If "Miss American Teen Cult Classic" were a pageant, the runaway winner would be Drop Dead Gorgeous. The underrated ‘90s film, which was released 25 years ago today, was once reviled for its dark humor but, in the years since, the mockumentary thankfully has been given the 10/10 scoring it deserves for its campiness and satire of female beauty standards.
Written by Lona Williams and directed by Michael Patrick Jann, Drop Dead Gorgeous is a rare ‘90s movie that was wildly ahead of its time. Led by a cast of already-established actors (Ellen Barkin, Allison Janney, Kirstie Alley) and then-emerging stars (Kirsten Dunst, Denise Richards, Amy Adams, Brittany Murphy), the film documents a high school beauty pageant in a rural Minnesota town during which each contestant dies off one by one under mysterious circumstances.
Williams’ screenplay is full of sharp witticisms and at times off-color bits digging at small-town America and pageant culture. In addition to the no-holds-barred performances and mockumentary style, much of the film’s comedy was elevated by its wardrobe, helmed by costume designer Mimi Melgaard. From Dunst’s girl-next-door Amber, who dreams of being the next Diane Sawyer, to Adams’ ditzy cheerleader Leslie to Richards’ queen bee Becky, and even the stage moms, each look is perfectly garish—one would expect no less from the Sarah Rose Cosmetics American Teen Princess Pageant participants. (The stage wear is particularly memorable, with matching dance number ensembles and Americana-inspired accessories galore.)
Melgaard, who was on-site in Minnesota, shares with Marie Claire that she and her team sourced most of the pieces from the Mall of America, which had recently opened its doors in 1992 in the Minneapolis suburb Bloomington, becoming the largest indoor mall in the U.S. at the time. But with each purchase, be it Barkin’s mom jeans or one of the girls’ gowns, Melgaard’s team zhuzhed it up to make the clothes all the more gaudy. She calls the entire experience “guerilla filmmaking” and jokes about how they had to learn to “just roll with it,” considering how scrappy the production was and how many mishaps occurred. Despite the many accidents, from wardrobe malfunctions involving now-memorable headdresses to literal on-set fires, she describes Drop Dead Gorgeous as a “special movie”—as many of its contemporary fans would agree.
In honor of the '90s teen movie’s milestone 25th anniversary, Melgaard reflects on designing the costumes for the movie, her favorite fittings with the cast, and its recent reappraisal.
Marie Claire: The movie was shot in several small towns in Minnesota. Were you on-site the entire time?
Mimi Melgaard: Oh, yeah. Everything was so last second. I mean, the paint was literally wet on the headdresses when they went on.
Like, one night Kirstie Alley wanted one more outfit for the pageant. She had three changes, and then suddenly that night she was like, ‘I think we should have one more dress.’ So we had to call the place and see if they would open early for us, and we got the guy at home. We fit her really early the next morning, and we were doing the alterations on the truck. It was just crazy.
MC: It sounds like the scrappiness of the production almost mirrors the scrappiness of the pageant in the movie.
MM: Everything was out of whack. We had to shoot [the pageant scene where the girls get wet paint on their clothes] all in one. We had multiples, but to match up the [paint stains], you couldn't get that. So we had to shoot that in order, which is hard to do because people make mistakes, but it kind of worked if someone messed up their dance.
In the scene when the float blows up, the fire was too big and the trees caught fire. During that scene, Kirstie Alley [character Gladys] is freaking out and comes up to her husband and starts shaking him. I remember she had so much soot on her, she got him all soot-y, and we only had one shirt because she wasn’t supposed to touch him. So every time in between takes, we were trying to wipe off the black soot on this pink shirt, and it was like 95 degrees out. It just sums up the whole movie: You just roll with it. Besides being total chaos, I feel like everything got done.
MC: When you were doing research for the film, where did you begin? Were you looking into pageantry or Midwestern kitsch at all?
MM: It was really small-town America research and small-town America pageants. I did tons of research for my interview [to get the job], so I was already deep in it by the time we started because it was such a unique topic. I hadn't worked on a movie like this or been around other movies like this. Sometimes if things go really fast, you can tap into other, say, movies to do quick [research, like,] ‘I need something on Vietnam.’ But there was nothing like this, so I just started right in and it was so fascinating. The pageant world is its own little unique beast.
