Is the Fashion in Too Much, Too Much?

Remember when Coco Chanel said to take one thing off before you leave the house? Yeah, Jessica from Too Much definitely doesn’t.

ICYMI: Lena Dunham is back with a new Netflix series. A younger cousin to the HBO classic Girls, Too Much follows Jessica (played by Hacks’ Megan Stalter), a thirty-something who flees Brooklyn for London after a brutal breakup. There’s a tall, dark and handsome stranger, a cast of colourful eccentrics and even Andrew Rannells as a perpetually confused bisexual. Consider it Girls Lite, with South London accents and a generous costume budget—used liberally.

Minimalism is not in Jessica’s vocabulary. Channelling a chaotic blend of Carrie Bradshaw and Emily in Paris, her style is loud. One minute she’s in a psychedelic floral trench with a fur collar, the next in a voluminous sailor dress. Jessica’s ensembles demand she take up space. Her quirky accessories command attention. And in overall her looks are just a little too much—but that’s exactly the point, as we see in the pivotal episode 5.

The midway point of the season begins with the outfit of all outfits: a white fur jacket, floral cardigan, toile dress, periwinkle tights, a pink fanny pack, high socks and red rain boots. Covered in blue eyeshadow and heart stickers, Jessica attends new beau Felix’s (Will Sharpe of White Lotus fame) concert, and it’s immediately clear she is not the vibe. While everyone else looks like they’ve just come from an underground jazz club in France, Jessica looks like she stopped by the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo Boutique at Disney World.

Interestingly, as Too Much episode 5 progresses, we discover this wasn’t always her style. In the first flashback, we see Jessica meet her ex, Zev (Michael Zegen of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), in a local Brooklyn bar. Wearing a Reformation-esque white and red floral dress with lace, Jessica exudes ease. She’s effortlessly charming—playing pool, drinking beer and flirting with this new man (insert Gone Girl’s “cool girl” monologue).

But then things start to turn, and the colour begins to drain—quite literally. Zev’s world is white and blue. Jessica’s is warm and rosy. He slowly begins to mute her, wanting less pink in the house and, by association, on her. We see Jessica slowly adopt cooler tones into her wardrobe, mostly in the form of athleisure, his preferred aesthetic. She starts opting for slimmer silhouettes instead of the full skirts and dresses she once loved. Heck, it even feels like her hair is less poofy. She is literally making herself smaller for him.

Then, in the next scene, Zev delivers a monologue that packs a serious punch. After taking one look at Jessica’s big, white sailor dress he spits out, “I swear you dress as a f*ck you to people sometimes, Jess. It’s like you want them to feel like idiots for looking at you.” And as we see the last flicker of the hope for the relationship diminish in Jessica’s eyes, so too does her maximalist style.

For the breakup, Jessica wears a simple blue dress. No frills. No pattern. No bright colours. This is Jessica in the smallest, saddest version of herself. The fabric clings to her body as if it’s collapsing inward, taking up as little space as possible, trying to make her less so that he can feel like more.

Cut back to the present and Jessica is sitting on her bed, wearing a deconstructed version of her blue, pink and red concert outfit, sobbing. When Felix enters, he doesn’t judge. He looks at her in awe and tells her, “You’re so alive.” And therein lies the truth behind Jessica’s style.

Her poofy silhouettes, bright colours and lavish accessories aren’t just an aesthetic choice but an act of rebellion—a response to a relationship, and really a world, that wants her to be smaller. After Zev, she’s no longer dressing for anyone but her damn self. And there’s something intoxicatingly beautiful about that—even if her outfit choices are often questionable. They’re unapologetically her and unapologetically loud. She isn’t too much — rather, just enough. A sartorial lesson we could all take to heart.