'90s rom-com homage fuels Lili Reinhart's wardrobe for The Love Hypothesis
Lili Reinhart is pulling back the curtain on the '90s rom-com vibe behind her The Love Hypothesis promo looks — and the thinking might surprise you.
On the press tour for The Love Hypothesis, Lili Reinhart has been stepping out in outfits that look pulled straight from the golden age of rom-coms. She told HitsRadio she mapped out the wardrobe months in advance with her designer, Abe, building a mini time capsule of ’90s and early-2000s leading-lady looks.
“I really wanted to pay homage to iconic leading ladies of romance and rom-coms of the 1990s and early 2000s when so many incredible ladies were leading these films that I grew up watching,” she said.
Her references have been easy to clock for anyone who grew up on sleepovers and VHS tapes:
- Jawbreaker — a cardigan-and-mini-skirt set with a candy-coated vibe
- How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days — Kate Hudson’s canary-yellow slip dress, reimagined
- Ever After — a nod to Drew Barrymore’s storybook romance
- Atonement — Keira Knightley’s emerald silk gown, one of cinema ’s most famous dresses
That unexpected Star Wars thread
Reinhart’s co-star Tom Bateman says he had no idea about the fandom roots of Ali Hazelwood’s bestseller when he signed on as Dr. Adam Carlsen. He told ELLE that director Claire Scanlon was the one who filled him in that the novel began life as Reylo fan fiction inspired by Daisy Ridley ’s Rey and Adam Driver ’s Kylo Ren — a twist made funnier by the fact that Bateman is married to Ridley.
“I can see now, looking back, where the inspiration comes from. But no, I didn’t know,” he said.
Based on Hazelwood’s hit novel, the movie follows Olive Smith (Reinhart), a Ph.D. candidate who impulsively kisses fearsome professor Adam Carlsen (Bateman) and agrees to a fake-dating setup that gets complicated fast. The rom-com premieres on Prime Video on September 23, 2026 .