Harriet the Spy Style File

Young Harriet aspires to be a writer, and takes up spying on her neighbours, peers and friends and writing down the sometimes-harsh truth about them in her trusty notebooks. Her story should serve as a cautionary tale to all plucky girl detectives to write their observations in code or invisible ink – or at least not to bring their notebooks to school. Harriet’s friends don’t take it well when they read her observations.

The most iconic of Harriet’s outfits in the 1996 movie is her combo of black hoodie, jeans, sneakers, and bright yellow raincoat. This is a doozy of an outfit for the plucky girl detective: practical and cute.

Harriet keeps things simple but chic in stripy tops, which she layers underneath hoodies and jumpers.

She is a bit of a tomboy, wearing dark &/or baggy clothes, pants and sneakers.

Harriet’s favourite accent colour is yellow, as seen in her jacket and her favourite belt.

She also gives us this memorable look.

Harriet keeps her long hair from interfering in her spywork by putting it in a long plait, or securing it with a cloth headband.

One gets the feeling that Harriet doesn’t spend hours pouring over her clothes, more interested in their practicality than their visual effect. Nonetheless, the resulting look is journalist chic 101: simple yet stylish.

Stream Harriet online or buy the dvd on Amazon (I also recommend the book). I'm working on a few Harriet looks on my Polyvore.