In Wendy Wasserstein's 1992 play The Sisters Rosensweig, the middle sister, Gorgeous, is a "housewife, mother, and radio personality," and also a clothes-hound. Wasserstein saw Gorgeous as a proud example of women she remembered from her childhood "who knew their moisturizer." She set out to transcend the stereotype.

In an interview before her death, the playwright credited actress Madeline Kahn, who played Gorgeous on Broadway, for opening up the character. Kahn wanted women in the audience to identify with Gorgeous without feeling judged. "I'm going to give them their dignity," Kahn told Wasserstein, who answered, "That's why I wrote the play."