Lorelai's Best 'Gilmore' Friday Night Dinner Looks

I think we can all agree that throughout Gilmore Girls' seven-year history, Lorelai Gilmore's style has always been eclectic, to say the least. Rory's outfits could almost always be relied upon to be classic and sweet, but Lorelai has always had a fickle sense of fashion. That's one of the many reasons I love her oh-so-very much. But, when it came to Friday night dinners at her parents' house, Lorelai's look was slightly tamed. (Although, to be fair, anything is tamer than her cowboy outfit from Rory's first day at Chilton, right?) You could often find Lorelai in funky sweaters, or in fun wrap dresses. I've scoured the entire series on Netflix (thank God for Netflix!) for all of Lorelai's many, many Friday night dinner outfits from Gilmore Girls, and I fell in love with quite a few.

Curse the world that the show is over, because it would have been amazing to see how Lorelai's style for Friday night dinners would change once Rory left for her Obama campaign trail gig. As Emily herself worried, maybe Rory was the one made the rules about fashion for Friday night dinners. I kind of hope Lorelai did eventually start wearing jeans just to see Emily's reaction. (Amy Sherman-Palladino, I'm still holding out hope for that movie/TV special/encore series.) But, while we wait, here is the definitive ranking of Lorelai's best Friday night dinner outfits from the pilot to the series finale.

15. Logan Meets The Gilmore Family

This episode marked the first time Logan officially met Emily, Richard, and Lorelai with his new title as Rory's boyfriend. The top Lorelai is wearing here is quite festive but the pants are a sort of boring pair of black slacks. Clearly she wasn't going to get overly dressed up for Logan's visit but did a little something fun on top to show support for Rory.

14. The Last Friday Night Dinner... Onscreen

A beautiful color on Lorelai and a beautiful necklace. Just not the greatest cut on the sleeves. The last Friday night dinner onscreen could have warranted a better outfit from Lorelai, who stepped up her fashion game for the dinners in the last few seasons.

13. The One That Started The Tradition

A simple black dress with sleeves. It's classic and makes sense for the first Friday night dinner of many.

12. The Adorable Sweater

Out of all of Lorelai's sweaters that she wore to Friday night dinners, this might be my absolute favorite. I can't explain it, the color and the style just work for me.

11. The Red Dress & Way Too Chunky Belt

Loving the dress, loving the jewelry, hating the width of that belt.

10. The Beautiful Jacket

Lorelai didn't even need to take her jacket off for this outfit to be awesome. Love it, love it, almost as much as I love the news she's receiving here: Her parents are renewing their vows.

9. The Sheer Cardigan Look

Another Friday night dinner and another winning look. (Actually it was the second Friday night dinner, but stay with me.) Some might dislike the color of this cardigan, but it works for me. The length of the sleeves, the placement with a simple black dress, and her curls — I'm loving this most out of all of Lorelai's early-season Friday night dinner outfits.

8. The Bold Wrap Dress

Boom! It hits you in the face. It's definitely a Lorelai dress, and a welcomed surprise to see at dinner.

7. The Peekaboo Sweater

This one's fun and flirty while still being understated and elegant because of the black color. The sleeve cutout might be a bit much but it does tie in with the neckline.

6. The Hot Pink & Floral Look

Yes, I know in this picture Lorelai is not at dinner, she's at the Inn with Sookie, but I couldn't find a good enough picture of this outfit at the actual dinner. So this will have to do. I usually hate cropped cardigans, but the neckline of this paired with the floral dress works. Again, loving the boldness of the color here.

5. Richard's Hospital Dinner Dress

Technically this outing wasn't a typical Friday night dinner, but Richard had just had a heart attack so that family met together at the hospital to spend time with him. So it counts. At first glance, I thought Lorelai was wearing a long black cardigan with a floral dress but that I realized this wrap dress was both combined which made me like it even more. It's just cool enough to scream Lorelai, and just elegant enough to work for a Friday night dinner.

4. The Rory Dress

Don't you think Season 3 dress look like something Rory would wear?

3. The Demure Wrap Dress

Another work dress turned Friday night dinner dress, but this one is a little more appropriate than the earlier, bolder wrap dress. It's pretty, but a little plain. Yet, it looks amazing on Lorelai.

2. The Best Impression Dress

Lorelai wore this impressive black dress when meeting Jason's parents for the first time. While that dinner (and that romance) went south pretty quickly, this dress was definitely one to remember.

1. The Beginning Of Chris & Lorelai Dress

Sure, this is the dress Lorelai wore when she gave Luke an ultimatum about their not-so-impending wedding, and when she went to Christopher's place and ultimately slept with him, ending her relationship with Luke. But, I love this dress. It's the perfect color, cut, and the dark blue cardigan works perfectly with the dress. Her hair also looks great. All in all, this is easily Lorelai's best Friday night dinner outfit, head to toe.

Images: Screenshot/Warner Bros. Television (15)