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The relationship between fashion and comedy isn’t readily apparent—comedy is generally about wearing what works, and fashion is, more often than not, the butt of jokes. But Kaling is among a new class of comedians sewing the two together: “If you’re fashionable, I don’t think people think you’re going to be less funny, not anymore,” Kaling says. “Maya Rudolph and Kristen [Wiig] are total fashion girls. They’re always rocking really cool looks by really cool designers, but I don’t think anyone thinks they’re less hilarious because of it.” Nevertheless, she admits, “I work with a bunch of dudes, at The Office more than even this job, and if you wear something a little bit too out there, or you even wear high heels to work, everyone assumes you have a super hot date that night.” It follows that comedy writers wouldn’t necessarily appreciate haute couture in the same way a designer might not get Judd Apatow movies. At its heart is the judgment that surrounds fashion as a pursuit—that a person should not only be criticized for bold fashion choices, but instead judged for caring at all. “Often,” she says, “if a character spends a lot of time on fashion or how they look, it is an indication that they are not a good person.”
Mindy Kaling is a Fashion-Forward, Comedic Superstar Adrift in a Sea of Sweatpants](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ma8p3nwM2q1qzspj4o1_500.jpg)
The relationship between fashion and comedy isn’t readily apparent—comedy is generally about wearing what works, and fashion is, more often than not, the butt of jokes. But Kaling is among a new class of comedians sewing the two together: “If you’re fashionable, I don’t think people think you’re going to be less funny, not anymore,” Kaling says. “Maya Rudolph and Kristen [Wiig] are total fashion girls. They’re always rocking really cool looks by really cool designers, but I don’t think anyone thinks they’re less hilarious because of it.” Nevertheless, she admits, “I work with a bunch of dudes, at The Office more than even this job, and if you wear something a little bit too out there, or you even wear high heels to work, everyone assumes you have a super hot date that night.” It follows that comedy writers wouldn’t necessarily appreciate haute couture in the same way a designer might not get Judd Apatow movies. At its heart is the judgment that surrounds fashion as a pursuit—that a person should not only be criticized for bold fashion choices, but instead judged for caring at all. “Often,” she says, “if a character spends a lot of time on fashion or how they look, it is an indication that they are not a good person.”
Mindy Kaling is a Fashion-Forward, Comedic Superstar Adrift in a Sea of Sweatpants
