Tribute to 102 of my favorite and some of the most iconic Movie Costumes (part 14/17)
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse 2018 (Gwen Stacy, Hailee Steinfeld), Costume Design by Veronika Rogoza, Katia Scarpa, Jason Latour, Robbi Rodriguez and Rico Renzi; Barbie 2023 (Ken, Ryan Gosling), Costume Design by Jacqueline Durran; Hannah Montana: The Movie 2009 (Hannah Montana, Miley Cyrus), Costume Design by Christopher Lawrence; Enchanted 2007 (Giselle, Amy Adams), Costume Design by Mona May; The Hunger Games 2012 (Effie Trinket, Elizabeth Banks), Costume Design by Judianna Makovsky; Who Framed Roger Rabbit 1988 (Jessica Rabbit, Kathleen Turner), Costume Design by Joanna Johnston.
Every single outfit worn by Emily Sanderson in A Night at the Roxbury (1999) - a short gifset with written essay as a part of something I would like to call "Underrated Fashion Moments"
aka "molly shannon is such a bae in this movie even when she was poised to be annoying, and that's thanks to her beauty and fashion fr"
In all seriousness, I felt that the film was so underrated that its excellent costume design tend to go unnoticed. You have the Butabi brothers wear their famed suits and complementary-yet-matching shirts and then the girls they were interested in have sleek and sexy black metallic numbers, and then you have Emily (played by Molly Shannon) who stands out with her choice of outfits.
A little intro to who Emily is: she's the college-aged daughter of a lamp store businessman who's very attracted to Steve Butabi (one of two sons of a fake flower store salesman), who in return wasn't totally into her. Their respective parents want to have them married so that their businesses would merge into "the first plant-lamp emporium". Now, Steve and his brother Doug want to party, get with hot women, and go inside the hottest club - The Roxbury - and matters like Emily are a detriment to their plan. Oh, about Emily - she may be a sweet girl-next-door-type, but she's very horny. And also controlling then too focused on business and appearances. Oh well...
The important thing to know is that she wasn't in the proximity of a club, so her outfits tended to be plainer than what the other ladies in the film would wear in places like the Roxbury. However, her various outfits give out cues to what her character is like: she usually wears black with hints of white and red, but whenever she works at the lamp store, she wears yellow dresses and accessories. A ray of sunshine with a hidden desire and darkness kinda gal. Also, when she was actively pining for Steve before they were eventually forced to be wed, she would wear outfits with hints of flowers as seen in the first three frames as a nod to the Butabi business. The only time she wore another color was when she had her wedding (which went haywire to say the least), and that was it I guess. Also, she did wear some silver jewelry all throughout - pretty understated compared to others. It's interesting to see how these present her eventual nature once we see her settle within the film's narrative... when you get to it.
Making this gifset has made me realize the genius behind these clothes and how they could tell subtle hints (at least I'm aware of). I didn't even realize that Mona May, who is most well-known for her work in Clueless, handled costume design for this movie until recently! Hopefully, you can consider this study on an underrated part of May's repertoire and probably as future inspiration for some cute outfits at least. And when I have more time, I could go into some more specifics for each outfit...
Cher wears a couple of red minidresses during the movie, but this one is the Alaïa! The other one is fine (see below), but a quick comparison shows how small details can make a difference even on a dress with so little to it. The different shoulder straps and neckline give this one a much more sophisticated look.
Cher wears this dress to a Christmas party. Mona May, the costume designer, made the jacket.
Having a favourite tv style icon is easy. Finding out where they get their clothes from - is even more complicated. The success behind some of our favourite tv character closets is down to costume designers. Costume designers often dress actors in high fashion - especially if the character is rich or has wealthy parents.
CLUELESS Original film
Designer: Mona May
Popular Characters: Cher Horowitz, Dionne Davenport, Tai.
