From her iconic style in She’s All That to her big break in The Babysitters Club, Rachael Leigh Cook (Josie and the Pussycats and He’s All That) takes us behind the looks of her characters’ style.
Director: Stephanie Romero
Video Editor: Collin Hughart
VP, Creative: Alexa Wiley
VP, Social: MacKenzie Green
Executive Director, Entertainment: Jessica Baker
Director: Stephanie Romero
Video Editor: Collin Hughart
VP, Creative: Alexa Wiley
VP, Social: MacKenzie Green
Executive Director, Entertainment: Jessica Baker
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00Oh dear, I remember we got the giggles this day. People did not think it was funny, and I felt bad.
00:06Hi, I'm Rachel Leigh Cook, and we are going Behind the Looks with Who, What, Where.
00:19Oh boy, we are beginning at the very beginning. Here it is.
00:24This is 1995 Columbia Pictures' The Baby-Sitters Club.
00:30I've played a character named Mary Ann Spear, which is, even if you only read the books, you definitely remember Mary Ann.
00:38She is fiercely loyal, very studious, and these things are, well, especially the studious part where they made sure to convey in the wardrobe.
00:47What I remember about this outfit is that, kind of in the classic trope of sort of prep school clothing,
00:54I remember I would roll the waistband a little bit too high to try to make it cuter and shorter.
01:00And I remember the costume designer always going, like, Rachel, come on, help me out. It's a kid's movie. Like, let's be cool.
01:06I definitely thought I was way more of a Claudia. She had the cool clothes.
01:11When the movie was over and we had the option to buy stuff, I took home none of the Mary Ann outfits.
01:17Mary Ann, all heart, not a lot of fashion.
01:21Oh, here we go. Guess this was my thing for a while. This movie is called Strike.
01:26I think it has a couple different titles internationally, but this was a great, great time filming this movie.
01:32I play a character named Abigail Sawyer, and she is the goody-goody of the group, who is everyone's sort of shared nemesis in that photo.
01:45These outfits are so adorable. It was a period piece. I can't remember exactly what year it's set in.
01:50But I remember it was so hot in Toronto where we shot this, and I want to say it was maybe even that day.
01:57We had a lot of people faint, just drop, completely hit the deck, because those uniforms were made of wool.
02:03So, yeah, that happened.
02:06Here we go. 1999-tastic. She's all that. My character's name is Laney Boggs.
02:13Probably most known for wearing the glasses until she doesn't.
02:16I think the joke is now that if you were to remake it, which obviously they did, but this version,
02:23if you were to do that, that it would sort of go in reverse and that you would get glasses.
02:27I don't know. This is why they shouldn't ask me.
02:30What can I tell you about the red dress? I remember that it was custom-made because they wanted it to be a very specific thing,
02:36and we absolutely needed doubles.
02:38Our costume designer, Denise Wingate, who, fun bit of trivia, also designed He's All That, which is perfect and wonderful,
02:46that she was able to do that again for us.
02:49She had it made, I remember it was made by a designer down on, I think, Beverly or Melrose.
02:55We went to their storefront, and they sort of collaborated on it together.
03:01I remember that one of the red dresses was slightly smaller than the other,
03:06and I came down the stairs in the smaller one, and I am not breathing, and you can kind of tell.
03:11I don't know if you could call a single moment my favorite,
03:17but one of the things that I'm grateful to the movie for is that I started working when I was really young.
03:22As you now have a very direct visual reference to from that Babysitter's Club slide,
03:26but I did not go to my own prom, and I was the age that I was playing in She's All That.
03:33So I had this epic, fake movie prom, and sure, no one was anyone's actual date,
03:39but I got to watch Incredible Dancing.
03:42I had hair makeup there the whole time.
03:44I have a sort of placebo prom memory that I otherwise wouldn't have had, and I think that that's...
03:50Look, I understand the difference between making a movie and reality, okay? I'm not a loon.
03:54But that was really cool to me.
03:56Okay, here we go.
03:582001, Josie and the Pussycats, where I was lucky enough to be able to play Josie McCoy.
04:05Holy crap, how Lisa Evans was not...
04:09I don't know. I hope she won every award imaginable for her design on this movie.
04:14She came to me with the sketches of the outfits for the film that look exactly like what she produced.
04:21Usually those seem like wishful thinking. I loved her vision.
04:24I love the fashion. You could never wear it in real life, but that's the point of being a rock star, right?
04:30So yeah, Lisa crushed it for us.
04:32Lisa had to have all of the pants custom-made because they didn't make low-rise enough pants for her vision.
04:40I mean, I think that the zippers were maybe two inches.
