'The Bachelor:' The Commandments of Contestant Style

On Monday night, Ben "Such a Good Guy" Higgins will likely propose to one of his two remaining girlfriends on the season finale of "The Bachelor." It's been a whirlwind "journey," as the producers so often like to remind us — one that has gifted us with a myriad of incredible characters who were simply made for television.
 

There was Caila — reportedly chosen to be the next Bachelorette — who strolled out of an autumnal J.Crew catalog preloaded with such soundbites as: "There is no other place I would rather be in the world than in his arms." There were the twins, Emily and Hannah, both of whom now work as cocktail waitresses at Marquee Nightclub in Las Vegas. There was Olivia. There was Lace. There was that girl with the chickens, and the one who didn't speak English. There were four girls named Lauren.

But as widely different as these women may be, we just couldn't ignore the fact that a number of this season's contestants — a majority of them, even — exhibited very similar personal style. Can you blame them, though? From a production standpoint, there's something so non-polarizing about Converse sneakers and boob-length hair, curled into "beachy waves" with varying degrees of success. Is it safe to say that so many of the show's contestants look, uh, exactly the same? We think yes.

We've outlined 10 recurring themes of both style and beauty on "The Bachelor" below, as evidenced by this season's competitors. And don't miss the season 20 finale on Monday Mar. 14 at 8:00 p.m., where the final two ladies will likely pull out all of the sartorial stops — without veering too far outside of "basic bitch" territory, of course.

1. You shall have long, middle-parted and preferably blonde hair.

Nothing says "I'm ready to be a wiiiiifffeeeee!" better than a head full of tumbling, perfectly glossy curls. It's as if the program plucked all of its contestants from Norway or some other authentically Scandinavian country, because a great number of its pretty, thin finalists were blonde. In all fairness, that could just be Ben's type — but the above imagery is pretty damning. 

2. You shall wear a crop top when a regular-length shirt will do. 

If you're going on "The Bachelor," why would you even pack normal shirts? Considering most of this season's contestants are software sales representatives or in, like, real estate, this is their one opportunity to prance around in nonsensical sports bras and bikini tops for no practical reason aside from showing off their hard-earned barre class abs. Embrace it!