I was looking at different mail-order catalogs. Everyone had one then. And then I was looking at old footage from pageants. I also did things from what I envisioned. I went through magazines and teen magazines, and I found little dresses.
You just start to feel it, and then you can just spot it anywhere. It doesn't matter where you are at that point.
MC: Where were some of the stores that you were looking at?
MM: One of the dresses that Kirsten wears is Forever 21—that little blue [one] that she wears short with and the kind of tie. I bought that dress early on. Forever 21 in the ‘90s had two stores in L.A. One was deep in the Valley and the other one was, I think, in Orange County. But deep in the Valley is the one we went to and the clothes were so 1999.
We shopped at the Mall of America [in Bloomington, Minnesota] a lot. A lot of my crew was from Minnesota and my supervisor, who’s the person right under me and amazing, lived in L.A. but was from Minnesota. I remember the first day at the Mall of America because she was like, ‘Come on, let’s check this out.’ I had to buy a pair of shoes there because, even though I was wearing comfortable shoes, it was just too much walking. Then we had to keep going to the car and dropping off bags. Shopping hardcore.
The pageant world is its own little unique beast.
MC: In addition to buying the characters’ street clothes, did you buy the pageant dresses, too, or did you make any?
MM: We didn't make the pageant dresses. Those were all pretty inexpensive because there was a gown store, and we got almost all of the dresses there.
We did make the poodle skirt [Denise Richards’ character Becky wears during a pageant routine] and that sweater we sewed on all of these little sequins.
When Denise sort of burns up [during the freak accident in Becky’s victory parade], she had a long, fur cape; we made that.
Like I said earlier, it was just so fast and furious. I am surprised you don’t see my hands in the final movie because I was wrapping this tinfoil outfit around Will Sasso [who played Hank, one of the judges’ sons], as he’s running on camera with a thing of tinfoil. I mean, it was just like, ‘Okay, here we go. This is what you want? Alright, let's do it!’ Then we just roll camera.
MC: Were you behind making all of the U.S.A.-themed hats that the girls each wear during a pageant routine?
MM: They were all scripted. We knew what [screenwriter Lona Williams] wanted. It’s so funny because nowadays when you make a movie, there would've been 50 meetings on this and sketches and all that, and this just wasn't that. We jobbed them out to a prop maker and everything came back really nice, but very plain. Like Denise Richards’ Mount Rushmore hat—it was just literally the carved heads in gray and a little space. So we were like, ‘Oh, this needs some zhush.’
We had this tiny, little U-Haul trailer they dragged behind our big, huge wardrobe trailer. In there we had our own little workshop and we had some local customers sitting in there and gluing glitter. It was just like a glitter bomb. And Kirsten Dunst’s [map of the U.S.A. hat], we did that in there, and it was glitter and glue and everything that we had to add to.
We added all the little flags on Amy Adams’ hat [with the Washington Monument]. We added yarn; my assistant did the yarn on there in that little trailer.
Denise Richards’ hat was just so boring. So we added sparkle, the little glitter in the flag, and the tie to keep it on her because it wouldn't stay on her head. They didn't really ever do any fittings. They just threw it out there to those guys, and they threw it back the day of shooting. And so we are decorating, decorating, decorating, decorating. And it would not sit right. One side was so heavy, so we started adding silver dollars. Somehow we found some silver dollars, and then we started adding quarters and quarters and quarters to the other side to balance it out. We were sweating bullets putting those quarters and half dollars in there. We were just like, ‘Oh my gosh, what are we going to do? They just got here and they work in three hours!’ Then that thing was so heavy. It was not proportionate. So, she worked it in that she had to hold that side up because we just couldn't get it to work and sit there effortlessly.
MC: Each of the hats is so good. I love Brittany Murphy’s Lady Liberty hat with the Barbie on top in particular. Did you have a favorite one?
MM: I loved the Hollywood one because that was cute with the little airplane.
