Gillian Jacobs plays Mickey on the Netflix series Love, on which she’s become a bit of an unlikely fashion icon for her Carhartt overalls. Here, as the show’s third (and final) season premieres, we asked Jacobs to tell us the story behind her beloved ‘hartts.
I fell in love with overalls in junior high. They were roomy, had a lot of pockets, and in my mind, were very cute. I liked them so much, I owned a dozen pairs. Plaid, pastel, denim — it didn’t matter. If Gap made them, I bought them. Over time, I stopped wearing them because I’d decided that they were for little kids, and I wanted to be a grown-up.
But by the time I wandered through the kids’ section of a Fred Meyer in Oregon, where I had been shooting a movie, my resistance had worn down. I picked up a pair of Carhartts and thought, These are cute! I loved the reinforced knees, the big pocket on the bib, and the nostalgic warmth I felt wearing them.
Here’s the thing: I didn’t actually buy them that day, but I must have talked about them enough that Alison Carlos from the wardrobe department gifted them to me at the end of the film. When I brought them back to L.A. and asked my stylist Caley Rinker to have them tailored, she thought I had to be kidding. But little me said they were cute — and I also liked the idea that I’d likely be the only one rocking a pair in Los Feliz or Silver Lake. My gut told me these were a special pair of overalls.
When I wore them to rehearsal for Love, Lesley Arfin and Paul Rust recognized their potential, too, and asked that I wear them on the show. Our costume designer, Jennifer Eve, made them far cooler than I’d ever managed. She found the perfect T-shirt and gave Mickey the greatest rings and accessories.
I looked in the mirror and saw that my vision was finally realized. These Carhartts weren’t just cute — they were cool. When the show was released on Netflix, I got messages from people wanting a pair and was tagged in Instagram posts of people rocking their overalls. I felt vindicated — but now when I wear my Carhartts, people think I’m wearing Mickey’s clothes and not the reverse.
Now that the third and final season of Love is out, it may be time to say good-bye to my beloved Carhartts. I’ve been really into Dansko clogs lately. Some people think they’re ridiculous, but I think I might be onto something.
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