Brooke Davis Style Analysis

Bros before hoes. No! Clothes over bros, silly. And by that I mean the style icon of One Tree Hill, Brooke Davis. From the confines of Haley’s little house to a national fashion powerhouse (real, of course), we are obsessed with Brooke Davis and her fashion vision. Her energetic, sassy, and lovable personality shines through in every intricate detail of her physical appearance (show, not tell, am I right?) And don’t worry, for our non-fashion fiends out here, we have a special section dedicated to her vanity kit in today’s edition of Gen Z State of Mind. And even if you’re not into the One Tree Hill realm (car crashes, love triangles, kidnapping nannies, all with a side of basketball), then fear not; we can all learn something from B. Davis/Pretty Girl/Brooke Penelope Davis. 

1. Jeans with high heels? Scandalous! 

Some may say that a tank top or baby tee paired with flared jeans is basic and lazy. There’s no way it could be the epitome of fashion! From controversies of Vogue Summer School to a glimpse at Y2K trends, we can say definitively that that is NOT true. 

At its core, fashion is a sense of self-expression, and sue us if we don’t want to dress to the nines for a simple day at school! But in case you were looking for advice from the Clothes over bros founder herself, a simple swap from high heels to sneakers is enough to elevate your look. If you’re one for comfort or don’t really like platforms nagging you every day (we really can’t blame you here), then ballet flats are a more than appropriate substitute (you might be familiar with the concept from our dear Marissa Cooper)

When I was first developing my closet into one that suited me personally, I focused primarily on clothes. I mean, duh! It is incredibly hard to find linens and cotton that both make you feel confident while still fitting the aura you’re trying to exude. But in the pursuit of fashion magazines, browsing online and in stores, I majorly overlooked shoes themselves. I really only had one pair of sneakers…. Feel free to grimace. But I must say, if that is you, there is nothing wrong with it (one good pair of comfortable shoes is enough to replace 10 bad choices, in our personal, most definitely professional opinion). All of this is to say that shoes are often deemed low in the tier of importance when revamping our closet, but it shouldn’t be that way!

Bringing it back to Pretty Girl Brooke Davis, I think it’s something about the symmetry and balance of her outfit. I won’t sit here and pretend I am on the executive fashion board of Vogue (because I am not… unless someone wants to look at my resume), so my perspective is limited to 3 closet revamps and being an avid enjoyer of 2000s shows. But if you examine teenagers and young adults shown on recent television (e.g., Ginny and Georgia, Off Campus, Riverdale) and those in the same age cohort but instead from the 2000s (e.g., The OC, Pretty Little Liars, and of course, One Tree Hill), the difference is actually only in the patterns and shoes worn. People have always worn jeans, cardigans, V-neck t-shirts; the only thing that differs is the execution and pairing of items. 

Bringing it back to the topic of conversation (hi B!), we can see that a simple switch makes an outfit less casual. If that’s the look you’re going for! 

GZSTOM Tip: go for chunky heels (thick heels) for maximum comfort. Thinner stilettos get tiring after a while and overall are more prone to getting stuck in vents or other smaller surfaces. We also personally find kitten heels vicious for their size. 

2. Layers, layers, layers

If you’re a shopper at Brandy, I’m sure you’ve looked at the mannequins in store and wondered, how they make a white t-shirt look amazing with an orange striped tank top stacked underneath. How do they layer so perfectly? 

Me too. 

I’ve always thought that layering just made me look lumpy because of all the clothes piling up on me. Besides, they don’t even add that much to the outfit. Wrong!

One of the main rules of Brooke Davis 101 is that layering takes patience and curiosity. You don’t need to buy items with a specific combo in mind (although if you possess that fashion gene and talent, feel free to go right ahead). Just dare to see how a blank tank top pairs underneath a red babydoll top with blue flared jeans (see below). Or how a yarn balero pairs with a white long sleeve. And hey, even a tan coat with a purple sweater that has a funky neckline (see all below!) 

