‘Selling Sunset’ Divas Chrishell Stause and Christine Quinn Are Dressed for War, Fabulously

The screen crackles with tension when they appear—the eternal frisson between Nice Girl and Bad Girl. But for how much longer? Right now, it’s unclear if Christine Quinn will even be on the next season of Selling Sunset, given she keeps gleefully trashing the Netflix show—only moderately focused on selling property in Hollywood—as fake and exploitative in interview after interview. And so, as celebrities are wont to do, a different kind of popularity contest is being waged between Quinn and nemesis/frenemy Chrishell Stause—and it is unfolding in the form of sparring fashion moments in the tabloids.

In the aftermath of the show’s smash-hit fifth season in which she was not much present (she is quite the star now, haven’t you heard?), Quinn, a towering, semi-terrifying Gothic Barbie, has been leaning into her established villain status with black, futuristic Balenciaga and CEO pantsuits.

Even when relatively demure, as in an appearance on Watch What Happens Live wearing a dressed-down tuxedo, Quinn—with the aid of amazing lipstick and nail detailing—steals the show.

In contrast, Stause is an old-school heroine—with a twist. After a succession of painful televised heartbreaks, the real estate broker debuted a new relationship with nonbinary Australian musician G Flip in May, delighting fans who’d long been rooting for her to find love.

Until recently, Stause’s style was nothing to write home about: straight-down-the-middle Pretty Girl looks. But over the past few months, Stause has cannily appeared in increasingly daring ensembles. Nothing cements a star in our hearts like an ascent to Style Icon status, especially if she’s confident enough to share the evolution of her sexuality in public.

On Sunday night, at the Fourth Annual Critics Choice Real TV Awards, Stause stepped out in a Rihanna-reminiscent sheer beaded minidress, telegraphing the giddy energy of a woman who’s finally figuring out who she is.

“Being a part of Selling Sunset has completely given me a love for fashion on a bigger level,” Stause told Hello! in April. “I have definitely stepped it up and just having more fun with it. Any old rules we used to abide by in fashion are out the door and it’s all about confidence.”

Perhaps not since the halcyon days of Vanderpump Rules, the hit Bravo Real Housewives spinoff that pitted gorgeous West Hollywood waitstaff against one other, has a reality show been as arresting as Sunset, which follows Los Angeles luxury realtors and their tumultuous personal lives.

Quinn is a spiritual successor to Stassi Schroeder, the bitchy and brutally hilarious hostess who ruled Rules with an iron fist. More recently, Schroeder got herself cancelled for pulling a racist and moronic prank.

Scored to bizarre, off-brand pop music, with multi-million dollar listings serving as backdrop, over five seasons, Selling Sunset’s central story line has become the power struggle between its two main characters: Stause and Quinn have bitter history between them. (Stause and Quinn did not respond to requests for comment.)

Acid-tongued, platinum-blonde girlboss Quinn, whose future at the brokerage is currently uncertain, has gotten into dustups and disputes with pretty much every member of the cast due to her tendency to say things like “every day I spend my life with these bitches in the office, I mean, that is the charity event.”

In keeping with her combative personality, she’s also known for being a daring, borderline-freakish dresser, giving her a leg up in the style war with Stause. Unlike Stause, Quinn is also a frequent front row guest at Fashion Week.

Quinn has dutifully nurtured a lifelong passion for fashion. “When I was a teenager, my parents couldn’t afford any clothes growing up, so I was always given my sister’s clothes,” she told Vogue in a 2020 interview where she cites Louis Vuitton, Balenciaga, and Gucci as her favorite labels. “I would go and make crop tops out of sweatshirts, and I would make my clothes tighter. My style was always over-the-top in school. I would get in trouble so many times for wearing short skirts and crop tops.”

Quinn’s instincts have led her to cultivate a severely glamorous wardrobe. She favors slicked-back, Rapunzel-length ponytails that make Ariana Grande look like an amateur, sky-high heels—she often towers, amusingly, over her 5-foot-6 twin bosses—and consistently sexy/bizarre silhouettes that drift within spitting distance of the Uncanny Valley.

Quinn’s jet black ballgown wedding dress, paired with a matching black veil, are her crowning achievements on the show thus far, but her Barbarella-esque maternity outfits deserve their own article.

Stause, a sweetheart with Disney Princess looks, won the empathy of the audience a few seasons back when her ex, This Is Us actor Justin Hartley, abruptly filed for divorce and informed her of his decision via text message. (What a dick.)

Stause’s shock and devastation felt completely authentic. Unlike Quinn, whose strong suit is her immaculate self-presentation, Stause is most effective when she’s visually and emotionally vulnerable; in the aftermath of Hartley’s betrayal, she wept in a hotel room wearing pink loungewear, just like the rest of us would.

Over the course of the show, misunderstandings and petty smack talk volleyed back and forth between Stause and Quinn—Quinn has spoken repeatedly and critically about Stause’s failed marriage and her brief romance with her boss, Jason Oppenheim, prompting Stause to block Quinn on social media—seem to have curdled into true dislike. United, the ladies were comrades of the Oppenheim Group, a self-parodic upscale brokerage staffed entirely by gorgeous women in skintight dresses.

Divided, Stause and Quinn appear to be crafting standout style moments in pursuit of the Queen Bee brass ring, with very different approaches. Quinn is continuing to push the envelope with effective results, while Stause, charmingly, is just beginning to flirt with provocation.

At the 2022 MTV Movie & TV Awards, where she took home the trophy for best reality star, Stause beamed in a black bra-and-pants combo that wouldn’t look out of place on Kristen Stewart or, frankly, on Quinn.

“I knew about this nomination before I had said anything about my sexuality,” Stause said in her teary acceptance speech. “I’m not trying to get really deep with you guys, but the fact that this was voted on after means so much to me because I wasn’t sure how that was gonna go. And thank you so much guys, I appreciate it.”

Quinn, a self-aware provocateur, is much more, well, directional. On Wednesday, on the heels of calling Selling Sunset’s bosses misogynistic for only showing interest in portraying her as a new mom rather than a talented professional and a mother, Quinn showed up for brunch at the London Hotel looking like a badass in an oversized leather bomber jacket, tiny short shorts and black platform boots.

Quinn is practiced in using her voice, literally and aesthetically, while Stause is still finding hers—it’s up to their fans to determine which journey is of greater appeal.