13 things you never knew about ‘Clueless’ fashion, straight from the film’s costume designer
Hey guys, it’s Alana from Page Six Style, and we have an incredibly special guest with us today, Mona May, the visionary costume designer behind Clueless, Rome and Michelle’s High School reunion, Never Been Kissed. So many incredible movies that I love. Um, Mona, the last time we sat down together was for Clueless’s 25th anniversary in 2020. Wow. Time flies. We’re now at the 30th anniversary. I did tell you at the time that Clueless is the reason I wanted to get into fashion and you probably hear that every single day of your life. I’m guessing I do and I love it. I mean it it it’s so special, you know, that your work that my work can inspire others. It’s just incredible. Absolutely. It changed a lot of lives. And some of the amazing fun facts about the costumes are in your new book, The Fashion of Clueless, um which is amazing. I read it cover to cover in one sitting. And we were talking about this before. I’ve seen Clueless probably 500 times. It is an ultimate rewatch for me. Um, and I still learned a lot of new things about the costumes. There are fun facts that I learned for the first time. And so, I was thinking today, last time we sat down, we kind of went costume by costume and you shared some of your favorite memories of them. Today, I was thinking we would go into some of the fun facts in the book and you could explain them for our audience. I love it. The first is that Sher has 63 costumes in the movie, which is a whole lot of outfits. Do you have a personal favorite? Oh, it’s such a hard question. I mean, the yellow pledge suit forever will be in our memory and I think it’s it’s cover of the book. I do love the Aliyah dress. Oh, and especially because I got to design the jacket that’s a Mona May original and the purse, which is kind of like a very special moment, you know, in a movie for me. Uh, and also, you know, introducing Aliyah to the world. I mean, nobody knew about Aliyah, so I learned about it. So fantastic. And she kind of is so grown up in that outfit. I just really love love, you know, Alysia as sher forever beautiful. I want to back up for a second and go to the yellow plaid suit. Also, you talk about how that was not the original. That was not the first choice. No. For the scene. So, how did you land upon that amazing Jean Paul Goautier suit? Well, you know, as a costume design, I have to figure out what the outfit is going to be. First day of school, you know, she’s the queen bee. There’s going to be, you know, we’re going to be outside in a quad with lot of greenery. Um, there will be a lot of crossings in front of her. So, me and Amy were discussing Amy Heckle, the director, you know, I mean, she’s got a pop. And, you know, we thought about, okay, what is it going to be? I was like, you know, suit plaid, of course, Catholic Skirgle girl uniform, you know, something kind of grounded, but then, you know, on steroids would share with a lot of money. Uh Vivian Westwood is one of my favorite designers, you know. So I was thinking, “Okay, tartan.” So I started looking. I found something beautiful that was blue, blue tartan, you know, and I was like, “Oh, she’s Alisia is just gonna look so perfect in I found a red one, red and black plaid.” And then out of the corner of my eye, you know, at one of the Beverly Hills stores, I saw the yellow and I was like just popped. I mean, it just took me by surprise. I was like, it’s not even a great color for blondes. Right. Right. But I was like mesmerized. I had to get it. Brought it into the fitting. Uh, here strolls Alisia in her, you know, sweatpants with her dog. She was already an activist. Could care less about the clothes, but she had to learn to be share, you know. So, we get her in there. We tried the blue one. It’s beautiful, but it just doesn’t have the oomph, you know. We tried the red one. Immediately Emmy Heckling goes, “No, no, no. This is our Christmas color palette. We can’t use it in the first day of spring.” Sunny California. Yeah. You know, fall palette, darling. And then there comes the yellow. And it was like that moment when she put it on. It truly was like the ray of sunshine, you know, she was the queen bee, and it was perfect. And then she felt so good in it. And I mean, there was no going back. It truly was that that special moment that we felt like we we’ve lended on that character for the first day of school was perfect. I love it. It matches her personality, too. She’s so sunny and optimistic. Yes, absolutely. And here we are 30 years later with, you know, cover of the book, which is just quite amazing. True. The number of Halloween costumes I’ve seen, Girls in Me, Black and White, and the yellow plaid together. It’s I mean, Kim Kim Kardashian did it with Nort. I mean, it’s just quite amazing. The ultimate stamp of approval. Yeah. And in a book, we have a great picture of