In honor of #TBT (aka the glorious tradition of Throwback Thursday), Us Weekly and Pretty Little Liars have partnered to bring you the prettiest little never-before-seen photos from season one on, straight from the ABC Family drama’s archives. Scroll down for more on this week’s picture, and check back every Thursday to see a new one!
In our real world, it’s 2015 and St. Patrick’s Day is just around the corner. But in Us Weekly‘s Pretty Little Liars #TBT world, it’s Halloween circa 2013!
In this week’s throwback picture, a gem from season three’s “This Is a Dark Ride,” the girls are dressed in some of the most iconic costumes in PLL‘s history (and it’s a stylish one!). Which is why Us spoke to the series’ costume designer, Mandi Line, who revealed her surprising inspiration.
“I wanted to create separate worlds for each girl to attract a variety of viewers,” began Line, who’s crafted all of the Liars’ looks, including their Halloween costumes—Aria (Lucy Hale) as a flapper, Hanna (Ashley Benson) as Marilyn Monroe, Spencer (Troian Bellisario) as a film noir star, and, our personal favorite, Emily (Shay Mitchell) as Barbarella.
“To be honest, each of these girls are who I wanted to be in high school, but I didn’t have the means and wasn’t allowed to dress this way,” the designer confessed. “They are my dolls, and I get to play dress up with them from my imagination. And so far it’s worked—they are the most Googled teens on TV for fashion!”
For the next Halloween special, perhaps, Line already has her dream costume for each bestie in mind: Hanna as Cindy Mancini from Can’t Buy Me Love, Aria as Lola from Run Lola Run, Emily as Pris from Blade Runner, and Spencer as Stephanie Zinone (aka Michelle Pfeiffer‘s character) in Grease 2.
“They may all have been a little young to have seen this films,” Line allowed, though she has faith in one of her living dolls. “Troian—she is really good with movies.”
But a fun fact: Much as she adores each of the Liars, Line’s favorite character to dress isn’t a member of the main foursome. “To be honest, my favorite to dress is Mona—nerdy Mona is the best!” she told Us. “Mona’s style changes from scene to scene, and it’s totally okay.”
Check back next week for the final PLL #TBT pic in this series, and tune into Pretty Little Liars every Tuesday at 8 p.m. EST on ABC Family.