NEED TO KNOW
Watching Clueless then and now feels like witnessing a cinematic masterpiece and a fashion show come to life all at once — and that is no coincidence.
Reflecting on the costuming process during a Q&A for the film’s 30th anniversary screening at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in June, costumer Mona May said that the catwalks were her biggest inspiration when designing outfits for the rich kids of Bronson Alcott High School, because the schools in real life were, well, not great.
“We went to high schools, and it was grim,” May said of looking around for inspiration.
Paramount
“Everybody dressed in begging clothes. We were like, this is so depressing. This is not the reality we want to create,” said May. “It was always coming back to the script. [Director] Amy [Heckerling] wanted the girls to be very happy, very feminine. So, it was interesting marrying this kind of high fashion and bringing it down into the high school level” — and channeling the “funky, sassy and wild” personalities of each character, starting with Cher, classroom royalty with an impeccable eye for style and a closet to match.
“She was the queen bee. She was kind of in control of everything. She always had to be perfect. [Her wardrobe] was tailored, it was beautiful, always organized. The shoes matched the purse, and the dress matched the headband,” May recalled of Alicia Silverstone’s Cher, who was always fashionably in tune with her best friend Stacey Dash’s Dionne, who “knew how to wear the clothes. It was tighter and shorter skirts and…[mixing] the high and lows, which was also very new at the time.”
Yet, looking to the runway’s newest collections wasn’t always accessible because, as May recalls, she “didn’t have a huge budget.”
Paramount
“The whole movie was a challenge. There was just no money, no time, and just endless amount of clothes for Cher, [who had] 63 changes. You had to dress the whole entire high school…we had to elevate everybody.” She continued: “It was hard. I had to be innovative and bring something fresh to it with the money I had. I had to be smart.”
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
For May, “smart” meant scouring thrift stores for 99-cent deals and loaning designer clothes —including the red Alaïa dress that Cher got robbed in.
Paramount
Sometimes pressure came from certain outfits not working out during fittings.
Reflecting on Cher’s iconic Dolce & Gabbana yellow plaid suit, which remains one of the film’s most memorable costumes to this day, May said it took many tries for it to come together. “The yellow suit, I thought, she’s gonna wear a…blue suit, which was so beautiful with blonde, but it just didn’t pop. And when we put the yellow one on, Amy and me, we just looked at each other [and thought], ‘Wow.’ The queen bee is right here. You know the ray of sunshine that just lights the whole school up. She’s number one forever.”
The PEOPLE App is now available in the Apple App Store! Download it now for the most binge-worthy celeb content, exclusive video clips, astrology updates and more!
While Clueless — which celebrates its 30th anniversary on July 19 — may have required dozens of fittings and workshopping each costume to perfection, May said working on the movie was “truly magic.”
“All of us, you know, just kind of came from that movie with so much love and heart. We were all given this permission by Amy to be artists, to truly develop ourselves.”