Donald Faison daughter who also wore the Dion costume. That was really cool. And I mean, you know, Halloween is coming. We’re going to see a lot of shares. Even as young as like eight and babies, people dress them as as the characters with the little hats. fashionistas in training. Yes. Okay. The Jean Paul Goautier suit you bought, but I also know that a lot of the you speak about this in the book. A lot of the costumes are actually vintage or thrifted because you didn’t have a designer budget to work with, right? Yes. Yes. I mean, it was very interesting film at the time. It was the ‘9s and there was not really movies about girls. When Amy Heckling wrote the script, no one wanted to produce it. They said, “Oh, if you put boys in, we’ll shoot we’ll shoot it for you.” you know, so not till Paramount Sher Lansing and and Scott Ruden, you know, gave Amy the chance to to direct it. It was like that moment for us to to have the girl movie. Yeah. And and uh the story was so interesting because you never seen high school students dress like this, you know, and that was really something that Amy wrote in the film. It was based on Emma, Jane Austin, you know. So, it’s like now in Beverly Hills with all the rich girls having Daddy’s credit cards, you know, being able to totally wear whatever they want. And that was pretty amazing, you know, how fresh that we were able to to create something. And at the time, too, everybody was wearing grunge. Yes. So, I didn’t really, you know, I didn’t have a blueprint how to make these costumes and then with little money. So, I had to be very scrappy. I had to like, you know, get some designer where I could borrow the Aliyah dress. I didn’t even couldn’t even afford to buy it. We’ll get to that in a minute. So, I had to go high and low. I had to go to thrift stores, but you know, everything that was in the movie, and I think that’s something great for the audience to know, too, that even if it comes from a thrift store, alter it, make it work it for you, you know, make it really um tailored, and that’s when it looks expensive. Totally. There’s a particular um red vinyl minikirt that Dion wears that I always loved. It’s so short. I can’t believe she’s wearing it to school, but I always assumed it was Versace or something like that. But that was a thrifted find, right? Yes. And you know, a lot of stuff also came from Melrose. Melrose Avenue in LA was huge at the time. That’s where everybody went shopping. So there were like a lot of stores for the raves. So that’s where I shopped as well for all the fun stuff for her as well as Amber stuff, you know. But you know, story behind that skirt is so cool because Stacy Dash, you know, she came from New York and she was a little older than the other kids. She already knew. She was like punk rock when she came. She knew about fashion. So when she got into the fitting room, she was already sassy. She knew how she wanted that character. So she was telling you want to make it shorter. And I was like, “Come, you 16, you’re in high school, you know.” But we did it with her and she really could carry it off, you know. Oh, it looks amazing. Like, you know, the leopard coats that were like vintage and you know, I I don’t know if you noticed that purse she always carries, that little black purse. So that’s also vintage. Oh, wow. Yeah. So it was fun. fun. I mean, it was really fun to mix it. And I think what was fresh when the movie came out because people didn’t dress that way, right? So, it was like, oh, you can do jeans and a t-shirt and a, you know, expensive bag. Now, it’s the jour. Yeah. Hyo. Everybody’s having the Balenciaga bag with the ripped jeans and flip-flops, you know, and the $3,000 coat. Yeah. No, it paved the way. Another fun fact that I loved from the book is that Sher’s computerized closet, which has been referenced endlessly throughout the years. I feel like there’s so many apps now claiming to be shares trying to achieve what you guys achieve with this movie was inspired by a friend of Amy’s um wine collection. He cataloged all of his wines and so yeah she was like let’s do it with fashion. Yeah. I mean she’s so brilliant. I mean truly Amy you know wrote all the language you know all the like just crazy cool ideas you know she’s brilliant and yeah she was like Mona let’s do it with the clothes. I was like okay all right. So we had to catalog the clothes, you know, take all the pictures. And then we had these young kids who were like the I mean this is before computers. This is before cell phones. Everybody please remember that this is analog times, you know. I mean, we were taking Polaroids on the on the set, you know. Uh yeah, and we made it happen. I mean, it was really cool, you know, working with the uh computer guys and trying to figure out, you know, all the do all the backgrounds and then, you know, of course, Alysia going, “Oh my god.” Right. And then we also had the mismatch