These movies and television shows had stylish uniforms that were so much better than the crappy polyester ones we had to wear.
We would never want to go back to school and have to deal with learning about atoms and memorizing random Shakespeare quotes. However, we would go back to school for a day or two if we got to wear any one of these fictional school uniforms. We were stuck with pants that looked like you were wearing a diaper underneath them and itchy cardigans. We didn’t have chic headbands or piped blazers, and we definitely didn’t have wizard robes.
(Related: The 15 Best Hacks For Organizing Your College Dorm Room)
Study up on the best school uniforms from movies, TV, and music:
1. The Princess Diaries
Mia (Anne Hathaway) may have had the princess makeover and got a whole new royal wardrobe, but there was nothing wrong with her school blouse with a longbow tie. She could have worn it on the weekends and pretended it was Chanel.
2. Sailor Moon
Sailor Moon and all the rest of her celestial sisters had the best school uniforms. Who doesn’t love a sailor collar? They were so good that they were the basis of their superhero costumes. All they did was shorten the skirts and add some boots, tiaras, and magical broaches.
3. Glee
We’re focusing more on the girls in this roundup, but we have to pay tribute to the stylish Warblers from Dalton Academy. Before they came singing and dancing onto our screens in Glee, the last time people got this obsessed over striped ties was for Harry Potter.
4. Superstar
Awkward Catholic school student Mary Katherine Gallagher (Molly Shannon) may not be the first person you think of as a style icon, but she was rocking geek chic before it even became a thing. You can definitely see Alexa Chung wearing that blouse and vest. Plus, who doesn’t want her glasses?
5. Gossip Girl
Gossip Girl made high school students everywhere gripe about their strict school dress codes. “Why can’t I wear a headband if Blair Waldorf can look at Constance Billboard?” and “How come Serena van der Woodsen can wear a little waistcoat with her blouse, but I can’t?” are just some of the many complaints.
6. Gilmore Girls
Gilmore Girls had some questionable outfits, but Rory’s (Alexis Bledel) Chilton school uniform was very posh. The blue and navy color palette wasn’t like the unfortunate maroon and hunter green you often see. You would have gladly worn every piece on the weekend, from the chambray shirt to the knee-length plaid skirt.
7. Harry Potter
Of course, everyone wanted to wear wizard robes because that would have meant that you were a wizard or witch attending Hogwarts. Even if you couldn’t go to Dumbledore’s school, you still wished your regular high school enforced a dress code involving striped ties, white shirts, and flowing robes.
8. An Education
Carey Mulligan has starred in a lot of fashionable films, and An Education was no different. The clothes she wore when she wasn’t in class were so chic, but her gray blazer, matching skirt, and striped tie still gave us style envy.
9. She’s The Man
We remember She’s The Man for its hilarious lines and Channing Tatum’s abs, but it also had great school uniforms. The look was Gossip Girl-meets-Harry Potter minus the robes.
10. Britney Spears’s “Hit Me Baby (One More Time).”
No uniform list could be complete without Britney Spears sexy schoolgirl look in the “Hit Me Baby (One More Time)” music video. Everyone loved the tearaway pants and crop tops, but it was that knotted blouse, cardigan, and pigtails with fuzzy hair accessories outfit that still inspires Halloween costumes to this day.
11. Uptown Girls
Dakota Fanning was giving us style inspiration way back when she was 8-year-old Ray in Uptown Girls. She had one of the best plaid skirts, thanks to that camel-and-black color combination, and she never had a hair out of place, even in messy situations. Just look at those two-tone brogues.
