Great Outfits: Zooey Deschanel in Vintage Shareen

Last Updated: 25 January 2022

Zooey Deschanel arrives at the 2012 Writers Guild Awards at the Hollywood Palladium on February 19, 2012

Photo: Jason Merritt/Getty Images

There are perfectly good celebrity style moments, and then there are the looks that really stick with you, the ones you try desperately to recreate at home. In 'Great Outfits in Fashion History,' Fashionista editors are revisiting their all-time favorite lewks.

I'm on my [redacted] pandemic rewatch of "New Girl" (if you care to join me, consider Bolu Babalola's Twitter feed an essential companion piece), which means I've been thinking a lot about Zooey Deschanel's late 2000s/early 2010s wardrobe. I can't overstate the hold her mini-dresses-with-colored-tights looks had on me — I couldn't wait to move somewhere where I could wear this exact combo all winter — and while there are a handful of formative examples of those I could highlight, I keep coming back to some of her dressier red carpet moments from that era.

The 2012 awards season was a particularly strong one for the actor, featuring gowns by Prada and Reem Acra; a personal favorite of mine, though, is actually vintage, worn to the Writers Guild Awards. The halter-neck Shareen gown touches on so many elements of Deschanel's style: The plaid very much speaks to her indie roots and is an unexpected choice for the red carpet (the gold satin ribbon that ties around the waist and across the back cuts through the print to create an elegant finish); meanwhile, her decision to wear vintage aligns with her inclination towards nostalgic silhouettes and styles. The final product is fun but still formal enough for the occasion — and, almost a decade (!) later, feels just as fresh.