Cora Harrington

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"Unlike other industries, these dresses cannot be made in the United States," the National Bridal Retailers Association wrote earlier this year in a lobbying letter, "as there is zero labor pool of skilled craftsmen that can hand-bead gowns with as many as 200,000 sequins, beads, and crystals."

The ebook edition is currently $5.99 on iBooks and Kindle 📚💐

There were soooo many North Beach Leather looks.

Cover of In Intimate Detail: How to Choose, Wear, and Love Lingerie by Cora Harrington. Book cover has pastel pink background with black lace lingerie set front and center. Text is black. Book is surrounded by baby’s breath flowers on neutral background.

There are still a few more days left in Pride, so I just want to take a moment to let everyone know that my book about lingerie, In Intimate Detail, is gender-neutral and contains intimate apparel advice for trans folks, disabled folks, and other communities. Available wherever books are sold! 🌈

FIT

I’ve loved this show for as long as I can remember, but she was not a direct inspiration for my current path.

I was so surprised that she seems to have never been an invited guest!

I cited your article in my paper 😊

I was genuinely surprised there was so little information out there about Debra Pugh! She’s working as a mascot designer now, but I haven’t seen her name come up anywhere for cons or interviews or articles or anything.

I’m so glad you like it!

Neither of them does. Jem is really underappreciated as a fashion cartoon compared to those.

IMDB line credit for Debra Pugh as fashion designer for Jem and The Holograms

Debra Pugh is explicitly titled as a Fashion Designer for the cartoon, which I’m not sure has happened for any other animated series?

Not just the main characters had unique costumes, but so did side and secondary characters and even the “extras” like audience members.

Not yet! But I thought about turning into something that could be formally shared.

It was a vibrant time in fashion

I did not!

It’s not, but I may turn it into something that could be publicly accessible later.

It took a long time, but got a lot of surprisingly good feedback in presentation, even from people who’d never heard of the cartoon before!

I may turn this into a longer paper or project, so nothing to share right now other than smaller pieces like this.

Thank you!

☺️

Thank you!

Even then, Naoko did far, far, FAR fewer costumes than Pugh.

I’ve only looked at a small sample of costumes, but based on what I’ve seen so far, I don’t.

I also learned about JemCon while researching this, and if they ever invite Debra Pugh - who went on to be an animator for Gargoyles, All Dogs Go to Heaven, X-Men: Evolution, Animanicas, Batman: The Animated Series, My Little Pony Tales, and The Care Bears - I’ll make a point to go.

#dresshistory

Shana is the fashion designer

Side by side image of ad for North Beach Leather in American Vogue March 1985 issue featuring two models in purple: one in spaghetti strap ruched dress and the other in blazer and pants. Right is of main character Shana in the ruched dress with white blazer on top.

Side by side comparison of model in green North Beach Leather dress from American Vogue September 1986 featuring front zip, two side pocket zips, and upper zip. Right side shows Stormer in pink version of dress.

Side by side comparison of model with cartoon. Model wears a red sequin evening gown with beaded fringe and sequined epaulettes by Valentino from American Vogue October 1983. Comparison image shows Jem in floor length red evening gown and fringe epaulettes.

Side by side comparison of North Beach Leather as from American Vogue April 1985 showing two models in blue. One wearing mini dress with back turned, one wearing bustier and pants set with hat. Pizazz wears the bustier and pants set with added stole and red scarf tied around leg.

Here are several examples of the looks she referenced in Jem. The breadth and depth of familiarity Debra Pugh had with fashion is astonishing. This barely scratches the surface. I wonder if we’ll ever see this level of dedication in a cartoon again. I truly believe this makes her one of the greats.

Individual American Vogue covers for the dates indicated in the post

For my final project, I focused on the main characters - Jem/Jerrica, Aja, Shana, Kimber, Pizzazz, Roxy, and Stormer - in the 1st season for 443 total unique costumes.

Then I went through 4 years of American Vogue - January 1983 to January 1987 - for fashion references Debra Pugh would have used.

24 individual and unique costumes from Jem and the Holograms in a variety of colors and silhouettes for the main characters.

24 individual and unique costumes from Jem and the Holograms in a variety of colors and silhouettes for the main characters.

Jem is a fashion cartoon, and I believe its Costume Designer, Debra Pugh, deserves more credit for the thousands of costumes she designed over 3 seasons and 65 episodes, pulling extensively from fashion magazines, trade journals, and advertisements to tell characters’ stories through fashion.