I think recent fashion trends have put a major emphasis on the sandwiching method for coherency purposes. For those who don’t speak in online lingo (honestly, good for you), the color sandwiching method is when you match your top with your shoes and leave your bottoms as a complementary color. This means that typically, one outfit only has two colors. 

But take a look at Brooke Penelope! A purple tank with a cropped jacket that has some funky stripes going on at the bottom, paired with dark jeans, is still a look in itself. An outfit doesn’t need to follow certain rules to be coherent. So pair teal with orange. Mix pink and light green. Try combinations that have never seen the light of day (or social media) and see if they deserve to be hidden away!

3. Patterns! Dare to express yourself!

On the topic of recent fashion trends and how Brooke Davis herself would look at them, she would shake her head at the minimalism of it all. More than that, she would shake her head at all the major fashion brands and corporations and wonder why they stopped production on all the fun! If we had clothes over bros in this current realm, maybe this problem wouldn’t keep arising….

DISCLAIMER: We don’t fashion shame around here!!! If minimalism is your thing and you’re loving it, we are loving that for you. This section of the blog is just for those who want to expand their horizons and look beyond what’s currently trending. You do you, and we’ll do we. 

Back to regularly scheduled programming: if you’re someone who feels uncomfortable straying away from the crowd but wants to change that, at Gen Z State of Mind, we recommend that you first try to challenge yourself through fashion choices. By that, we mean, go thrifting or go on Depop/Vinted and try finding something you’ve never seen before, but surprisingly like. You’ll find mirages of blue in striped patterns on a dress, pink sequins decorating a shirt (see below), and stitched logos on jeans. Honestly, you’ll probably find things I can’t even name in this blog because I haven’t seen them before. 

Even if you’re okay being on your own, away from the bustling crowds of current trends, you can further expand your closet by exploring local shops and thrift stores to see the immense talent people have! Different mixtures of lace and butterflies and rainbows and truly anything your mind desires. Curate your closet until it gets to the point where anyone would look at it and know it’s yours. Make something so exclusively for yourself that people won’t even dare to wonder whose it is. 

4. Accessories for days 

Back to the conversation of casual outfits elevated at the snap of a finger, let’s talk about accessories. Necklaces, scarves, ribbons, and belts (or all of the above) can all be utilized to make your taste more intricate and personal. Brooke Davis is a prime example of this: green tank and white jeans all put together by a funky belt. Adding on in the accessory department, she always incorporates some kind of necklace. A little chain balances out the neck and chest space of certain outfits and further builds symmetry. Thanks, B. Davis!

We honestly recognize that a lot of companies nowadays don’t like to incorporate funk or unique items into their catalogs, so once again, explore thrift stores and small businesses! Your horizons will be broadened, and you’ll realize that fashion is basically a science (more on this later). 

Big corporations have to feed into the current trends (or how else will they get you to spend a band?), but local businesses and thrifting will reward you with new sights. Fashion is a mindset, and many of us have fixed ones at the moment with social media being our main inspiration. Try to see what speaks to you personally, and you will surprise yourself with how bold you can dare to be.  

Even if you don’t want to be too spunky or change yourself (some of us are naturally inclined for more minimal patterns, and that’s okay), then we are in full support of you. Even plain colored belts or simple necklaces with just a pendant can show how intentional you are with your outfit. You know that feeling you get when you look at someone with an outfit you like, but you can’t quite put into words why you do? You don’t know exactly why everything blends in together so well. That’s the power of accessories. Even when they’re not exactly screaming “helloooo i am funky”, they’re still doing their job just like you and I. 

5. Colors (not just limiting yourself; she wears literally every color in the rainbow) 

Throughout all the episodes and seasons and tomfoolery of One Tree Hill, there is no one color that Brooke Davis confines herself to. She wears everything: green, orange, pink, blue, sometimes all at once. Who remembers Brooke’s dress for Keith’s wedding? We shall ignore everything that followed, but at least B. Davis was living up to her critically acclaimed fashion taste. 

