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Mean Girls & Legally Blonde- Every Kind of Tank Top
30 Plays3 months ago
The power of the color pink is in full force here! These movies are about the same thing; how you dress will determine how people see you and what they think you're capable of. And you better own it. The early 00's were a wild time in Girl World, and not just because of the crazy fashion trends.
But we're inviting you to sit with us for this episode. And we don't do that a lot, so you should know that this is, like, a really big deal. This is gonna be exactly like senior year, except for funner!
https://www.nylon.com/articles/mean-girls-costumes-fashion
https://www.vogue.com/article/legally-blonde-20th-anniversary-costume-design
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0377092/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_8_nm_0_in_0_q_mean
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0250494/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_8_nm_0_in_0_q_legally
Music: Cassette Deck by Basketcase
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Transcript
Introduction to Hot Set Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
I'm Melinda. I'm Ariel. This is Hot Set, the movie podcast about costume design.
Double Feature on Pink Power
00:00:22
Speaker
Hello. Welcome back for another episode of Hot Set. Today we are here bringing you another double feature. I think maybe like an unofficial, you know, the power of the color pink double feature. Yeah, right. Okay. So yeah, the movies that we covered for today are 2004's Mean Girls and 2001's legally, blonde. These movies were both so personally important to me. I love both of these movies and I did my homework today. I rewatched both of them in preparation for the episode unlike our last episode with Indiana Jones. But there's like whole scenes of both of these movies that I could probably like do all the parts and say all the lines of the movie with like a good amount of accuracy because amazing i just they're like in my DNA as a
Personal Reflections on Mean Girls
00:01:26
Speaker
millennial. um So I'm so excited to talk about both of them. And and it was interesting watching them together
00:01:34
Speaker
and finding like more common ground and more like parallels and more connections between the stories than I think I ever really considered in the past. um Same, 100%. Yeah. Because I've only ever seen them totally separate. Right. I was telling you earlier that I don't think I've seen Mean Girls all the way through since it came out.
00:02:03
Speaker
Wow. And we were in high school when it came out. Yeah, we're the same age as the characters in the movie. They're all juniors in high school. And that's what we were when this movie came out. Did you like it when you saw it? Yeah, I because I liked Tina Fey a lot. And so I understood that this was like her baby and I did.
Mean Girls' Cultural Impact
00:02:23
Speaker
It wasn't like a major influence for me or you know anything like that but it was like this was fun you know and a lot of quotable stuff that is still quoted today which is much way to go staying power she doesn't even go here
00:02:44
Speaker
like So much. that The fact that like there's an official like Mean Girls Day based on like one throwaway line about like, it's October 3rd. That is ridiculous. I did laugh that we didn't do this somehow on October 3rd. I know. You know what? You can't have it all. It's fine. You can have some of it. But it was such a trip to watch because it like really, really landed for me that it's been 20 years. and So it's like, what a ride. But this is such a good time capsule of clothing for our
00:03:30
Speaker
age group because right after, okay, so like people talk a lot about like, there's so many TikToks about like, you know, millennials our age, like in high school and in school and our fashion choices, which were all of them wild. Crazy. A lot of people look back and see the emo stuff. Yeah. Or like baby sugar punk.
00:03:53
Speaker
you know, like that kind of thing. There was a little bit of that influence and in some stuff, but it was more like no doubt, you know, which is like... Absolutely, yes. Teetering on that, a lot of plaid, a lot of the studs, but it wasn't like full, you know, and so... It wasn't that good Charlotte panic at the distance. No. They were not happening yet. They were not part of the conversation yet.
Teen Fashion Trends of the 2000s
00:04:17
Speaker
Yeah, it was like, it was, they were just coming up. So it's like that influence had not switched over yet. So this was still very, what would you call this? Like I i want to call a lot of the styles, like it was almost like Fort adjacent where it's like comfortable. Yeah. It's like, there was such a strong influence in this like couple year span of this preppy, adjacent look. Baby yuppies. ah Baby yuppies, like white suburbia, like this desire to look upper middle class, but then there's also like- Abercrombie and Fitch kind of situation. But then there's like this sort of like twisted, gross like layer on top of like,
00:05:07
Speaker
the the Paris Hilton aesthetic like layered on top, the the Girls Gone Wild aesthetic laid on top, the Playboy Bunny for teenage girls aesthetic laid on top. Listen, Amy Poehler, the way she's dressed, is that like basically juicy? like It is without the word on the back, yeah. Yeah.
00:05:32
Speaker
that is That was something that was present at my school. like There were so many kids that attended my school, but that was one of the styles that like the popular girls, the people who could afford to have multiple versions of that, that's what they were doing.
00:05:49
Speaker
and that was just like wild because it's the thing that still is here is wearing like the leisure suit and it's not like a tracksuit that goes like shh shh shh whenever you move it's the leisure like the lure. Right it's the soft yeah. Yeah and so. I know it's never left us. It never left us.
00:06:09
Speaker
And, like, this was also, like, before the Kardashians had taken Storm. It was Paris Hilton and Anne. This is when Kim Kardashian was Paris Hilton's unfamous friend, like, hanger on, wannabe. Like, Kim Kardashian was, like, the Gretchen Wieners to Paris Hilton's Regina George at this time. She was. That's crazy. And, like, what was that show? The Simple Life.
00:06:35
Speaker
which was with James. Yes, and and Nicole Ritchie. Nicole Ritchie. they were That was very big at the moment. So like this is just a weird throwback. And there's a lot of textiles on display that have come back recently. Yeah. Because like there was a very specific type of stretch shirt that was like... Yes. I think I refer to it as like tissue knit.
00:07:03
Speaker
Yes, and I hated it. It's so thin. you had to like It was made with the ah understanding that you were not wearing one shirt. You were layering multiple yeah layers of this like super thin knit, tight shirts on top of each other. Let's talk about all the layered shirts in this. Holy. i Okay. When I was in high school, I was very self-conscious about my body. Thank you. Me too. Yeah. Everything in the world.
00:07:33
Speaker
But like by the time I was 12, I was the size of an adult woman. like There's just no question. the height the like My size was fine, but I was bigger than a 12-year-old. And so it's like in high school that just carried through where I was the size of ah of a fully developed adult and like not a slender one, a curvy one. And so it's like, I would wear layers. um here's the thing And there was a thing that happened for a little while where you'd wear t-shirts on the outside of your sweatshirts. Like that was a thing. And I was one of the people who perpetuated it. Like just as many layers as you could get away with, no matter the heat or the temperature. The fact that there are polo shirts on top of polo shirts and tanks on top of tanks on top of tanks with a t-shirt over is just bonkers and so accurate.
00:08:28
Speaker
and like it's like a really like stupidly cropped jacket that does nothing but like what is that jacket doing it's what is this for her arms more and like a amount of three quarter sleeves and like not only that tissue knit that you're talking about but there's also the graphic tissue nets where it's like oh my god you imagine like a Buddha print.
00:08:48
Speaker
And it's like yeah stretched out like that kind of thing that where the which paint the screen printing ink is like cracked cuz you've yeah because those things there's like a there there was a aesthetic of like how tight. Your clothing was and that is how in this world.
00:09:08
Speaker
Oh my god, the low rise pants. Go back to the hells from whence ye came because the only people who could wear those were the people in this movie. You know what I mean? And even then, could they bend over quickly? like no It's dangerous. You don't know what's going to happen. yeah you just thought And like happened this, the idea, the the look of super, super low rise boot cut denim yeah with like a baby tee that creates that like two inch gap of like lower
Fashion, Culture, and Expectations
00:09:41
Speaker
belly.
