The sartorial storytelling in "Now and Then"
'Knock three times' if you want this post: 30 years on, this movie's fashion and music hold up in summer fun and emotional resonance
I first stumbled on Now and Then through its soundtrack, as a 10-year-old on an outing with my grandfather. We went to a music store (remember those?) and the CD cover screamed out to me: Orange and yellow, happy tween girls in a photo booth. It was the depiction of the kind of friendships I wanted. Also there’s no one cooler to a 10-year-old girl than 12-year-old girls.
I ended up seeing the movie a couple years later, and the cover was intriguing to me because it isn’t a roundup of women embracing their daughters - these are women embracing their younger selves.1
Thirty years on,2 I look back on this movie with such fondness, with the same reverence I have for the Baby-sitters Club.3 The movie is so many things - a summer bildungsroman, a comedy, a mystery, an ad for treehouses, anti-Silent Generation parenting, the end of childhood. It passes the Bechdel test. I am struck by how besides the point their attachments to their husbands and families are when they are adults. It’s about their bonds to each other.
It also single-handedly is the reason during my tweens I was obsessed with treehouses, seances, and Devon Sawa’s career.4
I thought it would be cool to look at the four main characters — how their style evolved in the older years and what it might say about their growth.
The premise
It’s 1991. Four women (Chrissy, Teeny, Samantha, and Roberta) in their early 30s reunite in Indiana to celebrate Chrissy’s pregnancy. It’s obvious in their initial meeting that their lives have drifted far apart in the decades since they stopped hanging out. Chrissy’s now a housewife, Roberta’s an obstetrician, Samantha a sci-fi writer, and Teeny a celebrated actress.
But in Chrissy’s backyard, with their childhood treehouse looming over them, they flash back to Summer 1970, when they spent their days riding bikes all over town tracking a local mystery.
The outfits
Even as a grown woman, I can’t get over how much the outfits from this movie have influenced my idea of summer style. Matching sets! Obnoxiously bright florals! I am haunted by Roberta’s green striped top/green pants for crying in the attic, and Samantha’s red top/patterned shorts for the lake scenes.
You could argue that they could interchange their wardrobes – the embodiment of their musketeers chant (‘all for one, one for all’). But as adults, you see them further solidified from each other.
Chrissy
Chrissy is consistently in pinks, florals, and bows. Her style has barely changed 20 years later - this woman clearly loves her Laura Ashley prints. You could argue her style remains stable because she is the character who has exhibited the least growth, and this is true. She is set up to be the least likeable of the four main characters: she’s blunt, the least open to trying new things, and a bit of a prude (her mother’s sex talk did not help). The fat-shaming of her character feels mean-spirited today.
I’d like to throw in some justice for Chrissy — she is the stable, beating heart of this movie. Without her, their adult reunion likely would not have happened: she makes the girls swear a pact to stay in touch, which drives the plot of them reconnecting in their 30s when she’s pregnant with her first child. The treehouse the girls bought with their summer money is still intact in her backyard. The ‘Truth or Dare’ session in the treehouse allows everyone to come to some personal realizations.
Covetable item: Her hairbows, in both life stages
Brand she’d like: Batsheva
Teeny
Young Teeny is the most experimental with warm colors and patterns: bright yellow, polka dots, and psychedelic flowers. You see her get the most dressed up when she’s play-acting at home. In her adult years, this fondness for warm colors turns into muted creams and browns — suitable for an established actress. However, we see her wear leopard, a reference to her love of patterns. Another callback: Teeny, the character who enthusiastically shoved Jell-o pudding balloons in her bra to make her chest look bigger, is also the same character most open to breast augmentation in her 30s.
Covetable item: Her yellow rain jacket in youth, the cream pants as an adult
Brand she’d like: Loewe, Max Mara
Samantha
Young Samantha starts off wearing reds in the beginning of summer, but she goes through it: parental divorce, almost drowning, and saying goodbye to her childhood in their last seance. It is not surprising that in her adult years, as a sci-fi writer she has explored more occult interests and wears a darker color palette.
