Disney series shakes up tween fashion
Published 5:00 am Friday, September 23, 2011
- Zendaya Coleman and Bella Thorne star in the fashionably successful “Shake It Up!” The Disney comedy about a teen dance show returns for a second season Sunday.
LOS ANGELES — It took the Disney Channel series “Shake It Up” only one year to become fashionably successful.
The series about two friends — CeCe (Bella Thorne) and Rocky (Zendaya Coleman) — who land roles on a TV dance show is the highest-rated series among kids 6-11 and tweens. If the second season — set to launch at 8 p.m. Sunday — goes as well, it will become the highest-rated cable series of all time among tweens.
“Shake It Up” is so popular, it’s inspired a new fashion line. This isn’t like previous Disney fashion lines that featured the images of actors on a T-shirt. The “Shake it Up” clothing line from D-Signed — available at Target — is inspired by the characters’ outfits on the cable series. That means a wild mix of blacks, pinks, patches and accessories.
It’s the show’s costume designer, Jessica Replansky, who put together the distinctive looks for the actors. She works in a space that looks like a young girl’s dream, with racks and racks of clothes. One area features the gold, reds and purples that CeCe wears; another holds Rocky’s light, pink and feminine items. There’s a wall with enough shoes and accessories to complete the wardrobe of a small army.
Replansky says the trick to creating a new look is just to keep an open mind.
“I am inspired by everything when I’m walking down the street. You have to think outside the box when it comes to fashion — especially when it comes to teenage fashion — because the unexpected can be the coolest,” Replansky said.
Because this is a weekly TV show and very few pieces of wardrobe are repeated, Replansky is constantly creating new outfits. She starts by shopping at small downtown Los Angeles boutiques and at larger stores like Forever 21. She takes the items and transforms them by using patches, rhinestones or sparkles.
Here’s the key to making an outfit work: alterations.
“Almost everything I put on the girls I alter in some way. Take it in. Shorten it,” Replansky said.
She’s listens to the young cast because she thinks they have a great personal style.
Thorne says CeCe’s style is certainly her style.
“I sometimes borrow stuff from the set because I would wear it. It’s really weird because when you see the outfit in the dressing room I am like ‘That’s going to look like a mess.’ But when you put it on, it looks great,” Thorne said.
The show’s stars are aware of how much fans pay attention to what they wear. That’s why they’re constantly trying to come up with new fashion elements each week. In the first season, fans noticed Coleman wore a different nail polish color each week. For a second-season episode being taped, Coleman has gone with a “reverse French manicure” — where instead of the tips of her fingernails being polished a different color, it’s on the bottom.
Coleman’s extremely excited about the new fashion line.
“Before I was cast on this show, I did print jobs and I would wear the Hanna Montana shirts. I would model those for Macy’s and Mervyn’s. Now I have my own line and I get to wear my own clothes,” Coleman said.
‘Shake It Up’
When: 8 p.m. Sunday
Where: Disney Channel