and we had the um the closet was kind of like cleaning. That was really pretty cool too. That was the production designer idea. Okay. So I want to talk about the over the knee socks. I did not realize that those were inspired by cabaret which heckling again loves the 20s. We we are so connected on that like the 20s and and it was you know it was a little risque and that was something that was not a trend at the time. Not at all. Not at all. and so much fun and you know it worked it because I think again we really had to if you know when I was preparing for this movie and looking at the research as a costume designer you know you go everywhere and for me was runways you know what’s happening six months ahead but always had to have this kind of you know um you have to siphon through this age appropriate clothing you know and Amy wanted to be very sweet we wanted to be very girly you know the antidote to all the stuff that we’ve seen in high school at the time the baggy stuff you and color and kind of the de viva was very important to us, you know, to me like, oh my god, let’s be girls. Yes. Celebration of girlhood. Yes. Yes. Um I loved the knee socks. I tried to pull them off as a kid. I was so into them. You did. You did. Where did you get them? Oh my god. Probably limited to Yes, of course. Contempo casual. Hello. Casuals. Oh my god. Iconic. But I’m so glad that you know and that’s the best part about the film especially when it came out at the time that people really like wanted to wear all the clothes and there was no Amazon. You couldn’t just click on and get all the stuff shipped to you. So it was like the research like trying to find it and get the things putting your own spin on it. The spaghetti straps over the t-shirt was another that completely new thing you started. Yep. Like now to this day we still wear it. You can buy it together. Yeah. The pre-layered. Pre-layered. Exactly. But, you know, again, it was so fun because the whole gym scene too was like, you know, the reality of, okay, what do you wear in gym? Like, it’s always the black and white, but then let’s take it way further and really kind of like the cabaret lineup, you know. Yeah. Well, and I always I was always so obsessed with this little chain cell phone holder and water bottle holder. I thought those were Chanel, but you made them for the movie. I did. I did. It was so much fun. and you know the pagers and like all that stuff was just so cool and new and I mean the the the cell phone holders, the water holders, you know, nobody I mean we really were bringing the runway to high school, you know, all the really high-end stuff. Totally. Not a lot of, you know, at the time you didn’t have Instagram, you didn’t, you know, people had to buy a special magazine that was like $80 to see what’s happening in the runways in Europe, you know, so it was a different kind of information. So when the movie came out, we were the runway in a way like you know we were the first Instagrammers in a way. I love it. I love it. And now Chanel sells so many versions of that novelty accessories. Something I didn’t realize upon my many watches of the film is that you also incorporated little uh tributes to Jane Austin and Emma’s style into the outfits and now I see them. Right. So tell me a little bit about how you brought that sort of you know Jane Austin era fashion into it as well. giriness was of the time, you know, the little cap sleeve which I am such a fan, you know, and little empire waist. Yep. With the little bow, that maroon dress that Sher wears and then Amber love. But also, you know, the green one. I don’t know. There’s the green one. The shopping scene. That’s one of Alisia’s Silverstone favorite outfits. It’s in the movie because it’s so pretty. And you know what’s great? It’s timeless. I mean, I can This is on the rack somewhere right now because it just fits us well. you know, when we put something like that on, and I think that’s kind of my philosophy on on clothing, you know, for women, they need to make you feel good, you know, and those are kind of this the staples, the things that look good on any shape, any body, forever, you know, it’s that little a-line skirt dress, right? The favor suette. It hides all the things that we need to. And the little sleeves and, you know, the neckline can be lower, the neckline can be higher. So again, you can kind of customize your own thing, but it’s those feminine shapes. And I think maybe the staying power of the movie too is because I’m using this kind of timeless shapes, you know, be inspired from the 1800s, be inspired, you know, the 60s, be inspired, you know, everything’s cyclical and cyclical. Yeah. The 20s. I mean, the over, you know, so mix it up. Yeah. I love that. So Dion wears 25 hats throughout the movie. Okay. Do you count it? I didn’t even seriously. Oh, yeah. It’s in the book. And I was like I was trying to go back. I was like, “Okay, the