As an adult she wears her hair up in tight braids. She still has stripes in her arsenal. By the end of the movie, after remembering a lesson from Crazy Pete to keep her heart open to life’s possibilities, she softens a bit by wearing her hair down and putting on red lipstick.
Covetable item: her poncho in youth, blazer collection as an adult
Brand she’d like: The Row, Thom Browne
Roberta
I saved the best character for last. Young Roberta’s clothing choices are all over the place, and it’s because she is too busy carrying the plot. While she wears greens, yellow, and stripes for some key moments, she also wears other basic blues and greys. Her closet feels like a bunch of hand-me-downs from her older brothers.5
However, there is some subtext for the character that was left out of the final cut of the movie. Both Christina Ricci and Rosie O’Donnell have said that Roberta was originally written to be a lesbian, and O’Donnell intended her version of the character to be an out woman.6 Roberta’s key scenes have deeper emotional resonance with a queer lens: binding her chest; faking her death to see which of her friends would give her CPR (Chrissy); and her ambivalence at kissing Devon Sawa. Young Roberta was haunted by her mother’s death. As an adult, she helps ferry her best friend safely into motherhood by delivering her baby. It’s a really beautiful arc, and I wish the movie had kept in the queer subtext for her.
Adult Roberta wears consistent normcore - denim, khakis, dockers. You might think this is a boring development, but I think it might be a personal triumph, considering that Chrissy probably tried to stage a pink bow makeover many times through the years. Roberta is able to be herself.
Covetable item: her green outfit in youth, her denim shirt as an adult
Brand she’d like: Patagonia, Ralph Lauren (but Chrissy would have to buy it for her)
The Music
The soundtrack for this movie still holds up – it just screams summer and sunshine. I also love how some of the songs, in their original context, are meant to be about romantic love, but in this movie they’re associated with the strength of these female friendships.
Here are my absolute favorites:
‘Sugar, Sugar’ by the Archies - It’s originally used when they paint the garage door and Devon Sawa says hi to Christina Ricci. Idk how you could be in a bad mood listening to this song.
‘Knock Three Times’ by Tony Orlando & Dawn - perfect song for riding your bike.
‘No Matter What’ by Badfinger - another great road trip song!
‘As I Lay Me Down’ by Sophie B. Hawkins - this song makes me so wistful for the 90s.
‘These Boots are Made for Walkin’’ by Nancy Sinatra. Not on the official soundtrack, but this song was used in the movie when Samantha’s mom walks in town in her newly-divorced look. It’s a great strut song, and is my karaoke go-to.
Have you seen Now and Then? What movies scream summer to you?
Extended Reading:
Rosie O’Donnell on Roberta’s sexuality | Entertainment Weekly
Devon Sawa interview on the movie’s impact | Vulture
Now and Then is a lot darker than you remember | Refinery 29
Things you didn’t know about Now and Then | Bustle
It’s no wonder Christina Ricci ended up doing the Yellowjackets show considering its overlap to this movie: flashbacks, the 90s, and a mystery.
The movie was released in Oct 1995, but I’m writing about it now because … summer!
I’m a Mary Anne sun, Dawn moon, Claudia rising
1995 was a great year for Christina Ricci/Devon Sawa movies - Casper and this one
My personal theory is Roberta’s yellow/orange striped shirt might have been a castoff from Teeny
Christina Ricci told The Advocate in 2010 about her interpretation of the character: “I was just told to play the shame any teenage girl has when discovering that she's becoming a sexual being.” According to screenwriter Marlene King, the line “She lives in sin with her boyfriend” which seemingly confirms Adult Roberta’s heteronormativity, was dubbed in at the last minute after test audiences did not respond well to the lesbian context of the character
I have never seen this film but now I want to! I recently watched The Craft for the first time and am craving more girlhood friendship movies.
i’m obsessed with this fashion analysis, and i know we’ve watched this movie many times together and can’t wait to do so again!!
i love teeny and roberta’s style so much and feel they resonate with me the most. an odd pairing, but what can i say, your girl loves a neutral but also a tight crop top when the moment calls for it!
it’s a quintessential summer movie and i’m so glad you wrote this!
ps im a kristy sun, stacey rising, and perhaps a dawn moon? let’s discuss.