The Five Fashion-y Things You'll Always Find in a Romantic Comedy

I don't think I'm really going out on a limb to say that romantic comedies are essentially all the same. They may be packaged in different ways; taking place in Seattle or Boston or Baltimore instead of the same-old same-old New York City setting, or a main character with an unusual profession, or a kooky first name, or - gasp! - curly hair. But this is as far as the genre dares to go and, much like gobbling down a fat-free cupcake, you don't know until the end how disappointing it actually is. I bring this up because a Netflix copy of My Best Friend's Girl was waiting for me in my mailbox on Friday afternoon. I popped it in the DVD player, hoping for the best.

It was ... meh. Okay, the scene with the eyebrows is pretty funny, and to be fair, I hated Dane Cook long before seeing this movie. Even so, it was just as formulaic as any other rom-com, but with more snarky men's slogan t-shirts. Which got me thinking: it's not just the script that's totally predictable, it's the fashion too! Here, the five most common themes I've found:

5. The hipster roommate/friend. This girl is two parts Daria, one part Anthropologie model, with a sharp wit and an even sharper haircut. I think you, the viewer, are supposed to pity her, because she's not feminine or conventionally beautiful and perhaps even a little bit nerdy and definitely a little bit bitter. May occasionally be substituted with Angsty Teenage Fashion Victim (same idea, just younger).

4. The career-obsessed woman's uniform. This woman cares about one thing, and that's her high-stress career. She's an ad exec, a wedding planner, a journalist, a cook, but no matter; she's usually running about like world peace depends on choosing the right kind of buttercream frosting. What does she wear while she steps on toes and condescends to her underlings? Why, a fitted, stiff white button down shirt, of course, along with the requisite slim fit pencil skirt, spiky high heels, and straightened hair. Sense of humor? What's that? This lady is Type A all the way. That is, until she meets the One. Because then, it's all about ...

3. The bombshell dress. This is what our heroine wears on the the first "big" date. It's the dress that got Richard Gere to fall in love with Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman; it's the dress that made Freddie Prinze, Jr. realize Rachel Leigh Cook wasn't such a dork after all in She's All That; most importantly, it's just enough T&A to convince guys to see it with their girlfriends - voila! Date movie.

2. The makeover montage. The hipster friend is usually involved in this scene which also includes whatever feel-good pop music is popular at the moment. This, of course, is with the exception of the makeover in The Devil Wears Prada. That was awesome.

And the number one rom-com fashion theme:

1. The wedding dress. The obvious conclusion to a proper rom-com is to seal the deal in your family's backyard with only two weeks to plan, but with cakes to taste and dresses to fit and ice sculptures to carve and live decorative swans to order ... not to mention finding The Perfect Dress! It's never said, but I suspect this is where our heroine reverts back her Type A roots.

Image: Claire Folger for AllMoviePhoto.com