'Gilmore Girls' costumer reveals unbreakable set dress code

Say what you will about early 2000s fashion, but Gilmore Girls always had a distinct and unreplicatable look. But because it's a TV show, that effortless turn-of-the-century chic is meticulously chosen, and for that there need to be some rules.

At the Gilmore Girls fan festival over Oct. 20-23, costume designer Valerie Campbell revealed that no matter what the cast wore on set, bare midriffs were absolutely forbidden.

“That’s what the style was, and at the time we started Gilmore, it was right when the waistlines went from your belly button down to the lower part of your [pants]," Campbell said, according to HelloGiggles. "Amy [Sherman-Palladino, the showrunner] did not like the fact that the tops were going up and all you saw was skin. Because if you were in Connecticut, in winter, you’d be freezing! You’d have a coat on, you wouldn’t show that.”

"You’ll see Alexis [Bledel] and Lauren [Graham] tucking down their shirts," Campbell explained. "The reason they’re tucking down their is shirts because if you saw the midriff, we would cut."

This proved particularly difficult during longer shots, such as when the girls walk and talk and the camera doesn't cut between angles. If any scandalous stomach skin snuck in, the shot would have to be scrapped.

Eventually, Palladino “wouldn’t have to say anything, they would just do it,” Campbell added of the on-camera shirt-tucking.

A lot has changed since those days, especially fashion-wise, so maybe we'll see the Gilmores rocking crop tops in the new series. Or still tugging compulsively at their shirts, a decade later -- old habits and all that.