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Everyone loves Friends, right? And no, not the social circles people have around them; but the classic hit 90s TV sitcom that ran for 10 seasons between 1994 and 2004. Originally developed under the working title ‘Insomnia Café,’ – an obvious nod to Central Perk there; Friends tracks the lives, loves and most importantly laughs of six twentysomethings in New York. The show was so popular that ‘The Rachel’ hairstyle was copied by women globally and various phrases have entered the common vernacular: ‘we were on a break,’ or ‘how you doin’?’ are some common ones.
The Pilot begins with Rachel bursting into Central Perk in a wedding dress, looking for Monica. The pair were friends in school but drifted apart in recent years, Rachel moves in with Monica, becomes a waitress in Central Perk and the rest is TV gold history! We all know the ensemble cast by now: siblings Ross and Monica, a palaeontologist whose wife left him for another woman, but is pregnant with his son; eventually begins a 10-season long on/off love/hate relationship with Rachel.
Monica is the Mother Hen of the group; neurotically so, which only seems to increase when she eventually marries Chandler who lives in the opposite apartment and is Ross’ old college roommate. Womaniser Joey is a struggling whose questionable talent lands him a recurring soap opera role. Standing out though is Phoebe Buffay; Monica’s flat-mate; a quirky vegetarian with the weirdest songs ever and as much of a strange fashion sense to match!
The One with the Nun’s Dress
In season 2 there was a two-part episode where Ross’ former pet monkey, Marcel, came to New York from San Diego Zoo to star in a sequel to the movie Outbreak. Jean-Claude Van Damme and Julia Roberts guest starred in these episodes.
Monica is attracted to Jean-Claude Van Damme and attempts to ask him out, but his eyes are focused on Rachel instead. Monica did not take kindly to this and it escalates into a very comical scrap between the two friends, until an originally peace keeping Phoebe decides to intervene, twisting both of their ears, very much like a strict school ma’am at a Convent School. The long black dress and blouse beneath add to that image of a harsh nun/teacher.
The One with the Grandma Waistcoat
Of course Phoebe is well known for her famous folk songs; Smelly Cat being her Grand Opus that nearly got her a record deal and was eventually sold as the jingle for a cat litter commercial. However, many Friends episodes are punctuated by Phoebe’s bizarre songs (Little Black Curly Hair, anyone?) and often her bizarre taste for fashion would go with it.
The 90s was a more understated decade than its 80s predecessor in sartorial flare, although baggy tops and muted shades did make for some totally weird combinations and Phoebe was queen of this. In this picture from season 1, the drab dark beige sweater combined with a waistcoat of faded flowers is not very hippie of Phoebe, but looks more middle-aged mom than anything else.
The One with the Festive Pheebs?
When she is not struggling to compose a Christmas tune where she can’t find a word that rhymes with either Rachel or Chandler for her seasonal song, then she is finding creative ways to make Clothing costumes for the Holidays last longer too. One of the major storylines of season 4 was Phoebe becoming a surrogate; bearing the kids for her half-brother, Frank Jr and his wife, who was his former teacher.
She finds out she’s pregnant on the day that the infamous quiz makes Rachel and Monica lose their apartment to Chandler and Joey and she soon learns that she will be having triplets for her brother and in her odd, quirky way her choice of maternity clothes end up being the pants of a Santa suit!
The One with the ‘Brooch’
This is an episode where the phrase, ‘going Commando’ becomes famous, after Joey puts on all of Chandler’s clothes when an argument over a seat escalates. Also, one of the worst cringe moments in comedy occurs when Monica leaves a voicemail on her ex-boyfriend Richard’s answer machine, leaving an embarrassing message that she accidentally sets to his greeting message!
Before this and before Ross offends Rachel into almost not going to his big event, an accident occurs where sauce is splashed on Phoebe’s elegant, yellow cocktail dress and the stain is impossible to get out and rather than get changed, she improvises and fetches a brooch. But in true Phoebe style, this is no ordinary brooch but an oversized, glitzy Christmas decoration to cover the sauce and stain!
The One with the Annoying (and Furry) Orange Coat
As the kooky outsider of the group, Phoebe was also at times a canvas for more of the out there and inexplicable ensembles that they could possibly put together. For example, one of the classic episodes of season 5, where all of the Friends discover that Monica and Chandler are together (well, Phoebe and Ross, Joey and Rachel already knew). A hilarious game ensues where Phoebe attempts to seduce Chandler in order to get him to admit that he is seeing Monica.
Although before the sneakiness and mind games begin, Phoebe first spots Chandler and Monica doing it up against Monica’s apartment window and she yells in shock, eventually screaming, “my eyes, my eyes!” as we do in imitation when thinking of her hideous orange coat!