Colors are also a way to express what’s going on in your life and in your head. Speaking of Brooke’s glittery, colorful dress for the wedding, she had just won the student council president election and felt like her family’s financial situation was looking up. It was her way of expressing her elation at life, and how she finally felt the flowers bloom regardless of the season. 

Red dresses decorated the crowd when the infamous “I need you to need me back” scene plays, indicative of the scandal that plagued Tree Hill. More casual outfits when her dad lost his job to signify her return to normalcy. Even in your normal life, you can align the weather and your mood to your outfit. Rainy days with knee-high boots and a dark sweater. Sunny days with Hollister’s new 2000s collection and Brandy Melville’s new teal drop. The options are endless, just like the color scale that you should utilize to the best of your abilities. 

Color analyses are all the rage now, but you can do the same thing at home by trying out an array of different hues and seeing which one you feel most at home in. Even if you think pink might not match your complexion, all that matters is how you personally feel in clothes. If you love pink, wear pink! B. Davis and us at Gen Z State of Mind think that is the epitome of fashion: wearing what makes you confident and forgetting all about the rest. 

6. Vanity Table  

Real 2000s makeup looks so vastly different from all the cosmetics that we’re familiar with nowadays. For one, Brooke Davis most likely got up each morning and sat at her little vanity desk (makeshift when she was in between houses) and started the routine off with a little tube of concealer. And no, silly, she doesn’t know the brand because it rubbed off of the packaging long ago. She is nothing if not loyal! Yes, even to her products when she doesn’t like switching up her routine. 

Sometimes when she woke up at Payton’s house or just wasn’t feeling like roaming around the room for brushes, she would just blend it in with her hands. B. Davis does not like waking up early in the morning, and cutting corners to look as glamorous as she does is not a crime. 

But following it up was a CoverGirl cushion powder, which comes with its own mirror. It would not leave her side for the remainder of the day, always there for little check-ups if needed. The rest of her routine was pretty simple: a matte look was her ultimate goal, so after that was achieved, then she’d pluck her eyebrows a little bit before focusing on mascara (Great Lash Mascara with that hot pink tube). Finally, she’d end it all with brownish lipstick or something pretty close to her natural color. Occasionally, she’d add a bit of blush to get that cherub, flushed look. Perfect for Pretty Girl Brooke Davis, if I may say so myself.  

Final remarks

Many people look down on fashion itself because of its popularity amongst women (awe, boys, are you jealous?) They think it’s bimbo talk, or shallow, because why should someone care about their appearance? 

I shouldn’t need to equate fashion to a science in order for people to realize just how smart designers are in encapsulating essence and statements into a singular clothing item. And how smart ordinary people are at pairing things together, looking at the balance and equilibrium of it all. 

But it’s okay, let them think that, and use it to your advantage. After all, everyone in Tree Hill doubted Brooke, even after her school presidency reign, just because she was popular amongst the guys. She pursued jobs in the creative sphere, knowing that there was a chance she wouldn’t be able to support herself financially (an extremely brave move considering her dad’s company fell through). She was the most successful following high school with her new clothing brand spanning the nation, and all of that goes to show that you don’t need to follow conventional routes to get to the life that you want. Everyone labeled Brooke Davis as a promiscuous girl who couldn’t care less about academics and loved the pretty boys around her, but at the end of the day, her legacy was the most lasting. If she had listened to what other people said about her (Hello Rachel!), she wouldn’t be the character we all know and love today.

The whispers in the hallways are exactly that. Just whispers. They’ll die when the sound goes out, and those who continue to mull over the things they hear about you in passing are just immortalizing you. So wear what you want, kiss who you find glamorous, and continue being creative in your own way. 

Stay fabulous, 

Gen Z State of Mind