00:09:41
Speaker
exposed was impossible to avoid at this time because it was like those were the shirts that were for sale, those are the pants that were for sale. yeah If you didn't want two inches of your below your belly button visible to the world, good luck. Yep. That's why the layers came in and that's like if you weren't thrifting and you didn't know that you could thrift and get older style pants,
00:10:07
Speaker
or like you had a problem with thrifting for some god-awful reason, then it was like... I mean, if you wanted to be culturally relevant, you had to wear the little right pants. Yeah, if you wanted to be cool. Oh, my God. And this was also... This movie also does this thing that I love, which we talked about in 10 Things I Hate About You, which has a person with a staple jacket, which is like they're always wearing this jacket that's like applicable to everything. And Katie, our main character, Katie Herron,
00:10:35
Speaker
has that for the first part of the movie where she just has this like comfortable like kind of warning. Yeah. Yeah. Just like I could go hiking in this, I could go outside. Yeah, it's just like, i that was chef kiss perfect for me. I got my jeans, I got whatever tops I'm putting on, however many. And then I've got this jacket, that's my jacket. There's just this, this is so crazy. Cause there was like, yeah, we talked about like the baby yuppies. There are there was this thing of looking like a baby business person.
00:11:13
Speaker
and The business casual clothing in this movie, isn't it that is accurate. and Yes, because even the popular, it wasn't like, oh, and these are the kids like in 10 things I hate about you when they're again, a lunch table introductions, yeah such an on the nose like thing.
00:11:28
Speaker
but like There wasn't like, oh, those are the business kids. No, that was like what you would. That was Regina George herself. Yes. And it was crazy. And like those button up shirts. It's so weird. The elasting in them makes me want to throw up because I can remember what that felt like because I'm specifically remembering my freshman year. Because that's the only way you should get like a button up, like a pin-striped button up blouse to get it that tight on your body because they all were.
00:11:57
Speaker
so let Oh my god. It's just like such a such a terrible time for fashion. And yet it was like it hadn't even peaked yet. like know this The ridiculousness of this style had not even peaked yet when this movie came out. This was like all those weird Like when people repost like weird red carpet stuff with like really young like Disney Channel like Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, when they're like on a red carpet at like 13 years old in like 2008 wearing like 24 pieces of clothing that sometimes is over the pants.
00:12:35
Speaker
Yeah, it was like the the little thin scarf like wrapped like six times around their neck and they're somehow they're also wearing like an open knit with like sequins knitted in and like just like and then like uggs and then like a headband and then like fake hair braided into their real hair like they're like that style had not even peaked in this movie like there was more ridiculousness to come. Yeah, and this movie was like also kind of trying to make fun of that already.
00:13:02
Speaker
a little bit. And yet it manages to be such a perfect time capsule.
Influences on Early 2000s Fashion
00:13:08
Speaker
And like I i wrote, there are so many like teen movies that that kind of miss because everything feels too bumped up. Like the ratio of hyper reality to reality is like way too crazy. like And sometimes they do miss, sorry, they don't miss because you love the characters or you know, like they win you. And so it's like Cool List is one where it's very hyper.
00:13:33
Speaker
Real is like it's not right. Yeah, really real because a lot of those clothes Jean-Paul Gautier is not achievable for a lot of people and those styles are not what most people were wearing, you know, like regional stuff is also part of it, but this movie stylistically feels like there's like a good 90% reflection of reality and then like a 10% hyper reality. And that's just layering things even more or you know showing more skin or having those Santa outfits that happen in the movie. And just like a level of, of like styling sophistication that was like a little bit beyond your typical 16 year old. Like everybody in this movie is beautiful. Everybody in this movie knows exactly how to pair everything. That doesn't always happen. And that's the thing life that happens now. People are used to seeing teenagers like that now.
00:14:28
Speaker
I cannot I cannot express how untrue that was if you look back for our time because if you look back at like different eras there's always people who know how to dress themselves and maybe that's because they had older siblings who passed on knowledge or they were just curious and.
00:14:45
Speaker
liked to figure that stuff out yeah and experimented and all that stuff. In the sixties, the seventies, there were specific style constraints, you know, where it's like you wear your hair a certain way, you do this, you do that. Like things were a little bit narrower. So when you were breaking the mold, it was like a big deal. And right there were also like school uniforms that were more popular than the now popular, more Yeah, like more often seen more prevalent. Thank you. Another key word. Um, but it's like, you know, you would, you also the formality of how we presented ourselves was very different up until the eighties really. Like it was breaking after the fifties, but like the eighties, it just kind of like open where you were wearing athleisure wear and like the seventies as well. But it's just like, you were like just doing so much.
00:15:38
Speaker
Right. like There was more more variety of recognized counterculture that you could go kind of into like what you're interested in, and there were people there that were also doing that too. so It wasn't like, yeah I'm the one weird kid. It was like, I'm hanging out with the goth kids, and we're all kind of doing this goth thing. and you know there there a like life you know yeah There was so much more ability to be reacting to things because It was more socially loose. i guess like yeah so By the time we hit our time growing up in the 90s, there's so many different things. There's the preppy, the sporty, the the grunge, the goth. like There's so many different things.
00:16:23
Speaker
And there's also, because things have relaxed so much, there's not this expectation that you're gonna look perfect when you walk out your door because that too is a reaction to something and that reaction is allowable. And so like when we were in high school, there were people who didn't know how to look perfect and definitely one of them was pointing at myself. Hello.
00:16:48
Speaker
that was not an expectation and the internet for us our connection with the internet was so new that we were focused on being drama for sure um but not always a focusing on how we looked like every time I put a photo on my space it was artfully you know lens It was like weird shadows and it's like high contrast. It was like a thousand mirror selfies because I folded out my medicine cabinet and you could see my face into eternity. Like it was all that kind of stuff where it was like emotionally ridiculous.
Social Media's Role in Fashion
00:17:23
Speaker
oh but it was
00:17:25
Speaker
It wasn't about clothes you're wearing. No, and it wasn't so much about looking perfect. And so like there's more of that now because folks are you're learning younger and younger how to use the tools of makeup and the tools of clothes to express themselves the way they wish to be seen. And there's also, again, an expectation in return because the skill sets are there now. So it's like there's an expectation that you're going to know how to do that.
00:17:54
Speaker
And there are exceptions. Yeah, and but we're in that part of the cycle. Yeah, like, and now like someone could just pull their phone out at any time and start like filming what you're, you know, like so and then post it on the internet. So it's like you want to look a certain way. Yeah. So there's just so many different things that feed into it. And this was kind of like a moment in which you could, there was a wide gamut of a mess.
00:18:19
Speaker
And yet, like, you know, it's so funny to me too, because I don't have very many photographs of myself in high school because I didn't take any. And there was no social media like that, ah where like you're posting, you know, selfies.
00:18:42
Speaker
all the time, like there is now, like, I mean, not obviously not everyone chooses to participate in that. Like if you had a blog, you know, that you were super active on, then yes, but this was like before Facebook. I didn't know how to do that. Yeah. Yeah. that'll make your average you how to do that yeah Well, I mean, we knew how to like call you could like live journal or whatever. We were crazy. Like Myspace, we were building websites. It was nuts. But that was like, we were being distracted by like, what song do I want to play? What song feels like me today? You know, How can I put like a lime green background with hot pink text on top that no one can read? So much fun. And it was also like, I don't know, for me, the the impetus was to post photos about like what we were doing as opposed to marketing myself, you know, in a way. And so creating a lifestyle brand. 100%. I was not invested in branding at all. And so it's like,
00:19:39
Speaker
It's just, this movie shot me back in a way I was not expecting it to because my memories were so much from just like watching it when I was still close to this age. Oh my God. i Like where to even start going into the movie. I don't even, I mean,
00:20:00
Speaker
I
Mean Girls' Character and Fashion Analysis
00:20:01
Speaker
don't know. um because like We started with Katie Herron, started at this public school that she's never been to this child school before. She doesn't know how things work. Total fish out of water and like trying to kind of mirror other people. So she's just coming in with like a shirt, jeans, comfy jacket, and she's like, okay, i'm good I'm good for anything really, because it's what you could wear to be comfortable in most situations. And then we're just like treated to this smorgasbord of crazy early 2000s kids fashion.
