On Monday, Dawson’s Creek star Katie Holmes was seen shopping in Manhattan wearing an outfit not unlike those worn by her character Joey Potter (and others on the show) in the fictional seaside town of Capeside, MA. For the occasion, the actress wore a black, double-breasted coat, jeans, and loafers paired with black socks. What gave her casual look the Capeside touch was the cream-colored, fisherman-style sweater she wore tied around her shoulders.
Capeside, though not a real place, was inspired by Cape Cod. As such, Breton shirts, collegiate crewnecks, and J.Crew sweater sets were a common sight on the show. In fact, in 1998, the preppy retailer featured the cast of the show, including Holmes, James van der Beek, Michelle Williams, and Joshua Jackson, in one of its catalogs. In it, the cast wore J.Crew’s signature cable-knit sweaters and button-downs while rowing a boat. Though not included in the catalog, Holmes’ around-the-shoulders fisherman sweater would have undoubtedly fit right into the editorial.
Capeside wasn’t the only place where we saw sweaters mimicking scarves in the late ‘90s and ‘00s. Throughout the show’s run between 1998 and 2003, the style hack appeared in other TV shows and films and pop culture in general. Selma Blair frequented them in nearly every movie she starred in during the two decades, including Legally Blonde and Cruel Intentions. Autumn Reeser from The OC — which ran a little later, from 2003 to 2007 — frequently wore her lime green and pink cardigans tied around her shoulders, too.
Though slightly preppier than what we’ve grown accustomed to seeing Holmes in lately, given that the back-to-school look is on the rise again (think: Bella Hadid’s recent varsity jacket and the return of Gossip Girl), it’s really no surprise that the actress would borrow a signature styling trick from her fictional hometown. Now, we’ll be recreating the look, too.
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