Lessons We Can Learn From Seinfeld

Few fictional characters distill the essence of an era quite the way Jerry Seinfeld, George Costanza, Elaine Benes and Cosmo Kramer do the period between the late 1980s and 90s. Set on New York’s Upper West Side, Larry David’s Seinfeld ran for a total of nine seasons, throughout the golden era of normcore, and the costume department made the most of it. Characters layer denim on denim with an enviable nonchalance. The turtleneck, in all its forms, reigns supreme. Kramer’s shirts express a world of both joy and despair. Behold, a collection of lessons we might learn from Jerry and the gang – from sales-shopping etiquette, to the longevity of a powersuit...

1. If you’re going to buy a statement piece, prepare to talk about it
Few footwear choices have dominated sitcoms in quite the same fashion that Elaine Benes’ Botticelli shoes do their designated episode of Seinfeld (Season 4, Episode 16: The Shoes). Mannish but impactful, the pricey monochrome lace-ups are a proud investment for Elaine – marking her transition from floral and frumpy to streamlined tailoring – but when they generate murmurs of appreciation and envy in her friendship group, she begins to panic. After much furore, she is forced to give the prized shoes (the last in her size, snagged in a sale) to an arch-rival, in a move which, had she been more willing to embrace the clamour which accompanied them in the first place, she might have avoided altogether. The turn of events is a welcome reminder that you shouldn’t shell out for statement pieces unless you’re ready, and eager, to draw attention to them. Long live the Botticellis.

2. Comfort is not everything
“I would drape myself in velvet if it were socially acceptable,” sofa sloth George Costanza professes in season six, begrudging his usual uniform of sweater and shirt tucked into jeans. It’s not until he meets Paula, a date who confesses to him that physical appearance doesn’t much bother her, that his dreams come true. Taking advantage of her indiscriminate sartorial preferences, Costanza begins to prioritise comfort over presentation, arriving at the diner for lunch with Jerry swathed in a black velour tracksuit. “You know Jerry, I’ve been searching for somebody a long time,” he says, leaning backwards gleefully in the diner's leather-lined booth, much to his lunch-partner's distaste. “Now, the search is over.” He soon learns that just because a lover permits you to live in your pyjamas, she isn't necessarily life partner material, and has more trouble relinquishing the tracksuit than the relationship.

3. The time is always right for a power suit
Julia Louis-Dreyfus is unparalleled in Seinfeld as Elaine Benes, one-time girlfriend of Jerry Seinfeld, and the solo matriarchal character in an environment otherwise dominated by men and their shortlived dates. Throughout the series' long tenure, her wardrobe grows more influential as she does. By the sixth season, when the writer begins employment under the charismatic fashion designer J. Peterman, Elaine discards the midi-length floral dresses and frilly ankle socks of her early years in favour of tailored jackets, sharp white collars buttoned to the neck, and the occasional two-piece powersuit, making her the ultimate advocate of executive realness. Her fondness for an extravagant quiff and a floor-length camel coat only adds to this allure, and so prolific is her appeal that her wardrobe has its own Tumblr. Plus, if Prada S/S16 taught us anything, it's that there's no excuse needed to don a two-piece.

4. Sales karma is real
It takes a certain type of person to pick up an item they desire in a store and, on hearing that its price is due to be marked down, carefully conceal it in a different section with the intention of picking it up at a discount several days later. If that person is you, you should be prepared to accept the consequences. George learns this lesson the hard way: after fighting tooth and nail for a slinky brown suit in an Upper West Side store, he wears it to a job interview only to find that it squeaks, unbearably, with every stride. The job opportunity drops away as his interviewer realises. Karma is real, and it will travel with you as your clothes do.

5. Be careful what you agree to wear
We could all learn a thing or two from comedian and main character Jerry Seinfeld’s style. Usually an archetype of late 80s fashion – anoraks, fisherman jumpers and Fruit of the Loom sweatshirts abound – Jerry’s distaste is palpable when he accidentally agrees to wear a shirt designed by Kramer’s softly spoken new girlfriend, Leslie, for his appearance on The Today Show. Not having caught what she said when Leslie described the garment – “like the pirates used to wear,” being her actual words – there’s no getting out of sporting the pink, frothy chemise.

Unsurprisingly, it doesn’t go smoothly. Elaine tells him he looks like the Count of Monte Cristo moments before he goes on air. Once the cameras are rolling, Jerry overhears the host making reference to the shirt, and denounces it live, ending Kramer’s new relationship and alienating his stand-up fanbase in one fell swoop. “Avast, ye maties” immediately becomes Jerry’s hecklers’ new comment of choice. The moral of the story? Listen up, and pause for thought before offering to sport a designer friend's latest creation. Particularly if it's for an appearance of note.