Iâve been thinking a lot about how Alice and probably Rosalie have a completely separate manner of dressing themselves when theyâre in public versus in private and I donât mean that it the way a normal person has a different manner of dressing for home vs public.
Alice and Rosalie have to really tone down and assimilate as normal teens/college students in public, not drawing too much attention to themselves despite he fact that they definitely have the most outrageously beautiful and meticulously archived collection of garments that theyâve collected over the past 70-80 years.
They can get away with wearing a few of their more subtle pieces - alice in some comme des garçon stripy T-shirtâs and helmet Lang sweaters. Just a hint of something experimental, well designed and prohibitively expensive. Rosalie can get away with a snug cashmere cardigan that sheâs kept preserved since the 40s, houndstooth cigarette pants, a silk scarf bought in Paris in the 60s tied in her hair or around her neck if sheâs feeling spicy.
But when theyâre at home they donât have to pretend theyâre anything but immortal teens with an eye for fashion and all things vanity.
Catch Rosalie in this get up .5 seconds after she gets in the door, like itâs the comfiest coziest sweater you can finally throw on at the end of a long day:
(Also Veronica lake is literally Rosalie like literally)
Meanwhile Alice zips around the house like this:
And imagine the possibilities when they inevitably borrow from each otherâs closets.
Interestingly I donât really imagine the same complex as much for the rest of the Cullens. I think Carlisle probably has some breeches or something he wears like just for Esme and Esme might have a few nice tailored shirt dresses but she doesnât really care to wear them anymore, preferring pants anyway. Jasper and Emmett of course also have some clothing from the past decades but Emmett just doesnât have the same angst Rosalie has about time passing so he wears a leisure suit or whatever when the mood strikes. jasper, while angsty, expresses that by probably getting rid of his few pre-Alice belongings, including clothing. He probably does love a good pair of suede chaps though lbr (âsorry, the chaps stay ON during sex, babeâ)
Edward also has a complex but I think it would mean heâs totally minimalist about his clothing, and never feeling nostalgic about past fashions bc he hates himself or whatever.
Alice and Rosalie though have very different complicated reasons to use fashion to express themselves and view their physical form as a way to create. Rosalie is vain as a means of creativity, I think, not just in a derogatory sense that is described in canon. Sheâs reclaimed the attention to her looks by further investing in beauty and self adornment where now itâs like a body of artwork over time, showing times she lived through.
Alice is the opposite - sheâs living in the future, with no past to look back on. Sheâs the least human of the Cullens, with no human memories to lament over. Sheâs into imagining a reality that doesnât yet exist, and one way to bring the future into the present is dressing like youâre from the future - which she basically is.