Outfit of the Week | The Parent Trap (1998, dir. by Nancy Meyers)
ahoy my readers! welcome back to another glorious week at summer camp - this time we’re at the lovely Camp Walden in Maine, accompanied by not one, but TWO Lindsay Lohans!
a remake of the original 1961 flick, The Parent Trap was Lohan’s big screen debut and continues to be a highly nostalgic rewatch for all the 90s babies out there.
while attending summer camp, Annie and Hallie discover that they are identical twin sisters - one of them raised by their biological father and the other by their mother. they’re pretty surprised by this discovery and although they literally look identical, it takes them showing each other photos of their parents to realize that they are in fact (hold the disbelief) related.
they’re pretty psyched and almost immediately begin devising a plan that involves the two of them switching places. Hallie will travel to London to spend time with her famous, wedding dress designer mother, Elizabeth James (played by a flawless Natasha Richardson)…
…and Annie will go to Napa Valley, where her prize-winning winemaker dad, Nick Parker, awaits (played by, of course, a ruggedly handsome Dennis Quaid).
they plan to get to know their respective parent and then reveal their true identities, hopefully leading to a big ol’ reunion that’ll reignite the flame between Ms. Vogue and Mr. Grape.
*spoiler alert* things definitely go as planned (it is a PG-rated Disney flick, after all). but, the reason things go as planned is due to the fact one very important thing DIDN’T go as planned: the marriage between Nick and his uptight, self-involved 26-year-old publicist, Meredith Blake.
let’s just say Mer isn’t the greatest human on planet Earth and she really did have to go. i salute her gold digging ways, but some of her actions were really unforgivable.
i.e. the second she took a bell out of her bag and began ringing it to fetch Chessy (Nick’s housekeeper and best character in the damn movie), i hoped to suddenly be watching an R-rated version of The Parent Trap involving a highly-skilled sniper balancing on the terra cotta tiles lining the Spanish-style villa’s roof taking perfect aim at Mer’s head. oops, dark!
ok, now that i’ve wished death upon her, let’s praise an outfit she wears!
she really has impeccable style, and her propensity for dressing well doesn’t stop when she heads into the woods (albeit reluctantly)! Meredith Blake’s hiking/camping outfit is iconic.
as someone who fails miserably at coordinating my exercise ‘fits, i really respect those who do because why the hell not. looking cute while sweating profusely is an extra level of care - an upper tier of having it together that i simply haven’t reached yet.
Mer, on the other hand, owns a mansion on this tier of self-care and i must give her some credit for that - she’s unwaveringly herself no matter the situation. the red manicure is ready for building a fire! the gold watch and large diamond ring are ready for carefree lake swimming!
she doesn’t have a great time and almost swallows a lizard, but at least she has her cute knee-length black tights and zippered black crop top to reassure her that, amidst the bullying from two mischievous twins, she looks great.
Honorable Mention of the Week | there are obviously a million and one reasons why the early death of Natasha Richardson was deeply tragic, but one of them definitely is that a spinoff series with these two can’t ever be made.
just two pals hangin’ out in their oversized button-downs and high-waisted jeans, gabbing about wine and wedding dresses and what it means to be a carefree boss bitch in the world.
okay, gotta go move across the country now! bye!