00:20:36
Speaker
Yeah, like I think like for me a big parallel between this movie and Legally Blonde is just like how you have to make a choice as a woman about how society is going to perceive you based on the your clothing, your hair, your makeup, everything, and you have to decide who you are. Because even if you even if your decision is, I don't really want to participate in that system, people will perceive you as someone who doesn't want to participate in that system. like you can't You can't be neutral. You're always making a choice about how people perceive you. So it's sort of like, what do you want it to be? The girls were just so
00:21:22
Speaker
Good. It was so strong. um So strong. wow Like not only choosing like. Who decided to pair these boobies together? Where did we get this idea? and i' na But it was just like, yeah, it is this whole thing of like being perceived by how you are presenting yourself and choosing Am I going to let somebody else control that or am I going to do it my own way? And yeah, choosing to do it your own way. And like, you know, of course there's also the but like discussion of like, what is it to have ethics and integrity and to be like a person that you think is a good person?
00:22:01
Speaker
And, like, how to do that. And I also love that the villains in both of these movies, the perceived villains, Regina George and um also vi in kensington yeah Vivian Kensington,
00:22:17
Speaker
ah that they're just people. Like, they're just people. And so at the end of the movie, they they also have realized that the person that they are trying to control or don't like are also just people. And that like, whatever role it is that you're trying to pursue, you don't have to. And you can still be achieving what you want to achieve without being this thing that you're your pushing yourself forward as. And I was just like, that's great. I love this.
00:22:47
Speaker
yeah help In Mean Girls, Janice. Oh, Janice. Janice. Janice Ian. Do you know who Janice Ian is? only The only thing I know about Janice Ian is that there is a person named Janice Ian that this character was named for, and I don't know anything else about her. So she's a the folk singer-songwriter, and my mom had some of her albums, so I knew Janice Ian as the folk singer-artist before I saw this, and I was like, that's an Easter egg that I understand. and And I remember that once again and just being like also like what is specific?
00:23:24
Speaker
person to go for because it's not like Janice Joplin. It's not like, you know, this name from like the 70s that's at the top where everybody recognizes. It's like you had to go a little deep to get there. Right. Like only real ones know kind of. And it's not commented on. Like it's, you know, it's not like an office space, the character who's named Michael Bolton. Like it's not a joke in the movie, but it's just there for you to know or not know. Because it's also one where it's like that's just a thing that their parents would have known. Like all of you your age group wouldn't necessarily recognize unless you were listening to your parents' music or you were yourself into like folk songs. And so it's like such a specific pull that makes it even funnier. So still holds up, love it. But Janice,
00:24:13
Speaker
I just like loved that she captures so many different things where she layers on layers on layers on layers, earrings on earrings on earrings, the spiky hair with like the super weighted down gelled like, like the goody clips. Oh my god, the clips in this movie.
00:24:34
Speaker
I'm just incredible. The striped tights with the converse. Hello. and I saw those and I was like, I had you. Me too. Oh my God, that was a thing. And just like, oh, there's also, okay. So in any stylistic anything,
00:24:54
Speaker
Any era, any culture, genre yeah a genre, there's going to be, what am I trying to say? There's going to be clothing where you can see it and you recognize that this is a status symbol or that this is.
00:25:09
Speaker
Like, even if it's not expensive, it's a status symbol because it says, I can wear this and you can't, you know? And so, like, one of those things that hit me. Okay, ah we're not even going to explain the plot of the movie because, come on now. Okay, if someone is listening to this episode and hasn't seen Mean Girls, please do stop what you're doing. If you could be driving on the freeway, stop in the lane.
00:25:38
Speaker
and watch Mean Girls on Paramount Plus, please, please do. And so what what you'll see if you weren't in this age group is that there are so many different types of tank tops,
High School Fashion Dynamics
00:25:53
Speaker
right? There's so many different types of t-shirts. But what what was true from my observations and my experience as a teenager was that what type of tank top you wore said a lot about your, well, fashion sense, but also like where you existed because in the Santa, the jingle bells scene, the Santa jingle bell rock, to rock
00:26:22
Speaker
they're wearing just little spaghetti strap camisoles, right? and that They've added the white floof too. A little fur, but yeah, it's just a red cami from like basic Aeropostal. 100%. But what I remember is that certain people who were super cool, if you will, or at least of a certain crowd,
00:26:46
Speaker
would wear those. And if you were wearing those and you were in that crowd, you were more likely than not wearing it over a tank top that was like, don't want to call it what the the part like what it's usually called. ah Yes. A singlet. A singlet. You'd wear it over a singlet or you'd wear it slightly differently. But if you were like,
00:27:07
Speaker
jockey or some form of social status, then you would wear those shirts and just have those shirts. I used to wear those. Yeah. I used to wear those. I used to wear them too because they were a basic, but for a hot minute,
00:27:24
Speaker
when we were moving away from wider strapped tank tops, for a hot minute, it was like those who were in the know wore those. And it was like, ooh, I was not in the know. Things see in Empire Records. Right, right. For me,
00:27:44
Speaker
The school environment that I grew up in, there was like a total like fashion vacuum. like There was nobody, there was no Regina George sitting at the top of the totem pole. like That type of girl just wasn't in my school. There wasn't anything of these like traditional hallmarks of like status that anybody was doing like none. It was a very weird fashion environment to be in. So like, I would like hop and jump around into, you know,
00:28:18
Speaker
looking like Janice, looking like Regina, looking like Katie. and like and From like day to day, and there was nobody to be like, who do you think that you are? Other than literally everyone in my school being like, who do you think that you are? but like like I was at a very large high school, and that also kind of held true because I say popular, you know whatever, or of a certain subset.
00:28:45
Speaker
nothing that they did affected anybody else it was just a recognizable thing of like these touch points are important to you so you have found each other and you are perpetuating a certain culture that you wish to be a part of good for you guys absolutely yeah i was definitely a fringe kid i was doing whatever the. fuck And like, I say like popular kids and not all of them followed the stereotype of being popular. Not all of them were like horrible or back to a story. It's just like stylistic choices and commonalities with your friends, like that kind of a thing. But, and also like whatever bullying or anything existed, I was not noticing myself because I was holding myself so far apart in a lot of ways. And I was also so damn awkward that like,
00:29:30
Speaker
if anybody wanted to point in my outfit and be like, me I'd be like, yeah, I know I'm in it. what You think this is new? I'm not going to fix it and I'm not going to do anything about it because I chose it. Get over yourself. I had a bit of the Janus aggressiveness edge to my yeah personality and I was willing to i was yeah i was i was ready to like throw down at any moment, very angsty and stupid is what I would call myself. Yeah, it was the angst was painful. And so I was definitely not one of these people who had like a balance and knowing themselves. And like a lot of these extras in the background of this movie, because we're not being privy to their personal stories, they just look comfortable in who they are and how they're displaying themselves.
00:30:19
Speaker
And that's like a beautiful fantasy of all of these people who are like, yeah, I woke up this morning and I just put on a shirt and some jeans. That's rad. When we know that that that equanimity doesn't ah really arrive for everybody until a little bit later when your identity is like solidified and you're not fighting. You can be a little bit a little bit comfortable in who you are. and a little Just a tiny bit, but it doesn't really happen.
00:30:47
Speaker
you in the cafeteria, when um Katie basically first encounters the plastics on her own, where she starts to get interviewed by this annoying boy, kind of their two table, there are actually harasses what I would call it harassed, because she's not understanding anything that he's saying. And it's all super inappropriate. But like,
00:31:08
Speaker
There are two tables, one is just full of these teenage boys and they're they clock him walking up to her and they're ready for the show and he's performing for them. And then on the other side are the plastics, these three girls table to themselves and Regina George is dressed.
Character Fashion in Mean Girls
00:31:25
Speaker
Like a Barbie business woman. She literally looks like she should be sitting at like a reception desk. Yes. and like or Or in some sort of slightly caricaturized managerial ah position where it's like everything's see-through and like there's like peacocks walking around. I don't know. There's just like something about this outfit that is just like so hard to be like,
00:31:50
Speaker
You are 16 and you're dressing like you're 45 in a way. There's something happening here. There's something that happens as a teenager where you just want to be an adult so bad because you don't know that being an adult is a scam. so You haven't figured that out yet. and like Girl. Yeah. And so it's like she's totally doing that thing of like dressing up and older and carrying it. But then the two girls on either side of her are representative of their personalities, which are also heightened because they are ah the it girls. But like Gretchen peter is dressed a little bit more teenager-y, right? Yeah. And then um who's the other? Wait, which one's Gretchen?