04:44I did keep some of the ears. I've got them somewhere.
04:48I think I got my photo doubles version of them because they say Josie double, so they're not even mine.
04:53But I definitely have some somewhere.
04:56People were so quick to call our movie hypocritical because it was covered in branding,
05:01and it was like, yeah, that's the point. It's self-referential.
05:05And you know what? Never mind. If you get it, you get it. If you don't, whatever. Watch it again.
05:10When people show me photos of themselves and their friends dressed up as these characters for Halloween,
05:15it puts such a smile on my face.
05:17This is a lesser-known movie called Texas Rangers. It is from 2001.
05:23It is my second film with Usher, but hopefully not the last.
05:27I play a character named Caroline Dukes. That is Ashton Kutcher.
05:32And it also features James Van Der Beek and Dylan McDermott.
05:37That was pretty good, I gotta say. I'm impressed I remember that much.
05:41This, we had beautiful weather. I remember we were in Calgary.
05:45And yeah, gosh, they did a great job. They must have had a serious budget on that movie.
05:49I love that you've been in a movie with Usher two times.
05:53I love it too. I can't wait for our next collaboration.
05:58Not a lot of people walk up to me on the street and reference this movie.
06:01Actually, that's never happened. This movie is called Blonde Ambition. It is from 2007.
06:07I play an artsy type. I think this is me trying to channel my inner Claudia from Babysitter's Club.
06:13With Jessica Simpson as the lead in this. I played her cousin.
06:18What do I remember about it? I remember that Jessica was wonderful.
06:22She is so warm and she's kind of shy and her family was there.
06:27And she's just a really lovely human being. No idea what that movie's about.
06:32I don't know what these Yeti boots are about on what's clearly a beautiful day outside.
06:39That was ill-advised. That I would reconsider.
06:43This is from Valentine in the Vineyard. From the Vineyard series that was on the Hallmark Channel.
06:50Starring myself and Canada's own Brendan Penny. Penny, I love you. I miss you.
06:56I hope this is not the last work that we do together.
07:00We shot these movies in a region called the Okanagan in BC.
07:04And the Okanagan needs a new publicist because it is incredible. It is just as beautiful as Napa.
07:11There are so many amazing boutique wineries up there. Highly recommend a visit.
07:15What can I tell you about this wedding day?
07:19Oh dear, I remember we got the giggles this day. We did and it was very cold.
07:24People did not think it was funny and I felt bad.
07:28It wasn't great. It doesn't happen to me very often so I remember that.
07:32No, this would not be my preferred style of wedding dress but again, it was freezing.
07:38So all of a sudden, this shrug kind of moment had to come together.
07:43Very Mother of the Bride vibes. Not really feeling it.
07:47But again, very fun day. Too fun, apparently.
07:51Here we go. Aww. Hi Addison, you little sweetheart.
07:55This is 2021. My first foray into the mom roles in earnest.
08:01This is He's All That, remake of She's All That, where I play Anna Sawyer.
08:06Mom of Padgett Sawyer, played by none other than the Internet's Addison Rae,
08:12who is such a lovely young human. Nothing but respect for her kindness and professionalism.
08:18And directed by Mark Waters, who I was reunited with after working with him on a movie called
08:24House of Yes, which is where I first met Freddie Prinze Jr.
08:27Full circle moment. There it goes.
08:30I hope this doesn't seem like a reflection of a massive ego or something.
08:34But I remember going for my wardrobe fitting on this again with Denise Wingate
08:39and that kind of did my head in a little bit.
08:42But I went and they were already into production and I remember thinking,
08:47all these trucks are here because we made a movie that people liked 20 years ago.
08:52More than 20 years ago. How crazy is that?
08:56I don't know. It seemed like I choose to take it as a gigantic compliment.
09:03That's what I'm going with.
09:06Here we go. We're right up to date.
09:092023, A Tourist's Guide to Love. My character is Amanda Riley.
09:14And I straight up told our costume designer,
09:18I do not want to hear it with your reality of what people would wear when traveling.
09:24I was like, we are Carrie Bradshaw traveling over here.
09:27We are aspirational traveling.
09:31I think that the fashion of this movie is absolutely beautiful.
09:34I'm incredibly happy with the way it came out.
09:36Val Halverson absolutely knocked this out of the park.
09:40She also did my first Netflix movie, Love Guaranteed.
09:43And I will work with her every time she'll have me.
09:47Oh my goodness. Thank you Who What Where for that trip down memory lane.
09:51Please tell me your favorite looks below.
09:53And I hope you will join us for A Tourist's Guide to Love only on Netflix.
10:00A Tourist's Guide to Love only on Netflix.