Although we often credit today’s algorithm-driven culture with elevating the “rich-girl” aesthetic, its blueprint was quietly curated in part back in 1995. Now, as Amy Heckerling’s Clueless turns 30 this summer, its wardrobe still reads like the original style bible: white tees layered under spaghetti-strap tank tops, twin sets, peacoats, and preppy school prints—most memorably that yellow-checked blazer-and-skirt combo.
In Clueless’s Beverly Hills, Cher didn’t need Instagram to broadcast—nor was it invented yet—she simply stepped out of her Jeep in head-to-toe plaid and let costume designer Mona May’s vision of a “Catholic school uniform on steroids” do the talking. That canary-yellow blazer and micro-pleated mini by Jean-Paul Gaultier—not to mention her entire meticulously catalogued wardrobe pulled from designer boutiques like Fred Segal, and “funky vintage shops on Melrose”—stands as one of the film’s most enduring and influential elements.
