The most indelible thing about Gossip Girl was the clothing — it was iconic. Blair’s headbands, Blair’s school-appropriate capelet, Blair’s various colored tights deserve just as much of a place in the pantheon of fashion history as Alexander McQueen’s armadillo shoes or Coco Chanel’s little black dress. The plotlines of Gossip Girl can be forgotten, but the show will be remembered primarily as a fashion fantasy. So given that, we must ask, what the hell are Golden Goose sneakers doing in this promo for the Gossip Girl reboot on HBO Max? A writer for the show shared the evidence on Twitter. Get Eric Daman (costume designer for Gossip Girl 1.0) on the phone!
Golden Goose sneakers are $500 sneakers that come in the box looking worn and distressed. So while, yes, they are an indicator of a high tax bracket, they absolutely are not something that Blair Waldorf or even Serena Van Der Woodsen would wear. These girls wore stilettos and ballet flats every day of junior year; they’re not wearing any kind of sneakers. Maybe Vanessa would? Maybe. This could be a sign that the reboot will be as stressful as we feared — maybe they’ll announce a red-pilled Chuck in coming weeks. One undeniable benefit, though, will be the nonwhite and/or queer characters that the show’s producer Joshua Safran has promised. But while we’re here … can we talk about the cargo pants? Are they really wearing Golden Goose sneakers and cargo pants up in the Upper East Side? On second thought, don’t tell us.