TV Fashion Docuseries in the Works from Hal Rubenstein, Magilla Entertainment (Exclusive)

Designer, editor and author Hal Rubenstein is looking to bring his best-selling book about the influence of television on fashion … to television.

Rubenstein, a founding editor of InStyle magazine, is developing a docuseries based on his best-selling 2023 book Dressing the Part: Television’s Most Stylish Shows along with unscripted producer Magilla Entertainment (Discovery’s Moonshiners, HGTV’s Beachfront Bargain Hunt). The producers are taking the show to potential buyers this week.

As with the book, the potential series will feature Rubenstein talking with costume designers, producers and stars about the ways television has both reflected and influenced fashion trends. Among the shows featured in the book are Friends, Emily in Paris, Miami Vice, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Empire, Gossip Girl, Dynasty and RuPaul’s Drag Race, among many others.

“I’ve chronicled style in magazines, at fashion’s capitals and on the red carpet, but no source has ever matched television’s ever-increasing influence, inspiring our wardrobes for work, being at home, going on a date, taking a vacation or getting ready for a big night out,” Rubenstein said in a statement. “Writing Dressing the Part was a joyous endeavor; I couldn’t believe no book had ever celebrated the power of TV costume design, its incredible artists and the decades of enviable clothes they’ve created. The only thing that could be more exciting and rewarding is to now use the television medium to showcase its own potent, savvy, sometimes silly but often dazzling power over what we hang in our closets. This is going to be fun.”

Added Magilla Entertainment co-founder Laura Palumbo Johnson, “A docuseries on this topic, charting 70 years of trendsetting television — with an eye on fashion — is long overdue. The only person with the access, expertise and gravitas to anchor a series like this is Hal Rubenstein. His book hit on a widely recognized yet unexplored phenomenon, and we’re delighted to team up to further illustrate and expand on the source material.” 

The project also has the endorsement of costume designer Eric Daman (Billions and both iterations of Gossip Girl), who is featured in the book. “With so much media and cultural interest in fashion’s influence on television and television’s influence on fashion, Hal’s illuminating Dressing the Part is an iconic pop culture capsule of legendary TV style for the ages. This epic, binge worthy collection of design and insider insight is well poised to capture the complete attention of viewers, including fabulous fashionistas across all generations.”