The guest host Quinta Brunson was the perfect fit to introduce “Forever 31.”
The best Saturday Night Live parody commercials have a hint of truth to them, even at their most absurd. But “Forever 31”—the fake ad that aired during this weekend’s episode hosted by the Abbott Elementary creator and star, Quinta Brunson—felt even more realistic than usual. It was the type of sketch that almost seemed designed to be shared on Instagram by people in their early 30s with the caption “This is so me.”
In the sketch, Brunson and SNL’s female cast members hawked products for a brand called Forever 31, a play on the infamous mall store Forever 21. But instead of the cute going-out tops and flimsy miniskirts you could find at the latter, Forever 31 catered its clothing to exhausted women in their 30s. “Introducing Forever 31, for the woman who’s stylish but tired,” the voiceover explained as Chloe Fineman danced in an oversize sweater and loose pants. “Fun, but not like ‘fun’ fun.”
The clothes at Forever 31 were baggy yet chic basics in “every color of the bummer rainbow,” including gray and beige. Brunson noted there was also navy blue “if you’re feeling skanky.” The collection featured a lot of big suits that recalled the former Talking Heads frontman David Byrne’s famously oversize garb in the concert documentary Stop Making Sense; there were also looks that, as Heidi Gardner said, would “make “Diane Keaton look like a prostitute.