Dr. Se the opening hat, the Dr. Seuss type like soft one with the swirls.” She wears like a knit beanie or beret at one point. But do you have a favorite hat of hers? Well, it has to be the Dr. Seuss hat. The opening one. Yes. I mean, with the chameleas, this chamele was so Chanel. I found that hat and it’s actually a designer that’s still in business here in New York City. Cockin. I love that. K O K I N. Please look him up. It’s fantastic. So he made, you know, he made that hat and I was like, I brought the hat to the fitting and I was like, “Okay, Stacy, what do you think?” And she was like, “Yeah, baby. I love it.” You know, and it just it it is again I think it’s about the confidence because you can have someone wear this crazy hat and it just looks like a costume, right? But then you take Stacy Dashity. She I mean when she comes out of that house in the morning, you know, to go to school with Sher, you’re like, “Okay, this is the coolest thing ever.” And now that that is a Halloween outfit. You can buy that hat on Amazon, which is crazy. It’s wild. So it it’s truly amazing because it takes the actor too to wear it 100%. And uh to create something that iconic, it’s it’s really amazing. Um, and as a costume designer, it doesn’t happen often, right? You know, it truly those are the moments kind of in like the the few movie throughout your careers that you can make a stamp where now, you know, the Vogue world has these outfits 30 years later struting the runway at Paramount Studios. Outfits were on that runway and it was such a moment for me too because, you know, the movie is now 30th anniversary and we actually shot at Paramount. It was a Parent movie, a full circle moment. It’s a full circle moment. And I mean I truly had like a tear in my eye, you know, that like being there and just seeing them and you know people just love the outfit so much that there was so much cheer too, you know. It was just wonderful. The hats are so good. Well, I’m a hat person. Yeah, clearly I’m a head person. So many berets in the movie, I love timeless, you know. Yeah, it’s timeless. And and I don’t know. I I also think of, you know, women dressing up the gloves, the hats. To me, always the head brings something extra to the outfit, you know. So, think about hats, please. Everybody, you know, try it. Consider the hat, you know, and even if it’s a cool cap or or newspaper boy cap or, you know, not always the baseball cap, right? Exactly. That’s for the boys and they’re like Maggie, you know, that one scene where you get the glimpse of what fashion was actually like at the time versus the world that you created. But, you know, the hats too, what was so amazing was Amy Heckling, too, allowing me to bring all of it. You know, sometimes you you can’t use heads in the movies because they go, “Oh, you can’t see actor’s eyes or, you know, so there’s just a lot of limitations. There’s shadows.” But she was such a fashionista herself, you know, to allow us to just kind of go full on. Mhm. Which is really fun. It’s incredible. And I know we’re going to we have to talk about the Aliyah dress that was she wrote it into the script because it was such a special piece. Um, so tell me first of all, I read that you had to beg the Eliia team to let you borrow that for the scene because it was out of your budget. Completely. Completely. So tell me about that and also how it ended up in the script with that iconic line, you don’t understand. This isn’t That’s Amy. That’s Amy. Of course. Get down on the ground face down. Come on. Oh no. You don’t understand. This isn’t a liar. I saw the dress in a store and I was like, this is perfect. What? because it’s it’s very sexy dress in a way, but you know the way that Aliyah uses fabric, it’s very thick. Yes. So, it’s not a bodycon dress, you know, it’s still fitted, but it look it feels tailored, which was very kind of classy for her. And that’s why I I really fell in love with it. And it was Christmas. It was red, of course, had a beautiful neckline. Um, yeah. Couldn’t afford it. So, we found somebody who speaks French. Again, analog time. Pick up the phone or fax. Yeah. Oh my god. talk to somebody there, you know, ask them in French, can we please borrow this dress? And you know, again, this was no PR machines. There was no people sending you clothes like now. And you know, also we have Anjenu actors. Nobody knew, right? You can’t say this is going, we know this is going to be an iconic fashion. Exactly. You know, Alicia is going to be a huge star and Paul Rod and everybody. But they agreed. They were so kind. He was such a beautiful man, you know, really supportive artist. And uh he sent us the dress. You know, I didn’t even tell him that she had to get on the ground in the dress because I was like, minor detail. Minor detail. I’m like, Alicia, don’t breathe. When you go down, I’m like basically, you know, we like blowing the the the ground