Everything in the movie was so ridiculous or really off the line, but it was fun to sit back and watch. You just sort of cringe, but then burst out laughing. You're just like, ‘Oh my gosh, okay, this is horrible—but fantastic.’ Kirsten was worried that her dress was going to fall off all the time. I mean, it was a little circus. It was wild. And then the personalities! And our production office was in an old funeral home, which was wild. We'd have these big meetings in there; the whole thing was just hilarious.
MC: The cast is so iconic. What were some of your favorite memories working with the comedy legends in the group?
MM: Allison Janney [who played Loretta, the best friend of Amber’s mom], was fantastic. She was game to wear anything. She was like, ‘Bring it on. Anything you need.’ Her feather necklace was something that I had. She was just fearless with trying things. Her hair in the movie, I mean, come on. She just went for it.
I'd never met Ellen Barkin, [who played Amber’s mom Annette], before, and I didn't know what to expect. She's this elegant, beautiful woman, and I'm putting her in these hideous clothes. The first day she was like, ‘These clothes are hideous and cheap, there's no way I'm wearing these pants.’ They were white high-waisted bell-bottom pants. She stripped her clothes off, put 'em on, and complained the whole time. But she looked like a million bucks. And then I sort of got her [sense of humor]. I was like, ‘Oh, I get it. You're not really complaining. You're just voicing your opinion, but you're totally in for of the character.’ I really enjoyed her sense of humor. It's just dry.
Kirstie Allie would wear her clothes home at night. The whole thing was just a three-ring circus. She wore this cranberry blazer, and we added the epaulets and black detailing. We always had sparkles on her. Everything that she wore, we tweaked with some sort of sparkles.
We did that with most everything. We either made it a little cheaper looking or made it, for instance, with Ellen, any of the other girls, [or the pageant sponsors from Sarah Rose Cosmetics], more dramatic. The sponsors were so over-accessorized, and it was this charity. The script was so good.
Everything in the movie was so ridiculous or really off the line, but it was fun to sit back and watch. You just sort of cringe, but then burst out laughing.
MC: So many of the younger actresses went on to be huge stars, too. It’s Amy Adams’ first movie.
MM: We all knew Amy Adams was going to be a star. We all did. You could just tell she had something. She was so much her character [Leslie] at that time because she was so excited to be working and to be an actress.
They were all so talented. All the girls were thrown together, and they made it all work. They had a lot of fun and people weren't running off to their trailers as much. There was lots of hanging out. It was a special movie.
MC: Brittany Murphy is someone who is sorely missed, and I think a lot of people love this movie for her performance. She has that great laugh that she repeats throughout.
MM: I remember she was trying to audition for a Janis Joplin movie or something, so she was always talking about Janis Joplin and trying to sing her songs. She was very talented. She had this intense passion for life. Anything she did, she thought it was really funny, or she thought it was really cool, or she went all in. She was a cool person to talk to. We spent a lot of nights sitting there waiting in between takes and talking about stuff. It's too bad she's not still here showing us what she could do.
MC: It was also a huge year for Kirsten Dunst, who released Dick the next month and Bring It On the following year.
MM: Kirsten was 16 and went by Kiki at the time. She was so professional, but she also couldn't have had more fun. The scene of her skipping down the road and doing her dance number, she's this beautiful spirit, even as a long-working actor at 16. She'd done movies before that, and she was still lovely to work with. Her family is lovely. A lot of the girls had family there because they were so excited. There were lots of visitors on set and then they would visit and just be like, ‘What is this movie?’
MC: What was it like at the time seeing how poorly received and how the film has been completely reappraised over the years?
MM: Loma’s amazingly talented, and she really got beat up because people didn't like it at the time. But it's such a clever, dense script. She didn't miss an opportunity to put something that's delicious that you'll miss the first eight times on every page.
I had a lot of friends in West Hollywood that liked it when it came out, and that was probably the only people who saw it. They thought it was hilarious and would dress up like it. Some of the drag queens thought it was hilarious.
Now that it’s finally come around, it's cool to have young people know the movie. Some [have told me], ‘Oh, my gosh, that's why I went into costuming,’ and I’m like, ‘Really?’