00:32:39
Speaker
Yeah, Karen, who can tell the weather. Yeah, curious. Which is just ridiculous. But she's dressed in kind of like more of a hodgepodge type of way. where Yeah, she's a little bit... yeah But like it's not as crisp. No. And so it's like, it's showing that they aren't identical to each other, but they are still following rules. And so it's just like, and then Katie is just Jean's shirt, you know,
00:33:10
Speaker
Pretty like low ponytail. Can you believe ponytail? And also she was like, she arrives and leaves school in that jacket and I was like, girl, are you actually using your locker? Good for you. I think I used my locker appropriately.
00:33:28
Speaker
I can count on one hand because that thing, that door would shut, the combo was forgotten. but The combo was forgotten. And then I'd remember like a month and a half later, it'd be like, oh, remember the numbers and crack that thing open.
00:33:45
Speaker
I remember one time with like talking with some like work friends about like lockers at school and I was sort of like wasn't a big thing. And they were like, where did you put your coat? And I was like, coat? This is California coat. What are you talking about? yes Maybe.
00:34:05
Speaker
So I just, I know that we're like, yes, i know but we can talk about whatever. One thing we have to talk about when you were talking about status symbols in this movie, the first thing that came to my mind that is in the world of this movie, the like status symbol is the initial, the rhinestone initial necklace, because Regina is the only one that like she, she has hers, it's got an R, she's the only one of the plastics that has it, but halfway through the movie,
00:34:35
Speaker
Katie starts wearing a C and that it correlates perfectly to when she starts to usurp power from Regina and those like really pointlessly idiosyncratic little things in like the high school ecosystem are the kind of details that take this like movie from like good to like genius level. Oh, yeah, because like that is so right. When you were this age, I don't know. I can't speak to now. I'm not a teenager, thankfully.
00:35:11
Speaker
It is a time we all go through. I am a 37-year-old teenage girl, personally. right yeah oof but I'm very grateful that I'm not mentally where it was as a teenager. and That distinguishes it. These things, and it still applies when you're an adult living in the scam world that is adulthood, is that there are little things that people notice about you. And Devil Wears Prada,
00:35:38
Speaker
is a perfect example of that, of being judged by your external decoration um because somebody will will take whatever they want from that and decide you are of this class consciousness or not, right? And so it's like,
00:35:55
Speaker
As a teenager, you're really honing those skills. And so it's that thing of like when I mentioned those little camisoles, right? The spaghetti strap. It was like that too where, you know, people would look and what they would see was do you have a bra that has a tiny strap? ah Or does it have a big wide strap that's wider than the strap on the camisole?
00:36:21
Speaker
You might as well just go home. How embarrassing. You might as well just die. and so it's like It's these things where they're the little notes and they are present in this movie. and It's just great because this it really, again, is a perfect time capsule.
00:36:40
Speaker
and like i There's so many other thoughts that are like all over the place but it's just like the mini skirts that are on display here there's a mini skirt that um regina george is wearing the first time she almost gets caught by aaron.
00:36:56
Speaker
making out with um that other guy in the projectionist booth. And it's this like yoked mini skirt. Yeah, pleated below the yoke. That was such a thing that they were like yoked to like the mid hip. like And then it would fall into pleats or fall into flounces. And I remember the first time that my mom took me somewhere international was London and there was a store called Mango MNGO, whatever. We went to one on our way to Covent Garden and I saw a skirt there that was almost exactly like this Regina George skirt, except that it had little pink sequins in there and it was like a tissue. like it was I still have it. I saw that, it was like, o what a time.
00:37:51
Speaker
but There are so many styles of that that were being shown. And there's the um that skirt that this one girl is wearing that like Regina George stops her in the hallway while she's talking to Katie. And it's when Katie first realizes that Regina George has this thing that she does. And she's fake as hell. Yeah, where she's just like, oh my god, I love it. And she's like, yeah, it was my mom's in the 80s, which first of all, vintage, good for you. Vintage, vintage, so adorable.
00:38:20
Speaker
so adorable. But it's like this little pleated number.
Diverse Fashion Influences in Mean Girls
00:38:24
Speaker
And so we have all of these things that have multiple kind of interdisciplinary styles. You know, it's not just one flat wash, like even when we're seeing the layered shirts, we're like the tissue knit that you're talking about. We're seeing like the lacy things over the ones that are not. Like there's just so much. The use of like really bright, like seeing it's like a really bright color paired with like white. Yes. Or you know, it's like that was solids real. Yeah. And it's like, it's not somebody who just picked up adelias and like is kind of almost. No. While this is a time capsule, it feels like somebody was paying attention to a living
00:39:07
Speaker
you know, like pulling living research instead of like just looking at a magazine or like two magazines and going, this tells me everything I need to know. The person who was doing that, by the way, what you was a human person who is a professional and her name is Mary Jane Fort. point And yes she and her team did good research to make this feel not like a stereotype and that's or like a fantasy. Because Clueless, while Clueless is wonderful and has its own like personality, it's not a reflection of the real world. And if it is, it's only a reflection of like Beverly Hills at a specific moment in time.
00:39:53
Speaker
And so this though, I feel like yeah you could see this in quite a few places in the US. It's turned up a tiny bit, but it yeah still looks like it looks like how we all wanted to look in.
00:40:12
Speaker
this era. A hundred percent. Everybody here is successful with their fashion choices, yeah even if they're yeah they're questionable because like Janice Ian is just wearing the most bonkers stuff. And that's kind of how I dressed was like just, I don't know, I'm going to put all these layers and it's still how I dress.
00:40:30
Speaker
I'm going to put all these layers together because they make me feel a type of way. And like Janice isn't trying to dress toward um a specific ah style. She's just dressing exactly the way that she wants and pulling from a bunch of different things, which was also representative of how people dressed. Like you could look at an old navy.
00:40:53
Speaker
catalog and be like, yeah, I'm going to buy this and build my wardrobe here. Or you could be like thrifting and doing that. And then just being like today, I feel like putting this Mod Podge together. Oh, it's so beautiful. and And unfortunately, I think we do need to switch gears yeah to legally blonde. But before we do, the only thing that I want to add is that end scene that takes place at the spring fling when Katie starts cracking that crown apart and throwing the piece is out.
Symbolism and Language in Mean Girls
00:41:23
Speaker
She has like 10 crowns worth of pieces that she throws out to everybody. It's endless. It's endless and it's just like I can never let that go when I'm watching it. like i get I get pulled out of the moment because I'm like, girl, you threw that crown out so long ago and you were still tossing pieces into the audience. What is happening? I do also want to say that her speech is so great because like
00:41:52
Speaker
She's being stopped by the principal. ofval He's like, you don't have to do this. And she's like, this I'm almost done. No, you just started. You just started. You just started. um ah Warning, you know, 40 over 40 minutes into the podcast that in both movies, they drop a bomb, which really sucks.
00:42:12
Speaker
And there's a homophobic slur in both movies. Yes, which is just like fucked up. um it really there's lot in like man yeah There's a lot of just really um really questionable words that get said in in Mean Girls in particular that was like unfortunately very prevalent at the time. There's a lot of really misogynistic language in it. I don't think that the movie is necessarily glorifying using those terms, but it is reflecting what people would say in the term, which is sad. written yeah It's sad and it's also accurate. like This was a time before there was this reflection. and like Because I can't help but rant, there is a thing right now which is like moving in a in a better direction, which is,
00:43:02
Speaker
doing things better overall, like with trying to do things better. Like there are younger generations who are like, Oh, I would never say this word or that word or whatever, which is like, that's super wonderful. And this was when that stuff was starting to kick in because I think Internet culture being seen and being seen in a way that you can't delete permanently is a good incitement for a lot of people to look at what they're doing and to stop it because people will like Retweet the hell out of you or you know, like responds to a Yeah online
00:43:46
Speaker
Yeah, so there there is an explanation as to why this stuff is so prevalent, even though it's being written by people who are like on SNL and on TV and are doing this in full full view of everybody. It was not a time when people went beyond like, oh, you shouldn't do that. right and like There were many people, myself included, who didn't use language like this. There was a thing overall with like people who did where it's like, I'm just making a joke. and It's like, that sucked.
