"You don't understand. This is an Alaia."
Clueless is a cult-classic Rom-com that was released in 1995 as a modern adaptation of Jane Austen’s ‘Emma’ which stars Alicia Silverstone. We get to follow the story of a rich, fashion-forward student, Cher Horowitz, at Beverly Hills High School who loves to play the ‘matchmaker’.
Clueless is admired for its costume design, the fashion remains iconic to this day with young girls still aspiring to dress like the protagonist Cher Horowitz. The iconic Dolce & Gabbana yellow co-ord Cher wears has been one of the world's best-selling Halloween costumes since its release. Even this year, Kourtney Kardashians’ 9-year-old daughter, Penelope, dressed as Cher for Halloween! Not only this but, Harry Styles paid a subtle homage to 'Clueless' with a yellow plaid blazer that he wore on the 2021 Grammy's red carpet.
The costume designer Mona May describes ‘Clueless’ as her ‘lucky break’ after 6 years of designing for movies and tv-shows that never took off. Despite ‘Clueless’ having a small budget and younger and lesser-known actors, the film grossed $56.1 million in its US theatrical run alone, thus becoming one of the most iconic teen films of all time.
May has previously said that the iconic high fashion style was written into the film, she told the Independent that "Amy Heckerling (the director of Clueless) really wanted the film to be ultra-feminine, very pretty, a kind of antidote to what was really happening on the street”. Despite the popular belief of the younger generation, the style in Clueless does not accurately represent 90s fashion. In reality, the 90s was a period where grunge music and fashion went mainstream after an economic crisis impacted the Western world causing high unemployment rates. Young people would thrift their clothes and take inspiration from stars such as Kurt Cobain from Nirvana. In fact, Tai Fraser, the ‘new girl’ who Cher eventually gets to ‘makeover’ was the most accurate representation to fashion at the time.
So why does the fashion in Clueless still hold relevancy today as a pinpoint for nineties fashion? Mona May believes it is because young people have a nostalgia for times before mobile phones and ‘knowing everything that is happening in the world’. She believes being a teenager in the 90s was less complicated than in the modern day. Mona May also says that plaid is a timeless print, so the outfits in Clueless are still extremely wearable today, she told Elle.com, “You could go to Saks and Neiman and it's all still there.”.
“You could go to Saks and Neiman and it's all still there.” Mona May on her designs for the 1995 Clueless film
Mona May is right, fashion inspired by Clueless can be spotted everywhere from the runway to the high street. 'Clueless' style was especially big on the runway in Fall/Winter 2018 with numerous high-end fashion brands releasing collections with the iconic yellow plaid print that screams 'Clueless" from Rick Owens to Versace.
Looking at the inspiration that modern fashion takes from 'Clueless' shows how timeless the style is and proves the relevancy of the film and the costume design over 26 years later. This will be a style we can expect to see again and again in fashion as new generations discover the film in their teenage years and add their own twist to the iconic styles. There have even been rumours of a spin-off series that takes a modern approach to the film, whether you love or hate this concept, it shows that Clueless is not going out of style any time soon.
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