In 1995, girl world changed forever when we were introduced to three strong-willed, perfectly
dressed Beverly Hills babes named Cher, Tai, and Dionne. Amy Heckerling, the mastermind behind
the cultural phenomenon, said it best through her leading lady Cher Horowitz, “So okay, I don't
want to be a traitor to my generation and all but I don't get how guys dress today. I mean, come
on, it looks like they just fell out of bed and put on some baggy pants and take their greasy hair -
ew - and cover it up with a backwards cap and like, we're expected to swoon?" AS IF! Everything
about the “Clueless” world captured a generation of girls who wanted it all, and who were going
to look great getting it. Amy Heckerling created a bold new take on the modern girl amidst the
sea of grunge that filled the 90’s. Wildfox’s Spring 2013 collection pays tribute to Heckerling,
capturing the spirit of “Clueless” and their iconic leading ladies. We’re the Kids In America!
The collection tells the story of the girly dreamer in all of us. Wildfox strives to make girls feel good in
what they are wearing, for nights you will remember forever and the days you wish would never
end. Designer Kimberly Gordon describes, “I have always wanted to express something creatively
that is more than just fashion, it’s a feeling, a lifestyle, it’s about being a girl. It’s capturing a
moment. I think I felt it first when I was about 12 around when Clueless came out and I was so in
love with the characters, I didn’t just love the clothes, I loved the girls who wore the clothes – which
made me want to wear them even more.”
The Clueless Collection is all about tees that start conversations, sweaters you can wear all day,
sleep in and wear again the next day. They’re for throwing on so that you can run out the door
and feel beautiful for just about any occasion.
Classic Clueless phrases such as ‘As If,’ ‘Totally Bogus,’ and ‘I’d Rather Be Shopping’ bring the
collection to life in a sassy yet playful manner. Fun, girly graphics like sunflowers, ice cream cones
and watermelon slices on soft cotton and tissue jersey fabrics reflect the same carefree excitement
the spring season brings. The line is reminiscent of Clueless and 90’s Bel Air babes with bright, girly
colors with names like ‘Mall’ and ‘Chill Pill’. New styles include The Festival Tank, Grunge Girl Dress
and 90’s Valley Girl Maxi Dress. The Grunge Festival set features a 100% Modal Rose Print offered on
a variety of styles with bold graphics and 90’s sayings like ‘Love Fool’.
“When Amy wrote Clueless, the current fashion was grunge. Her vision for the film was to show the rich, upscale high school girls of Beverly Hills. The costumes were to be like characters in the film. Grunge was dark and sad so the color palette was very important to Amy. The clothes needed to be very bright and fun. I wanted the girls to be girls again, with over-the-knee stockings and Mary Jane shoes. We wanted to change the current look that was on the street and show teens how to have fun with clothes.”
Interview with costume designer Mona May, by Frankie Mathieson 2010
Photos by Mark Hunter
Photo edit by Kimberley Gordon
Make up by Carlene K
Hair by Anna Lee Fiorino and Tyron Dupre
NAIL SWAG nails by Natalie Nichole
Styling by Kimberley Gordon, Meredith Leyerzaph & Emily Siegs
Executive Producer Jimmy Sommers
Starring
Olivia Greenfield
Fatima Siad
Tanya Katysheva
Hope you guys love it! We had so much fun Designing, casting, styling and shooting this because it really is a tribute to my 12 year old roots and first inspiration in fashion. I will always love Amy Heckerling for changing my view of fashion forever!
"It was the closest I've ever come to something being in my head and being on the screen," says the "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" creator, now in her early 50s. "It was exactly the way I wanted it."
Pope explains the all-ages appeal as, "We never thought of this as a teenage movie."
Heckerling, who makes a hobby of studying slang, says cracking the DNA code of teen linguistics was no big whoop: "A lot of words that come from teenagers are about throwing up."
Fashion designer Mona May recalls the "Clueless" outfits as "not really what the kids were wearing" in the drab era of Nirvana -- "it was a hyper-look." Of Silverstone -- hired after she turned heads as Aerosmith's rock-video Betty -- May says: "I couldn't have dreamed of a better little Barbie doll to dress."
Heckerling says Silverstone "was so cute ... on the verge of womanhood but she's also got such a little girl quality. It's that thing that famous women sex symbols have where women like them also." Pope graciously says "Clueless" "really is Alicia's movie."
The project started life as a TV pitch called "No Worries." (Like "Ridgemont," it eventually spun off a series.) The many "Emma" parallels were added as the series concept morphed into a film script. But, "Unconsciously, I'd been writing an Emma-like character" from the beginning, says Heckerling.
The writer-director found her script "hard for people to understand" since it lacked the usual teenage-wasteland raunch. At Fox, "the men didn't get it." Producer Scott Rudin did, and Paramount won the ensuing budding war. "Clueless" overcame its chick-flick veneer via enthusiastic reviews and word of mouth, and went on to gross $57 million in theaters.