00:44:15
Speaker
And it was real. And it was everywhere. Yeah. And guess what? Your joke isn't funny. me yeah It's not funny because it there's a cost. There's a person suffering on the other side of that. That's not funny. So that's I do have a couple notes before we fully switch over. You brought up skinny scarves. There's a scarf that Tina Fey is wearing when she's playing the piano for Damien.
00:44:39
Speaker
on show. I had that scarf but in purple and where it was like the multi-tones and I saw that and like that was in my wardrobe and it was so long. Melinda, it was so long. It was you had to wrap those skinny things around your neck like 50 times so that you wouldn't just And like Damien's wearing a skinny tie, which is like when the skinny tie was like coming back as a thing. And um there's also, what was this? Oh, in Katie's speech at the dance, Emma Gerber, that hair must have taken hours.
00:45:21
Speaker
Girl, I'm so glad that you're being kind to Emma Gurburt, but that is a bun. That is a bun. And that's a bun that isn't even like slicked back. You know what I'm saying? Like there is minimal hair product that even touched that bun. Maybe it's even a claw, like twist fold. Like there's not, give her a hairdo.
00:45:43
Speaker
that looked like it took hours. What are we doing? Unforgettable. So stupid. Another note is that there's a point where Katie Janice and Damien have this plan to make Gretchen self-conscious about her relationship with Regina and like the fractures. They're going to exploit the fractures. And so Damien comes in dressed as Santa to a classroom to hand out like candy cane um telegrams, basically.
00:46:13
Speaker
he's wearing a Santa suit. And I think we both have, anybody who's worked at costuming, you must have come across some form of Santa suit or other character suit that you know is haunted by the devil.
00:46:30
Speaker
And usually, usually it's a Santa suit because people are not washing any component of that because like sometimes it's made out of something that's so garbage it's gonna bleed all over the place and you don't want that red on the white so you can't wash it away that you would normally wash something else. Just spray it down and put it back and hope for the best. I'm just rot bedding it and hoping for the best. And every time I see somebody wearing a suit that is not their own suit, presumably, I'm like, that beard has to be disgusting. And this suit for the movie looks pretty clean and spankin' you. But I'm like, for a high school, are they really washing that thing? Like, yuck.
00:47:13
Speaker
And so I thought that what I saw him come through. And then at the end of the movie, when Karen, when it's like, and this is where everybody, you know, whatever Karen starts working for the weather station and telling, and it's raining. And she's testing herself and she goes, there's a 30% chance that it's already raining. And then the camera angle goes above her. And she, I believe is wearing flip flops in the rain. Yes, I did notice that. I was like, girl, you knew it was going to rain. And I don't know about any of y'all where you're from and how it was for you in the early 2000s, but we are from California. You're up north farther than me.
00:47:52
Speaker
but like where where I grew up pretty temperate, not pretty temperate, and we got storms, we got El Ninos, like all that kind of stuff, but because it was not always, like we are not like the east coast or further up north or even in the south with the desert where where you get snow regularly, right? So like we don't have, x we did not, when we were growing up, it's changed now, we did not have extreme colds, So people would just wear whatever they wanted to wear, regardless of the weather. And this was that, where people would just be wearing flip flops. But you're like, they're in the suburbs of Chicago. That's not, that's cold. But shall we mosey down to beautiful Southern California?
00:48:41
Speaker
ah make our way over to Legally Blonde. This is another
Legally Blonde: A Modern Classic
00:48:47
Speaker
movie. like I was immediately obsessed by this movie and I feel really vindicated that it's considered more of a classic now because I feel like for a a lot of years after it came out, it was just like considered stupid girl movie.
00:49:05
Speaker
And I do think that it is a modern classic of cinema. I will fight anyone that disagrees with me on that. You're welcome to try. The hair went over the shoulder. I also wanted to be a lawyer when I was a kid, so I will argue with you if you try to tell me that Legally Blonde is not a good movie.
00:49:27
Speaker
Oh my God. ah But what yeah, what got me so much in this particular movie is the the costume environment and how it changes based on where we are is so present in this movie. and Because we start in Southern California and then we have to do the whole fish out of water thing when she goes to Harvard. um But then we also get to meet you know some like regular Boston people.
00:49:53
Speaker
And then we go into this like corporate law firm, high powered law firm situation, which is like even different than Harvard was. So like we get a lot of different classes and different places in this. There's a lot of different expectations in each place. And it's amazing how our character Elle Woods meets those expectations. And she just decides how much she's going to give away of her own personal expectations when she's meeting them. But she's always dressing up to something. And so she's very, she's a character that's very conscientious of what she's doing. And what I love about that and all these places that she is, is that we also get an insight into her just being comfortable.
00:50:45
Speaker
at home in her dorm room where we see her a couple of times in different sets of pajamas. And there's one where she's at law school where she's wearing these little plaid pants and this robe that's just like baby blue robe with like smiling moons on it or something. And it's just like the cutest, like most cozy, like basically Elle Woods was Kauai before we understood what Kauai is.
00:51:12
Speaker
Ooh, wow. Because like she has this very loud fashion, which at the time, 2001, we would have just wiped away the way that the movie tells us to. Oh, that's just So Cal, Waspy Lady, like Baby you know like Sorority Girl, when really it's like now, if you had the same thing, there would be a crossover with like, Kawaii, like super sweet,
00:51:39
Speaker
like baby colors and as well as the bright colors, but it's like there's something in that where it's flamboyant in a way that is not how people dress at Harvard. Like the flamboyant is not welcome. And I do want to say about this costume designer, Sophie Durockoff, also sometimes listed as Sophie Carbonell in different projects.
00:52:02
Speaker
It looks like, I'm not quite sure if um Reese Witherspoon is not in all of these other movies, but after Legally Blood, they have done quite a few movies together, including the TV series, The Morning Show. She's the costume designer for Reese Witherspoon. So it's like, she's been going with her.
00:52:24
Speaker
Yeah, for like different projects and that's very cool yeah because like especially because the the way that I mean that speaks a lot to the to the skill of this costume designer but also to the relationship that this actress trusts this designer so much because like what a bang to begin your relationship with by dressing somebody for Legally Blonde.
Elle Woods' Fashion Evolution
00:52:48
Speaker
That's a lot of heightened stuff and also a lot of stuff that's very like revealing. you know And so there's a lot of sequin bikinis.
00:52:57
Speaker
so it's like yeah to wear these things that are so fun, but also like probably push somebody's personal style beyond what they would normally wear. And for that actor to feel secure in those things and to recognize like this is a major touch point in my career, and then to carry that relationship forward, that's really cool to see. Yeah, and something, I did find a Vogue article about the costumes in Legally Blonde that I was glancing at to in preparation for today. And something that I thought was really interesting that I don't think that you see a lot in film costume design is
00:53:39
Speaker
the designer Sophie was saying that she shops all of her stuff herself. She doesn't rely on hiring someone to be her shopper. So she was talking specifically about Legally Blonde and obviously it's earlier in her career that she physically handled everything that she provided for the movie and that she would go vintage, thrift, new, LA, New York, wherever they were on site. Like she was going all over the place. She was looking everywhere. She was looking at all kinds of things. So I think that that that kind of process can really build that relationship with an actor because they see you putting that work in, putting that thought in.