The One with the Amish Phoebe
The Thanksgiving episodes of Friends were always one of the more memorable and mad editions of each Friends series. Whether it’s being the gang locked out of the apartment in the first season; or the football game with the “Gellar Cup,” in season 3, Chandler living in a box in season 4, or Rachel’s dessert disaster in season 6 – not to mention her fight with younger sister Amy in season 9.
But in season 5 there were a few flashback stories, to when a younger Monica accidentally chopped off Chandler’s pinky toe. One of the first flashbacks was when Joey got his head stuck in a turkey. In this clip, Phoebe’s dress can only be explained as some weird Pennsylvania Dutch outfit fashioned from some left over curtains!
The One with the Psychedelic Pink
One episode in season 7 guest stars Beetlejuice and Stranger Things actress Winona Ryder, as Rachel’s former roommate and Sorority sister in college. It turns out that in a moment of drunken silliness while at college, Rachel and her friend fooled around a little and made out. However, our Phoebe doesn't believe this.
Rachel invites her along to the dinner she is having with her friend Melissa but Melissa denies that they ever made out while drunk, until Rachel kisses Melissa again and Melissa’s feeling of true love for Rachel emerges. Earlier, back at Joey’s apartment, Phoebe and Joey are playing their own version of chess and the psychedelic pink number that Phoebe is wearing is enough to put anyone into a state of mental checkmate!
The One Where She Says I Don’t!
Season 4 is features kind of an up and down, topsy turvy kind of episodes; Chandler steals Kathy from Joey who then cheats on Chandler and he sleeps with Monica at Ross’ wedding. Phoebe carries triplets as a surrogate for her brother and sister-in-law while Ross and Rachel go from loving one another to hating one another and then (Rachel, at least) loving Ross again, although Ross does “take thee Rachel” at the altar as he goes to marry Emily.
Before the wedding, Ross asks Monica to collect the wedding dress for Emily that is only available in New York and not London. Monica puts the dress on and Phoebe and Rachel get their own wedding dress. Poor Phoebe has to get a terrible dress to accommodate her baby bump from a shop called: “It’s Not Too Late!”
The One with the Giant Jean Dress
Phoebe has to encounter several different hang ups during her time being pregnant. She discovers that she is carrying three babies and then she has to deal with the fallout of Joey and Chandler battling to name Frank and Alice’s third unborn baby.
Then she manages to convince Monica and Rachel to switch the apartments while Joy and Chandler are away, not to mention her mood swings towards the end of her pregnancy, made worse when her baby shower gifts include tequila and leather pants. Worst of all, Phoebe’s pregnancy makes her, as a vegetarian, crave meat in a frenzy, so it is understandable that on top of this, the added limits to fashion is not a welcome thing in the nine months, like this shapeless denim dress!
The One with the Bad Experiment
Phoebe’s love life is the most haphazard of the six Friends. She never had a truly serious, adult relationship until she was well into the ninth season; she married a Canadian ice skater that she was in love with (though the ice skater turned out to be in fact straight!) There was the cop she dated and eventually moved in with that soon fell apart when he shot a bird; then there was the massage client that lasted only an episode.
And who could forget Alec Baldwin as the overly happy Parker? But chief among them is David, the scientist who goes to Minsk in season 1 and remains Phoebe’s on and off love until the season 9 finale. When she bade David goodbye on New Year’s Eve, it looked like she was wearing a terrible science experiment gone wrong!
The One with the Overgrown Schoolgirl
Sometimes when Phoebe Buffay attempts to dress normally it seems to come off even worse than when she is wearing some kind of weird ensemble that she has thrown together at random. One of the strange incidents of her wearing a bizarre pass at normal clothes is an episode where she is taking an adult class in Literature.
Rachel tags along and the book being taught is Wuthering Heights and Rachel takes credit for Phoebe’s ideas about the book so Phoebe takes revenge in the next class. In the first class, Phoebe is dressed up in a blouse, skirt and scarf, which altogether seems like a weird attempt at being in a school uniform. Time to graduate from that look, Pheebs!
The One with the High Society Fail
Phoebe eventually does settle down with the love of her life and surprisingly – though many people thought she would end with him – was not David the scientist guy that went to Minsk, but Mike, played by Ant Man’s Paul Rudd.
Phoebe meets Mike when she and Joey agree to set each other up on dates. Joey called out in the coffee house for anyone named Mike, and what was originally a disastrous first date, soon leads into a romance between Phoebe and Mike. Mike takes Phoebe to meet his parents in a hilarious set of mishaps that make her look like the worst girlfriend ever. Not to mention her very mom-like appearance when meeting Mike’s parents, completely at odds with her craziness.
The One with the Boiler Suit
Towards the end of the first season, Carol goes into labor with the son that she get pregnant with by Ross, before she left him for Susan; fully prepared to live her life with her partner.
