can be defeated by someone with a popular account for example.
In a comical way we could all be Gossip Girl nowadays, don’t you think?
Precisely, that is the whole thing! In the old show Dan turns out to be Gossip Girl but everyone sent tips to the blog Gossip Girl telling on each other. I just wonder how this is going to play out in the current world where everyone has the independence to be a new Gossip Girl.
How do you think this new version of Gossip Girl will impact the current generation differently than the old version did in its heyday? Because nowadays as a society we’re more aware of social, political, and economic issues, especially in regards to young people.
I think that is also part of how the characters behave. I believe people from Generation Z have more awareness about generational wealth, where it stems from and what sort of systems allow certain social structures to happen. The new show has to address these discussions. There are scenes from earlier seasons of Gossip Girl that nowadays it wouldn't get away easily. For example: In the original one, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner had a cameo on the show. Of course it was before the Trump administration but just because they were these wealthy socialite New Yorkers they had a spot on the series. The new one will have to reckon with that and acknowledge that there are people who surround these rich circles that were and are fundamentally bad.
But I’m hopeful for it; I know a lot of people who are working on the production of this new version who were also in the first one and I know they will be able to tackle that kind of discussions in a way that makes sense for the show without feeling patronizing or making it feel like a completely different universe from the original one.
The Gossip Girl revival premieres this Thursday, July 8th, on HBO Max.
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All photos courtesy of HBO Max