00:54:30
Speaker
and really getting personal with the choices. And so I think that that foster that can foster a strong relationship with an actor for sure because you're getting to know them and you're creating that wardrobe almost with them probably. Like what was that production timeline? Do you know what I mean? Like how long? I know. Because we have both been shoppers to different degrees. Like I have shopped my own shows. of and to Let me tell you. Those are long hours. It's exhausting. Very long hours. It's very, it's very exhausting. And anybody who wants to wipe that away with, will you like costumes? That's gotta be fun. No, it's very repetitive. It's like, if you just spend like a couple of hours and you're like, boom, boom, boom, I have a list. I got it. Yay. That's one thing. But when you have to do that day in, day out, and it's like,
00:55:23
Speaker
hours on hours and you're driving all over Helen half of Texas. That's a lot. And so like, let's give this lady her flowers. Like, oh my god, for that dedication. know Yeah, like, I mean, obviously, you know,
00:55:39
Speaker
I'm sure she's not dressing extras. There's probably minor characters that that she's not buying things. She'd probably like pulling from warehouses or whatever. But um just your principal characters alone on a film like this, there's so many scenes. There's so many looks. So many looks. All of these principal characters have so many looks. Okay.
00:56:05
Speaker
Let's get into it. So, to be fair, I was not in college in 2001. I was in high school. So, this movie feels a little bit more like hyper reality to me, at least for the sorority bits, because that was not... Oh, yeah, I didn't. Yeah, I never did that.
00:56:24
Speaker
That was not my scene, but this also feels like a logical descendant of Clueless. like It also kind of exists in that world where a language that people are using very strongly and very purposefully is clothing and like flamboyant clothing because that's where these people are at and that's what they value. And oh my God, all of these girls in the sorority are so... When you look at each individual girl in the sorority,
00:56:52
Speaker
They're not that loud. It's just like the main three principal girls yeah that are way loud. But when they're all in a room together, you're just like, you all are in the same world. Like you are all tied and it is loud.
00:57:10
Speaker
And then we get a glimpse of some of the frat boys, like running to a party through a window as Elle is studying. And they're all just wearing like khaki like yeah shorts that aren't even board shorts. They're just like those long below the knee shorts. Yeah. They're like and like eighty two shorts. Yes. And it's just like, they're all just like cookie cutter.
00:57:31
Speaker
muscular guys with a backwards baseball hat. And it's like, uh, amazing. It's not, and that's not done from like a, I'm just not going to dress you guys. Like that says enough. Okay. So I didn't, I've never participated in Greek stuff, but neither did I. when i ah But when I was in grad school, I did not live on campus, but I took the bus to campus and I had to walk through Greek row to get to our building from the bus stop, I would see ah the aftermath of parties when I would go in the morning. And then when I would be leaving in the evening, I would see the preparation for the parties that were going to be happening that night. And there are so many times that I was like walking, and you know, just like a couple blocks, but past like, you know, five, six fraternity houses. And it would be like,
00:58:24
Speaker
all of the guys from one fraternity walking in a group of like 25 of them to go to an event, and they are all wearing khakis, black dress shoes, blue light blue long sleeve button-up shirts, and they all have like the exact same haircut, and it's just like I'm walking through like the pod people. But like that is what that culture requires. That's what they do. And during the daytime,
00:58:52
Speaker
During the daytime, if it wasn't a button-up long sleeve, it was a polo. Absolutely. and this like That was them dressed for an event where they're like, we're doing X, Y, and Z tonight, and everyone is required to wear khakis and a blue button-up shirt. and like That is part of it, and that does something to your brain, I think. Oh, 100 percent, and it's pretty deliberate. and it's like It's pretty crazy. so I kind of love that this sorority is like way over the top.
Cultural Fashion Contrasts in Legally Blonde
00:59:21
Speaker
Instead of being like pastels, on you know, like it's just there's something about it that's just so theatrical. So it does make sense that it became a Broadway show. Honestly, and there's something so perfect about it being Southern California, like that whole Attitude at that of like in two thousand like it's perfect. Yes. And it's perfect like starting place to then go to Harvard like you couldn't ask for anything better. So we get to know a little bit. She's very much, you know.
00:59:52
Speaker
totally top of the line in her sorority. She's very kind. Like all these girls genuinely seem to love her and care about her. And she's on track like her track for herself at this point is to get the um MRS degree. And so she thinks she thinks that Warner is going to propose and she's looking for the perfect dress to wear. And there's this scene where if you have ever sewn a hem,
01:00:21
Speaker
I think it will stand out to you where she's at this little shop and it's her pretty woman moment where the the person who's working at the shop is like and judging her based on her clothes which is also like okay lateral violence lady but like she comes over and tries to like sell her this like auto season dress and Elle just says this line It is now to show us her observational skills and she's nobody's fool. She cares about these things, but she's not a dummy. And so don't take advantage of her and don't write her off. And she says about this hem, oh, is it the one with a half loop top stitching? Which is not a thing.
01:01:03
Speaker
I was like watching it and I was like, do I not know? No, but no. Okay. Good. Good. Good. Yeah. Cause I also had the same. I think anybody who's ever saw anything is going to go, huh? Wait, why i don't I know?
01:01:16
Speaker
Yeah, I don't think that's the thing, especially not on that dress. What? Yeah. But of course, you know, like low viscosity, like what? And so like the terminology is not quite there. And I kind of like that you can read that two ways. One, that it's make believe for the movie or two, that she knows that this employee doesn't know. So she's just making shit up with her. Yeah. Using things that she does know.
01:01:42
Speaker
to to like lord it over her even a little bit more. And I kind of love that. Either way. I choose the second option in this future adventure. Because it's it's meant to be this like pinned moment where we understand that she's a smart cookie and like she's just like but dressing her down. I loved it.
01:02:02
Speaker
And she has a 4.0 in fashion merchandising. Okay. Good for you, girl. I love that people are trying to wipe away any degree, any degree that you work for. That takes time and effort. Come on now. Yeah, and you're going to know a thing or two at the end of it. Yes, and you could also be the top of an industry with that 4.0 and get a devil wears product type gig. You know what I mean? That's a whole thing.
01:02:29
Speaker
so When you see Warner, when he knocks on the door and then comes in to pick her up for their date, what was your first impression of this young man who we're supposed to, this is their senior year, right? So like, right probably supposed to be 22. What was your first impression?
01:02:50
Speaker
his character. Well, um, he looks like he's about 35. Thank you so much. Um, number two, uh, you know, I don't want to like yuck anybody else's young, not my type of guy.
01:03:05
Speaker
Not my, not my particular interest. So his like LA loose suit with his partially buttoned black button up shirt ah doesn't look very cool to me personally, just not my personal style, not what I'm into. But he does look perfect for someone that is going to dump you in the middle of dinner. 100%. Great for that. Every single scene that that character is in, he's dressed to look exactly like the douchebag he is. And it's just so amazing. And this is like the loudest it is in the whole movie yeah because it's establishing and it establishes like a mofo. So like my note, the first one I have for him is that he's dressed like a Wall Street dad.
01:03:48
Speaker
yes yeah His hair is so greasy. It's like Steve Carell is Michael Scott in the first season of The Office, where it's like who ah like you could run a track through the hair. And like this this suit combo that he's wearing is back then's version of today's guys wearing white v-necks.
01:04:11
Speaker
under a suit. yeah yeah it's It's that thing where it's like trying to project a lack of, ah like a laissez-faire, a relaxation. A devil make care. And instead it's like, put on a fucking shirt. I don't know. Like if you're going to shell out however much you shelled out for that suit, where it's like, um yeah you can you can you can continue that energy or pull it back. here you But like here maybe let's let's meet the two a little bit more because it's also making you more of an individual if you put a little bit more in there instead of just this Kendall thing that's happening. But what I enjoy about Warner is that none of his suits look good on him.
01:04:54
Speaker
They don't all don't look good. They're perfectly not good. There's a suit that he wears later in the movie when they get to the legal portion, I believe, and it is this long jacket that we would be seeing on an older businessman. you know like yeah It's like it fits his shoulders, still loose, but like it fits but it's like he went into a men's warehouse and he did not get help.