off. I’m like, we can’t snag it. We can’t do anything. You can see she’s kind of like holding herself just off the ground. She saw me like heart pipating, you know, but it was that moment, you know, we had to have it. And then, yes, Amy wrote it in the film and it was like, you know, brilliance. And I mean, same with Calvin Klein dress. You know, there was so much fun, too. I mean, like I So, in the book, it says the script for that just called for something inappropriate and you took many fittings to land on that white Calvin Klein dress. So, tell me how you chose it and also do you remember some of the other looks you considered that didn’t make the cut? Well, everything that we considered was a little bit too neglig, you know, a little bit too skin tone because, you know, first we kind of went into the like undergarment. Mhm. And it just didn’t work. You know, again, she has she’s 16. She’s going on a date. You know, as a costume designer, you have to think about the story, who she is, where it’s going, what’s going to happen, you know, and it just everything else looked too sexy. Yeah. You know, it was a cotton stretch, so it wasn’t shiny. Again, it wasn’t too tight. And this cream tone was really important too, I think, because it was kind of like innocent, almost a little wedding like. I mean, it was like, you know, it was bridal, very bridal. So, again, when when she tried it on after like probably 20, 30 pieces and she was getting annoyed, you know, it’s like imagine if you have 63 changes, how many fittings you have to do, especially for at the time, she was like not into clothes, right? That’s crazy, too, is that, you know, in the book, we learn that her real lifestyle was so different from Chairs and Stacy’s, too, cuz she was like punk rock, right? And then she goes in and Yes. But yes, but Stacy knew about fashion more. Was like completely not into it at all. She was in her in in literally in her sweatpants and her flip-flops coming to fittings, you know. But again, as an actor, you have to go through this process to learn who you are as the character. and she learned Alysia started wearing the clothes, understanding how to walk and you know be share flip there all of that stuff you know it’s so costume informs them so much and to this day she’s front row at fashion week so clearly it made an impact I know I want to talk about Paul Rudd who apparently brought a lot of his own clothes and wore a lot of his own clothes in the movie was that for budget reasons was that for the character okay this was so cool doing this book truly because it was this conversation with with actors like I I’m like with Alicia I’m still working with her you know Stacy I talk to Alisa Donovan but with Paul we don’t talk often you know he’s somewhere off in the big movies so when we got to talk he reminded me of it I didn’t even remember that he’s like Mona do you remember I brought all my jeans and my boots and it ended up in the movie I was like you’re right yeah because I was so on a budget and he was just that guy in a way you know and those are the guys you still see in the in the you know pledge shirts t-shirts and baggy jeans but we got to do the fun t-shirts with him, you know, again, kind of telling the world who he is. You know, the breast cancer awareness t-shirt that was so popular at the time. My ex-boyfriend gave me a t-shirt of like some cool underground club in Austin, you know. So, we Josh would know about that. Exactly. You know, so that was really fun. So, those are kind of the the the clues about his personality. And of course, you know, the reading niche. Yes. Which he read at the time anyway. Like he maybe had the most in common with his character of anyone. All right. the best. I mean, you know what? It was so much fun working on that movie because we were so young. I mean, it was my first big feature. You know, it was Paul Rod first movie. I mean, Alisia has done some stuff, you know, and she came off the big Aeros, but she’s she’s done some shows. I mean, Britney Murphy, you know, she was 17 when she came onto the set and she was so eff and beautiful and so kind of smart already, you know, about acting and she knew about the character when we were in the fitting. She’s like, “Moto, don’t make me pretty in the beginning.” I love that she specified that. She was like, “No, I need to look really dweeb at the start so you can see the makeover.” Yes. Yes. And kind of really, you know, become the mini me share, you know, in her little plaids, but they were from Contempo casuals and which also gets a shout out in the movie. Yes. And you know, and then finding herself in the end kind of the tomboy but more feminine, you know, when she’s at the skateboarding park and her little t-shirt. She’s wearing skate brands, which I never noticed. She has like Roxy and Union Day, I think, which is like a way to It’s like an Easter egg of how she has found her way back