Welcome back to Look of the Week, celebrating the best in TV and film sartorial excellence, past and present across sci-fi, horror, fantasy, and other genre classics!
It doesn’t exactly spell festive cheer, but in 1996 Wes Craven gave horror movie fans a fantastic gift for the holidays with the release of Scream. From the opening scene, Kevin Williamson’s script both pays homage to and pokes fun at this genre with a string of seemingly never-ending references to movies such as Halloween and A Nightmare on Elm Street.
Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) follows on the Final Girl sartorial legacy of Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp) by wearing a range of garments you can find at the Gap or JCPenney. However, this time around, it is the not-so Final Girls that this Scream retrospective is celebrating.

Credit: Miramax
Barrymore’s blunt blonde bob with heavy bangs is a contemporary version of Leigh’s curly short ‘do. She is also the headline name, so there is assumption she will be fine, no matter the danger levels.

Her blue eyes and bangs appear on all of the posters, a hand placed over her mouth in shock. Beneath that image is the cast, all dressed in black. Barrymore, specifically, looks like she has just come from hanging out with Twin Peaks' Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee) at the Black Lodge.

Credit: Dimension Films
Of course, this is all a huge misdirect; instead, Casey screams in a sea of cream. I’d also be upset if my house was that vanilla. The once cute "staying at home to watch a video outfit" is a mess, covered in blood, grass stains and torn to shreds. Her blood-splattered clothes are probably the last thing on her mind as she makes her futile crawl for survival across her parents’ well-manicured lawn.
Casey's knitwear is not the only example of light clothing that will end up covered in blood. This rule comes into play during the climax of Scream, first when Billy (Skeet Ulrich) is fake-stabbed, followed by Billy and Stu (Matthew Lillard) stabbing each other for real, part of their master plan to get away with murder. The white tee is a classic look, but it also makes the scarlet shade of pig’s (and then human) blood pop on-screen. If Billy was wearing a dark top he would just look wet and sticky, and the same goes for Stu’s beige sweater.

Costume designer Cynthia Bergstrom would later work on Buffy the Vampire Slayer from Season 2 through to Season 6, so this is a great jumping-off point for high school fashion. There are plenty of horror movie references throughout Scream, right down to the clothes worn: A Nightmare on Elm Street is, of course, referenced in the opening scene, but Tatum’s number 10 cropped silver football shirt is also a nod to what Johnny Depp is wearing when he is killed by Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund).
Coincidentally, this style of shirt also made an appearance in Chilling Adventures of Sabrina as worn by Harvey Kinkle (Ross Lynch) in bed, but fortunately, he doesn't get sucked into his mattress.

Credit: Miramax

Credit: Miramax
It wouldn’t be a costume Look of the Week retrospective without also taking a quick look at the clothes from the Scream premiere.

Getty

Getty
On the London premiere red carpet a few months later, Drew Barrymore’s hair is the cooler version of Casey’s — super blunt short bangs and a choppy bob.

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And when I think of Barrymore, this is the version of her style that always pops into my head. This is definitely the best look from the cast.
The Final Girl has a classic look that doesn’t necessarily stand out; jeans and a tee or button-down is a wardrobe staple, from Laurie Strode to Sidney Prescott. Fashion that takes risks, is more fun, or comes in a shade that will complement blood is more often worn by those who sadly won’t survive the bloodbath. Maybe Randy (Jamie Kennedy) should add that to his running list of horror movie rules.