01:05:23
Speaker
and right then he did like i know my size And then he didn't go get it tailored or anything. right And like, that's fine. But it's also like he looks like a younger man wearing his dad's suit. And that feels so perfect for this character.
01:05:39
Speaker
And that's, yeah, because that's what he that's what he's trying to be. That's who he's trying to be. And I was really struck by Vivian to pivot hard over to Vivian um because she has this perfect sensibility, this very waspy East Coast yeah sensibility of always wearing the perfect thing and it's always, you know, very high-end, very stylish, but it's not... It's like the opposite of everything we saw in Mean Girls. Everything is like a little bit loose. Everything is kind of hanging off of her just like a little bit. Like the button-up shirts are not fitted. You know, the sweater vest is loose. The skirts are below the knee. It's this like East Coast concept of
01:06:30
Speaker
you know, it would be wrong for me to project like sexuality forward. That would not be proper. And I don't do that. to Yeah, it's very Kennedy Nantucket. Yeah. And it's also, I think, a very well used tool, the not quite fitting, because all of these actors look like they're at minimum 28 years old.
01:06:55
Speaker
So it's like yeah to make them look a little bit younger is to like maybe push it so that they don't have all of their clothes perfectly figured out like they have the framework of the Kennedy baby but they don't have.
01:07:11
Speaker
like the experience, the maturity. Yeah. So they don't have like the style that's personal because yeah, she has the, the like, she's got that East Coast, like Island Connecticut thing happening, which is just like really crazy. Yeah. And like, it's so funny because, you know, I, I, i we're both very California, I think. Yeah.
01:07:38
Speaker
Oh, yeah. And there particularly Northern California, a different animal than Elwood's in her Southern California. Oh, yeah. But, you know, having having lived a few years on the East Coast, there is, I think, a prevailing attitude that, like, nothing exists west of, like, Pennsylvania for these people. Oh, yeah.
01:07:58
Speaker
unless we're like in Aspen skiing or something. Like they don't think that we're, they like they don't take us seriously out here. We're kind of a joke. It's like that, it's that whole old money nouveau riche thing. It's so weird. It's very weird and it's like, it's not for me.
01:08:18
Speaker
And so it's perfectly on display here because like Elwood's obviously monied and she is a perfect example of the Southern California waspy community that were shown because her other sorority sisters are probably from the same like income bracket. But like yeah we see her parents and she fits in perfectly visually with her parents and their backyard and she's swimming in this like sequin bikini with all of her jewelry on. And I was like, good for you girl. Good for you. she's She fits very much in that language. And so when she then has to travel to the East coast and be like, like basically we just see her get like everything kind of stripped from her. Like the second she gets there, like it's not good enough that she got accepted into Harvard Law School.
01:09:09
Speaker
It's at every step she has to prove that she's worth anything just as a person. And so she's kind of isolated like immediately because people would rather laugh at her for being ah different being different and basically being different in a way that made sense at home. And like everything that she does, she has to kind of like quiet a little bit.
01:09:33
Speaker
Her journey fashion wise is just like pretty wonderful because of course at the end we get the very loud hot pink dress when she's in court. But during that we have the highs and lows where she's like her first day at Harvard classes outfit is almost like the craziest.
01:09:54
Speaker
But for her, it's subtle and I love that. right She's yeah trying to look like business. you know She has a little tie. It reminds me of that scene in Romeo and Michelle's High School Reunion where Michelle's flipping through the Vogue magazine and she's like, wow, how did they get all these beautiful business women to do this photoshoot? And Rummy's like, they're models. Yeah. There's a different way to look at it, friend. And so it's totally like that. And like we see so much of Elle, so much of her personality is supported perfectly. Like this movie is such a great one to look at to see how strong
01:10:39
Speaker
ah costume design can be in supporting something where if you're looking at it you could just kind of wipe it away the same way that other characters in the movie do where they just like discard you know what she's wearing and are like oh that's ridiculous but you can also see that like yeah we're seeing her in basically at home in her dorm wearing comfy cozies that are sweet and like when she's wearing these things it's because she feels beautiful in them. Not only do they make sense according to her community and like her culture, but like she feels strong and beautiful in them. And then when people tell her that she's you know ridiculous or whatever, she's like,
01:11:21
Speaker
Am I? No, because it yeah never do we see her personality dim entirely. We see it get a little bit more subtle. Like there's a scene where the more successful she is in classes, the more sober she dresses.
01:11:36
Speaker
But she never loses all of her followers. There's always an unexpected element to what she's wearing. Yeah, because there's this scene, where which I love, where everybody, of course, is like in these dark colors and these neutrals. like Everybody in Harvard is dressed like Paul Rudd's character from Clueless, where it's just denim and neutrals. She's wearing this cowl neck.
01:12:05
Speaker
like sleeveless tank, but it's still sparkly. Like the whole thing is sparkly. It's like night sky cowl neck and it's like lovely and it's more subtle, but it's still her. So you're like, you're following her and you're so happy about it that she's not letting go entirely. She's just kind of like,
01:12:25
Speaker
it's almost like she's doing recon where she's like in camouflage a little bit. Yeah. Or like, even, and it, like it extends even to like props, like when she realizes that she's not going to get Warner back and that she needs to actually be at Harvard for herself enough for something else. And she's like, okay, I'm going to really take this really seriously. Like she's been doing well, but she's like, I'm really going to,
01:12:54
Speaker
just do this because I want to do it. And like that scene where she buys the laptop because she's been the only person in class without one, but she still gets like the Mac white and orange one. And everybody else has like Microsoft all black or gray. Can we just shout out perfect these freaking IMAX in both movies, the IMAX colors are present. Yes. Because like in the classroom in Mean Girls and Tina Fey's classroom, there's a blue one.
01:13:20
Speaker
It's just, uh-huh. Oh, my God. What a moment. It's so fascinating to me. Something that I've always wondered about in Legally Blonde in particular is the one that she buys is the orange one. But there was a pink one available. Yeah. And I always thought that was an interesting choice because it was like we could go for the most obvious, but we don't. Yeah. And it's also I think that there's an article because I also hold up articles that I didn't read them. They're all open on my laptop. But um there's an EW article ah from 2022 about Legally Blonde. And the quote at the top of it is, whoever said orange was the new pink was seriously disturbed. So there is a saying that was happening around that time that orange is the new pink. So it's like, I wonder if that was some kind of nod to that.
Technology and Makeup Trends in the 2000s
01:14:15
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, like pivoting slightly. Yeah, but I'm still gonna <unk> still going to do this. And I don't know, but it is pretty great when you see just like, yeah, this sea of like, just dark PCs. And then you see her Apple computer, tangerine orange. And like like the the way that I wanted one of those computers back then, like, wow. Like, listen up, kids. This episode, these episodes, this series are so, like, grandad's just, like, talking about walking uphill backwards both ways, but, like,
01:14:50
Speaker
Being able to grow up while computers were going into people's houses was such an interesting thing because we saw so many generations of technology, cell phones too, like all of that stuff. We just saw so many versions and it's like yeah now they're all pretty visually the same, flat screen right or like palm sized. We're actually going backwards in phone development where now we're having the flip come back. You know, like we, yeah we constantly had these new innovative like shapes and all that stuff. And what was coming out at the same time as these IMAX, this was a time where they were trying to make rounded things, the thing of the future. So this is yeah that was where yeah that the VW bug.
01:15:35
Speaker
the new design came out and the frigging PT Cruiser, which will oh wait that was our Time's Cybertruck. it was just It was like the gremlin. No, not the gremlin, the pinto of our generation. That thing was so ugly. So ugly. So ugly. So ugly. and So it's like we just had these things where they were like slapping curves on them and so the IMAX just looked really different and the commercials were pretty arresting. like They stopped you, you watched them.
01:16:04
Speaker
Yeah, they were cool. This is when Apple was like cool. Yes. And the underdog. Yeah, they were the underdog. That's crazy. Oh, my God. There's so much in this movie. OK, so we meet Paulette. So Elle is pretty isolated in Harvard and we meet Paulette, who is doing her nails. And this is our lady.
