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Wow, I Finally Know What to Wear to Holiday Parties

Photo: Hulu

Last week Hulu released the Happiest Season, a lesbian Christmas rom-com directed by Clea DuVall. The film follows Abby (a curmudgeonly Kristen Stewart) who plans to propose to her much taller girlfriend, Harper (Mackenzie Davis), during the holidays. Things are going well until Harper reveals that she hasn’t come out to her conservative parents on the way to their annual Christmas party, forcing Abby to pretend she’s Harper’s straight roommate for the duration of their stay.

The result is a Christmas romp that will make you cringe and maybe cry a bit. And while Happiest Season has its critics and defenders, one thing I think we can all agree on (besides how devastatingly hot Aubrey Plaza’s character is) is that Kristen Stewart knows how to dress for a holiday party.

Throughout the film, Abby dresses like … well, like how Kristen Stewart would probably dress were she to attend an office Christmas party: in a series of tailored jackets and trousers, heeled loafers, and button-down shirts with most of the buttons undone. With her bleach-blonde bed-head and skinny black twillies, she looks less like someone waiting in line for the eggnog and more like someone sitting front-row at Chanel:

Photo: Hulu
Photo: Hulu

Now, I know no one is going to a holiday party this year, but Abby’s chic holiday looks made me consider my own history with holiday dressing. I am not a sequins-and-tinsel person, and yet every year, when the holiday clothing collections appear in stores, I become convinced that I am. All that appealing holiday marketing makes me feel like the one thing I’m missing in life is a metallic skirt and a glitter sweater. Next thing I know, I’m at a party dressed like a stranger to myself, my kneecaps are freezing, and I’m wondering, yet again, how I forgot that I love pants.

Abby in pants at the holiday party. Photo: Hulu

Watching Abby mope about in a black silk camisole while the rest of the cast of Happiest Season donned tinsel-threaded wool was a heartening reminder that I don’t have to look like a human Christmas tree during the holidays. Once again, I have to thank Kristen Stewart for reminding me that I should stay true to my glum personal style, even if I’m never cast as the lead in a holiday rom-com. Next time we’re allowed to have holiday parties, catch me in a suit and skinny scarf.

Wow, I Finally Know What to Wear to Holiday Parties