The kids who flocked to see the midnight premieres of the Harry Potter movies wearing striped scarves, fake glasses and lightning bolts drawn on their foreheads with their mom’s eyebrow pencils are all grown up.
And like the actors who played their favorite book characters, they’ve gone through puberty. Young Hermione Grangers learned to tame their hair and wear clothes that didn’t drape over them like capes. And little Harry Potters grew facial hair, lost some of their adorability factor, adopted new voices and started seeing Hermione as a love interest.
And though, depressingly, there are no more Harry Potter movie releases left in our future, we can still dress up to show our enduring support for the series. The Black Milk Clothing company, which has a love affair with nylon, will be launching a line of Harry Potter-themed clothing for women Sept. 10.
The collection will include pinstripe leggings in your house’s colors with its crest featured on the upper-side thigh, one-piece swimsuits, house-crest flags and shirts that resemble football jerseys, except they are worn as bum-skimming dresses and show support for fictional Quidditch teams that hold matches in your imagination.
Anthropology major Ayaka Mihara, 21, is a fan of Harry Potter and has read all of the books, but she says the clothes are not for her.
“I like clothes that have cute prints, but not just Harry Potter,” she said. “It is for literature, not for apparel.”
Teasers of models wearing the clothing were published on Black Milk’s Facebook page to promote their release to us Muggles. The photos were picked up by other websites like Geeks are Sexy and Geekologie.
The models in the photos wear expressions similar to those in a Victoria’s Secret ad: seducing the camera, gazing off hazily, gaping super enthusiastically about something outside of the frame and hungrily staring at something in their hands. But what are expected poses in a lingerie catalog come off as contrived and comical when a snitch, a quaffle, broomsticks and wands are strategically staged in the shot. I’m surprised the models were not directed to blow Drooble’s Best Blowing Gum or hit each other with licorice wands.
Rhina Maylin Lara, 18, a freshman chemistry and English major, said she feels that even though the clothes are attractive and provocative, they do not hold true to the books.
“Hermione Granger wouldn’t be caught dead in one of those dresses,” she said. However, Lara, who plays chaser for UF’s club Quidditch team added that the swimsuits are very cute, and she wouldn’t mind buying one.
Yet, if you plan to show your loyalty to Harry Potter by buying one of these items, it is going to cost you a hefty price. You won’t have to join Dumbledore’s Army, as much as you wish you could, but you will have to sacrifice about $95 for the small covering of nylon fabric.
Despite being a cynic of the clothing brand’s cheesecake photo shoots and steep prices, I’m actually quite fond of the designs. I loved Harry Potter when I was 9 and sported a tie, cape, wand and poor British accent to school for Halloween, and I still love to express my fandom now that I am too old to trick-or-treat.
And while I agree the character Hermione would not wear one of Black Milk’s pieces, I can see 23-year-old Emma Watson owning the look with ferocity, style and winged black eyeliner.
A version of this story ran on page 11 on 9/5/2013 under the headline "Accio couture: Black Milk makes Harry Potter magically chic"