Although Ross is still somewhat cut up and bitter about Carol and Susan, especially as it seems Rachel is not interested in him. But when Carol has Ben, the tension between Ross and Susan boils over and Phoebe locks them in a janitor’s closet to settle their differences and the three of them get stuck in the room. In order to get out, Phoebe climbs into the air vent but for some reason she puts on the spare boiler suit in the room and at the same time remains in the ventilation system.
The One with the Adult Attire
In season 6 there was an episode where a guy in Central Perk asks Phoebe for her autograph and tells Joey that she is an adult star, Gunther also confirms this, so Joey goes into an adult store.
Ross sees him and follows him in and they discover Phoebe on a video cover for a dirty movie called: “Buffay the Vampire Layer!” All of the gang (minus Phoebe) put the tape on and watch it, until Rachel notices a tattoo on “Phoebe’s” ankle (Phoebe doesn’t have a tattoo on her ankle). Rachel realizes it’s Ursula, Phoebe’s evil twin. “Phoebe’s" outfit in this movie is an extremely cheap looking and fake leather style skimpy dress, added to this is a very cheap and wild bouffant hair cut.
The One with the Fur
Phoebe’s main backstory is one of a fairly fractured and actually pretty tragic childhood; where her father abandoned Phoebe, Ursula and their mother. Their mother also ended her life when Phoebe was about 14, resulting in Phoebe ending up homeless – it was later revealed that she mugged a teenage Ross.
At the end of season 3, Phoebe learns that her mother is a different woman and is alive and lives by the infamous beach where Chandler helps Monica after she gets stung by a jellyfish. Phoebe gets some heirlooms from her mother in season 5, which includes a fur coat that she thinks she looks great, barring the fact she is a vegetarian. Not to mention, just looking at the coat, you can tell it looks old!
The One with the Sweats
A classic episode is the Thanksgiving episode in season 3 where the gang play football in a nearby park and it sparks up the intense rivalry between Monica and Ross over the contended and contentious Geller Cup.
Meanwhile, during the game Joey and Chandler compete for the affections of a beautiful Dutch woman and eventually the game winds up as the guys versus the girls, with Monica and Ross refusing to let go of the ball. In order for the gang to play the game, the six of them appear in sweats – clearly they went and changed, though Phoebe lives quite a distance away – it is Phoebe’s sweats that seem the most out there and weird, more like an odd yoga teacher rather than someone throwing around some pig skin.
The One with the Twin Set
Phoebe’s twin Ursula pops up throughout the show, for example when she used Phoebe’s name to be an adult film star and when Phoebe fell for Ursula’s boyfriend, played by Sean Penn. She was introduced in Friends season 1 in a two-part episode where Ursula dates Joey – the first episode features Helen Hunt going into Central Perk and confusing Phoebe with Ursula.
When Ursula does not bother calling Joey back, it causes a rift between Phoebe and him, so in order to put the trouble to rest; Phoebe disguises herself as Ursula, whose style of dress is radically different to Phoebe’s; much more centred on black tones and frumpy outfits. It certainly opposes the whole image of Phoebe.
The One with the Weird Shoes
Phoebe is infamous for being a free spirit and this is reflected in her line of work; where she works as a freelance massage therapist. As the occupation is unsteady, she is not particularly wealthy but a stream of steady clients that pay cash means she dodges tax easily; making her fiercely independent.
So it comes as a surprise when she becomes employed by a large corporate chain of spas that Rachel soon discovers that Phoebe is working in the spa after Phoebe made a big show about such spa chains being evil. Rachel recognizes Phoebe through the shoes she remarked upon earlier and they are some strange footwear that resembles the outside of some Native American tepee, whose fabric someone stole to make shoes from!
The One with the Curtain for a Coat
In season 10, Phoebe eventually finds the love of her life in Mike, played by Paul Rudd; a former lawyer that now plays piano professionally for a living. The lead up to the couple getting married originally involves them donating their wedding money to charity before taking it back, and hiring a dictatorial Monica as the wedding planner before a heavy snow storm meant that the wedding might get cancelled.
Instead they arranged a wedding in Central Perk, out in the street amid snow and ice sculptures. Although when she gets married she is wearing a beautiful wedding dress, enduring the cold and snow outside to get hitched in her perfect gown. But the coat she is wearing is far from lovely, in fact, it looks like its been made from an old rug!
The One with the Plain Pant Suit
Season 6 had a two part episode that looked at the possible what ifs that would occur should the timeline of the six friends had turned out different.
If Ross was married to a still closeted Carol, if Rachel had married Barry, if Monica had stayed fat, if Joey was still on Days of Our Lives and if Chandler had quit his boring corporate job, becoming a comedy writer. Where Phoebe was concerned, the what if covered what her life would have been like if she had taken a stocks job at Merrill Lynch. This Phoebe is a hard nosed business woman that takes no prisoners and neither does her uncompromising grey pant suit with a severe cropped haircut that is about as un-Phoebe as it gets!
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