to Travis the skater boy, but now she’s feminine with her little feminine necklace, the little pigtails. Yeah. And I love Sher outfit, too, because it’s it’s kind of softer at the end, too. She’s wearing a sweater, still white shirt, but now it’s a sparkly sweater, softer. So, you know, all that kind of um uptightness has gone. You know, she’s she softens as her personality changes. Maybe my favorite fun fact from this book that I did not know is that Sher wears a sparkly hair clip in the college party scene that you see when she’s driving home with Josh. That exact clip was later used on Amanda Bines in She’s the Man, which is amazing. Yeah, the hair stylist repurposed the hair clip and apparently Amanda Bines is a huge Clueless fan. Yes. It’s so crazy. I mean, you know what? It’s like how it lives on. I love that. That’s so cute. It’s so good. Such a good little Easter egg. Last question. So, we have to talk about MissGist wedding gown from the final scene, which you designed yourself. Yes. Yes. But it was not the easiest thing for her to wear. So, tell me why. Well, you know, we love Miss Gist, right? And she’s like this craziest cookie character and it was so fun working with twin cap twin Kaplan. Um, you know, I kind of exaggerated her color, you know, the rip in the stocking, you know, it was always kind of in fitting. everything was not really great. So again, we had a lot of place to to work from uh to do the makeover. And you know, as the movie goes, she’s getting a little better. Then she wears these little, you know, 40s suits, really cute. You know, she’s the most petite perfect body. And when we started talking about the wedding, Twink was like, “Okay, I want to show my body off. Like, I want to really, you know, I want to show off that Miss Guys really’s got, you know, the sexy on.” And we started designing it. And she wanted super fitted with the high color neck with the open. I mean truly it was like my seamstress Zya who is like architect from we we had to construct it you know and it fitted her. She couldn’t even eat literally. Oh my gosh. And sit. So we had this leaning board from like the original movies, you know, when they wore the gowns. Yeah. Like a corset. Like a corset. So she had to kind of lean with the arm set in the dress so it doesn’t get ruined. I mean, it was worth it because she looks so good in that guy. Very fascinator, very French, you know, it was just the, you know, the the wedding was the end. It was so like the most fun moment. Uh, again, it’s about femininity, celebration of life, you know, friendship, all of that, you know, when everybody’s talking about getting married, the girls, and you know, you and you see Amy in that scene. Yes. Yes. Yes. And I know you also have a cameo in the movie that some folks might not know about. Um, are we going to really say it? Can you Can you share? Oh my god. I was the masseuse. Fabian the masseuse. I was the Fabian and masseuse in the in the white uh turban. Yes. Kasher has a lot of tension in her back from dealing with so much stress. Very fun. And it was great because, you know, we were we became close. So, it was, you know, I was able to to comfortable for Alysia and Amy was like, “And you have that accent, you know. You fit the role. I fit the role. The Eastern European, you know, I love it. But it was so much fun. I mean it really you know we are still such closenknit friends in a way because that that you know we were so young and then when when the movie came out it it opened all the doors for us you know so there’s just this moment in our lives that changed everything it was the turning point it was the turning point you know so there’s just this connection like I mean truly talking to everybody and Donald and Breen Meyer you know and Jeremy Sisto in the film and Stacy and the Lisa Donovan it was like we just yes it was just It’s like yesterday, you know. Well, Mona, thank you so much for spending your morning with us. Everyone needs to check out this book. I’m due for my 500 and second Clueless rewatch. Enjoy and dress up like Clueless for Halloween. Thanks, guys.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of teen classic “Clueless,” but the 1995 film’s fashion still looks as fresh as ever. And according to costume designer Mona May, that’s, like, totally by design.
“At the time, everybody was wearing grunge. So I didn’t have a blueprint for how to make these costumes. It was pretty amazing that we were able to create something so fresh,” May tells Page Six Style.
“The film was based on ‘Emma’ by Jane Austen, but [set] in Beverly Hills with all the rich girls having Daddy’s credit cards, being able to wear whatever they want. You’d never seen high school students dressed like this.”
Read more at https://pagesix.com/2025/10/31/style/mona-may-the-fashion-of-clueless-book-interview/
#clueless #costume #preppy
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