Towards the end of 2018, Netflix paid $100m (£78m) to extend its right to air Friends for one more year. Netflix doesn’t release viewing figures, but this confirmed what we already knew: a whole new generation is hooked on Ross, Rachel, Joey, Phoebe, Chandler and Monica.
But especially Monica. It is here that the generation gap comes in. Because if you tuned into Channel 4 every Friday night when Friends ran the first time around, from 1994, your favourite Friends character was Joey (the adorable one), Rachel (the sexy one), Chandler (the funny one) or Phoebe (the eccentric one). The Geller siblings, Monica and Ross, were the straight guys. They functioned to make the funny ones look funny. But in the second coming of Friends, since all 236 episodes arrived on Netflix in January of last year, Monica has unexpectedly found a breakout role as a style icon.
The Monaissance is real. At a Net-a-Porter event discussing trends for summer 2019, Monica was called the poster girl for 90s normcore and the new season by an ultra-chic senior buyer. In February, Bella Hadid stepped out in New York wearing a cropped, shoulder-padded, double-breasted tailored jacket with high-waisted peg-leg trousers. An eagle-eyed fashion commentator at Man Repeller pointed out that this was exactly what Monica would be wearing as she walked through the purple door of her apartment after work to find Rachel flipping through a magazine. Esquire.com ran a gallery of all the times Harry Styles, a modern menswear icon, dressed like Monica Geller. (Floral short-sleeve boxy shirt? Stonewashed denim jacket? Goofy backwards baseball cap? When Harry Met Monica, each and every time.)
Time for a fashion trivia question. Who wore a white scoop-neck leotard with black peg-leg trousers? Was it Monica in The One With Phoebe’s Husband or a Hadid sister between shows at New York fashion week? Trick question: the answer is both. And another: who loved a snug mohair sweater, cropped to show a couple inches of skin above curvy, high-waisted jeans? Was it Kylie Jenner or Monica? Again, it was both. Lastly: who loved to fancy-up a daytime look with a silk scarf tied at the neck? Was it Monica or was it every other influencer on the fashion week circuit this year? I think you can guess the answer.
The list of styles that are very Monica and very now is endless. Monica loved to clip her hair to one side with a barrette, which was kind of a dorky, schoolgirlish look, but that was her vibe. Cut to 2019, when the fancy-hairclip area of every high-street accessory zone is starting to rival the earring department for size.
The funny thing is that the first time around, nobody was watching Friends for wardrobe tips. Its style credentials revolved almost entirely around hair. The “Rachel” convinced an entire generation of women to have a layered mid-length shag cut, despite the fact that there is not a single example of that haircut looking good on anyone except Rachel. In fact, the onscreen clothes were so realistically what the Friends demographic would have been wearing that they barely registered with viewers. Instead we turned to Twin Peaks, with its subversive take on Americana, its dark-hearted sweethearts and haunted heroes. It was an instant fashion classic – but Friends wasn’t that cool. After all, this was a show where the characters’ social lives revolved around milky drinks served in oversized mugs. Audiences tuned into Friends not for the wardrobe or the lifestyle, but because it was really funny.
It’s just as funny this time around. Problematic, yes – being overweight, being gay and men looking after children were all fair game as punchlines – but mostly, the jokes still work. I consulted with my 12-year-old daughter on the best episodes – she has watched every episode multiple times in the past two years – and we decided on The One Where Ross Is Fine, and The One With Ross’s Sandwich. But it is almost impossible to pick; because the writing is so strong, there is barely a dud episode. But what adds an extra frisson to watching in 2019 is the fact that the 20-year revival cycle that drives fashion has the effect of making the outfits look delightfully retro and, somehow, absolutely right for now.
The 90s revival is loved by the teen high-street shopper. If you covered yourself in glue and ran through Urban Outfitters, you would come out dressed like a Friends character. You might be wearing a clingy, ribbed vest top with high-waisted mom jeans, in which case, could you BE any more Monica? Or you might be in straight-leg, pale denim jeans worn with a belt, two inches of visible ribbed white sport sock and white trainers, in which case you would be dressed as Monica straight out of The One at the Beach.
Last February, Friends had a bona fide fashion moment at the Paris menswear shows. One of Balenciaga’s key looks for the autumn/winter 2018 season was a coat made up of seven outerwear layers – including a couple of thick plaid overshirts, a hoodie, a parka and a quilted puffer coat – that retailed at more than £6,000. It was instantly recognisable as almost the exact look that Joey wears in The One Where No One’s Ready (another contender for funniest episode) in which he wears all of Chandler’s clothes at once to get back at him for hiding his underwear. The elevation of Joey to a Balenciaga muse – even as a joke – helped the world see the show in a more fashionable light.
What does it say about 2019 that Monica has leapfrogged Rachel to become the breakout style icon of the Friends revival? Rachel, the girl next door, always supercute in a waitress apron, tucking those blowdried strands behind one ear, is perhaps a little too stay-in-your-lane girly for current tastes. Monica had a seam of tomboy running through her character and her wardrobe. (See: all those dungarees and white tennis shoes.) Her emotional pitch was self-conscious and slightly angsty, reflected in grungy plaid shirts. She wore maxi shirts and shirt dresses and everything was functional ribbed cotton or jersey. You just know she was the kind of woman who, if you complimented her on her dress in the lift at work, would tell you that she loves it because it has pockets. But when she dressed up, she could pull off a spaghetti strap dress (see: the red gown she wears in The One With Ross’s Wedding, Part 2) or a black lace cami (The One With The Sharks) with the aplomb of a 90s supermodel.
And – how did we never notice this before? – Monica was a chef. Which is absolutely the coolest job now. Showing on Netflix alongside Friends is The Heat: A Kitchen (R)evolution, a documentary charting the lives of seven female chefs including Angela Hartnett and Anita Lo. In our food-obsessed culture, the kitchen is at the heart of the zeitgeist. Those chef whites Monica wore take on a whole new status in a contemporary viewing, which is yet another reason why Monica is our new best Friend.