01:16:30
Speaker
Our lady, Jennifer Coolidge, who is always stunning and amazing. And the idea of doing to her anything that would dim her light is like impossible because you can't, she's such a good character actor.
01:16:46
Speaker
yeah but she What they did to her hair, they give her this, ms okay, middle parts were just a part when we were growing up. They were not like, you have to have a middle part. Now it's a style thing to have the middle part. They're giving Jennifer Coolidge as Paulette this messy middle part, but it's flat on either side.
01:17:11
Speaker
so that the hair is just like flat in the center top and then just blew down. And then she has this ratted, like bump it in the back.
01:17:24
Speaker
but yeah crazy. The expression of class on her compared to everyone else like she is very clearly coded a lower class than everyone at Harvard and L and everyone that we meet at the salon because we see a lot of people there over the course of the movie even if they're not like a big focus.
01:17:51
Speaker
There is a huge class divide in the bed between we see a bunch of people who are dressed in a more grounded way. Like at Harvard, we see grounded, but we see actually more natural fibers. We're seeing wools. We're seeing silks. We're seeing very specific weaves and designs. Like when you think of Burberry, there's a specific yeah pattern that shows up in your mind. That's what we're seeing, right? Even if it's not Burberry.
01:18:18
Speaker
ah with Paulette, we're seeing, ah this is fantastic. My favorite outfit that she wears is a tiger t-shirt with an embroidered denim vest on top of a denim skirt. She's just wearing yeah denim on denim on denim. And what we're kind of like led to visually understand is that she is thrifting. She is. Yeah, it's very like 80s.
01:18:45
Speaker
It's very stuck in the 80s. She's got a jacket that she's wearing when they go to her ex's caravan. And that jacket is straight up out of Stranger Things. It is from the 80s. And so she's very locked in a place that she's very comfortable. And we actually see her go to Elle's side at the end of the movie where she's wearing like a leopard I don't even know what it is. There's so much going on, but it's very slinky and like feathery and there's like sequins involved. And like with what's, what's interesting too, is it like, yeah, this like, I'm doing air quotes, classy, like East coast crowd. We're seeing those neutrals, the natural fibers with what Elle's crowd think is classy. That means shinier. There's more, lessr so there's more colors. Yeah, just all this stuff. And it's the label that matters, right? And then, yeah, with Paulette, we're just seeing this, like, character come through that isn't based on what she's trying to tell anybody else. She's picking these things because she likes it, not in addition to what it's projecting. And so it's just like, she's just this, like, silly goose. And I...
01:19:59
Speaker
Like it's a crazy tiger shirt. like she every Every denim item she wears has something embroidered on it. Yeah, or like a little bedazzle here, or like a like a lace applique.
01:20:16
Speaker
There's like two, there's like a floral being like collaged in sub-how, like nothing interesting. And it's all like sandblasted denim. Oh my God, it's so good. And she also has, okay, the makeup, just a quick aside. So again, now,
01:20:33
Speaker
Now we have an understanding. You have this type of eyelid. Let's shape your eyeliner and your eyeshadow like this. Let's use like many different colors to build up and highlight your natural shapes or disguise your natural shapes. That's not what makeup was.
01:20:49
Speaker
Makeup wise, eyeshadow goes on your eyelid. You just decide how close to your eyebrow it gets. Then you put like a highlighter in there and a darker color, like that's it. And then like your eyeliner is like, do you want it on the top lid and the bottom lid? There was a moment that has probably happened cyclically where people are like smoky eye, cat eye.
01:21:13
Speaker
what ven And that's where we are because it's basically how loud is your eyeshadow. That's exactly. Yes. What intensity level on like a scale of one to 10 do we have going on here? And the color choice like she's in brighter colors, like lip color choices are like very frosty. Eyeshadow choices are in like a blue and purple world. And at this time, that is coding her as not one of the people from Harvard. They would not do that. That is not serious. It's too loud. Yeah, it's too loud. And so I just. I love her. So wonderful. So wonderful.
01:22:00
Speaker
And then, um, oh, there was another note that I had. There's a scene where, um, I've already forgotten his name, but the terrible professor who we hate, is it coming? Callahan. Callahan. So Callahan is talking to Elle in the hallway and says something and she goes, okay, well, see you next class. And I was like, listen, that's a perfect conversation ender. Just take note.
01:22:24
Speaker
Take me into your own hands and just shutting the book. Well done. That's something I'm still learning. And I'm learning it from theater designers that I have known and worked with. who Just go one, two, too long of silence. Goodbye. Just end the conversation and walk away. And it's amazing.
01:22:44
Speaker
Okay, there is a thing that Elle has two times in this. One, it's it's a flower motif. So this was a big thing. And I was also doing this really hardcore in high school and it was like unacceptable. Where one time Elle was wearing this like, I think it's crocheted little knit cap or like a cap. ah hu yeah Because it's like wide, so it could be a knit cap, but it might be crocheted. But there's this giant honking flower on the side. yeah yeah Oh, that was a thing. And then a little bit later, she has this like alligator clip in her hair that has like orchids, like ah fabric orchids on it. And that was also a thing was having these like barrettes or out like little clips that have all of these giant flowers. And they were like asymmetrical as hell because you would just be loading up one side.
01:23:42
Speaker
Oh yeah, I definitely had some of those. Oh man, my hair. This was during the point in time where my hair was down in my hips.
Legally Blonde's Ending and Audience Impact
01:23:50
Speaker
I would have that stuff up and I would put no less than three six inch wide barrettes full of flowers. um my mom i love my hair My English teacher would always comment on it and I was always like, yeah, I know I look great.
01:24:10
Speaker
like You're telling me that I'm amazing? Well, you don't need to because I already know. I feel like we probably should wrap it up though. Totally. There's just one last talk about this for like three more hours. Oh yeah. The only last two things. One, the French tips. Crazy.
01:24:30
Speaker
Oh, wow. French tips. Yeah. And then the last thing is, at the end of the movie, there's a sudden change after the court scene where we see ah Reese Witherspoon had her hair ah cut because the movie was, I think, basically over. They had to re-film the end of the movie because it didn't touch well. Yeah. Yeah, because the reward for her character, Elle, at the end of the movie was to kiss her her new boyfriend. And it was like, that's not a reward. And the test audiences, thank you test audiences, hated it. Because they're like, she went to law school. she We should see her graduate law school. And so- Thank God for people demanding more of that ending. Oh my God, yes. yeah And so we see her in a different wig and with freckles. And that's because she had cut her hair due to damage from the hot rollers. And she was had moved on to the importance of being earnest.
01:25:20
Speaker
So it's a slightly different hair color, all this stuff. And Luke Wilson also was in a wig because he'd shaved off all of his hair for the Royal Tenon bombs. So it's kind of this weird little like button on the end of the movie where both characters, it makes them both look older, which is like- It does. It works because we are in it much forward. So like, oh okay, okay. So it works. But they do look different. But it is a weird little thing.
Conclusion and Next Episode Preview
01:25:44
Speaker
So yeah yes, we could totally talk about this forever. But if you haven't seen either of these movies, please give them a watch. And if you want to watch them one after the other, please do. It's very fun. And it's also just like, there's a lot to look at. There's a lot of costume work happening in both of these movies. And it's a good one. Like 10 Things I Hate About You, where you pause it and look at the background too, because it's just, it continues into your tertiary roles.
01:26:11
Speaker
um But yeah, thanks for following along on this episode. Yeah, we did it. Please join us for our next episode where we will be talking about drum more please but Jurassic Park the original, which we are so excited to be going backwards into the 90s again and talking about a really, really rad special effects movie, which is not necessarily the highlight, but of course we're going to talk about it. and um Obviously. Obviously. And Miss Laura Dern. Oh my God, are you ready? Are you prepared? Let's get into it. And so please join us for that episode. We're going to have a good time. Giggling and laughing.
01:26:57
Speaker
and talk about some costumes. Okay. Thank you. Bye. Bye. Bye.