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Can everyone, just for one quick moment, tear their minds away from picturing Chuck and Nate doing it, and remember the actual point of Gossip Girl? Yes, thank you, the clothes. The New York Times goes out into the field and gathers hard evidence of what was pretty obvious: Serena van der Woodsen and Blair Waldorf are, as far as fashion retailers are concerned, Carrie Bradshaw to the power of 100. Bloomingdales fashion director Stephanie Solomon says that the show "has had a profound influence on retail," while Teen Vogue editor Amy Astley admits that the characters' carefully styled wardrobes prompted "a pretty huge resurgence of ritzy, preppy and collegiate looks" on the runway. Even socialite designer Tory Burch has "girls coming in with magazine tear sheets of Blake Lively or Leighton Meester, from location shootings or from everyday life."

We do have, however, the obligatory balancing quote: "Sometimes you see these girls from Brooklyn carrying Valentino bags that cost $3,000," says a random member of the public. "That makes the show a little irritating." Yes, because imaginary sixteen-year-olds with imaginary rich parents living in an imaginary version of Manhattan can wear outfits that cost twenty grand and our disbelief is miraculously suspended, but an outer-borough teen with an expensive purse entirely breaks the spell!