30 years? Ugh, as if! A film as iconic as its fashion within it. The 1995 classic Clueless, based on Jane Austen’s Emma, follows a 15-year-old (this will be important later), Cher, the most popular girl in Beverly Hills, as she plays matchmaker with the people in her life, as well as trying to get her driver’s license whilst falling in love with a gay man then her ex-stepbrother… you know, average teenager hijinks.
The film follows the 1990s trend of adapting various classic works of literature into the lives of teenagers. It arguably started this trend, bringing us classics such as 10 Things I Hate About You (1999), Cruel Intentions (1999), and She’s the Man (2006). Alicia Silverstone shines as the iconic Cher, with her state-of-the-art computerised closet (which I’m still waiting to be invented) and amazing yellow plaid outfit, her matchmaking skills know no bounds. She first helps her geography and debate teacher get together through various montages to the classic ’90s soundtrack. She then makes over Tai, in more montages, of course, played by Brittany Murphy, and pushes her towards Elton (a disaster of a performative male). Then, after getting held at gunpoint and falling in love with a gay man (again, more montages), Cher eventually realises she loves her ex-stepbrother (yes, I’m still talking about Clueless). Cher comes to the conclusion that she must make amends for her past wrongs. Okay, the elephant in the room, Paul Rudd plays the love interest, Josh (an ick in and of itself), who is also her ex-stepbrother (an odd choice) given his counterpart in Emma was her brother-in-law. Even odder, he’s anywhere between 19-23 years of age, and Cher is 15. Get a job, stay away from her.
The various iconic pieces from this film: Cher’s yellow suit, Dionne’s black and white look and the iconic red Alaia cements this film as fashion history. The songs featured like ‘Kids in America’, ‘Just a Girl’, and even a Radiohead song (!) are peak 90s, and it still feels like a perfect soundtrack even three decades later. Yes, the slang feels a million miles away, with director Amy Heckerling observing the Beverly Hills youth, but it remains a time capsule for perhaps a better time, a forgotten time.
Clueless set the standard for the ’90s teen rom-com, which, in some ways, is now a forgotten language. Think of most teen rom-coms in the past five years: Where is the good fashion? Why does the slang feel so forced? Why is everyone 30 years old? Perhaps, Hollywood needs to go back and learn why most of our generation love the rom-coms of the ‘90s and 2000s, rather than the cringy output of the 2020s.