Buffy The Vampire Slayer Turns 20, But Her Outfits Are Timeless

Photo: WB/YouTube

There’s a lot to celebrate about Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s importance over the last 20 years, but the outfits might be the best-worst part.

20 years ago today, the first episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer debuted on The WB. Over six years, seven seasons, and a spin-off called Angel, Buffy‘s lasting impact on television serials will not soon be forgotten. The series began as a goofy, fantastical high school drama about a girl with supernatural powers, a vampire boyfriend, and a penchant for hanging around at nightclubs. It ended with the same girl, now a woman, who had come into her own as both the savior of the world and as a human, responsible adult…while still retaining that lovable goofiness.

I was not blessed enough to have seen Buffy as a teenager (I’m, like, four episodes away from the end!), but I know her presence on TV as both a kick-ass and simultaneously real, emotive young heroine inspired plenty of ladies at that age. The series constantly subverted expectations, taught lessons about life and love, and even featured a fabulous same-sex romance between two incredibly powerful (in both magic and personality) ladies that greatly helped normalize such relationships on television.

There’s plenty to celebrate about Buffy on the series’ 20th, but in light of the good humor and god-awful Xander puns we all had to endure through the show, I want to focus on one of the most ridiculous aspects of the show on it’s anniversary: the outfits. God, were these outfits bad. I think the show was going for some weird, artsy and occasionally sexual variant of 90s chic, but wow did it miss the mark on an episodic basis.