It's the second week of 2024 although, strangely, it's feeling more like 2004. Why? Because Mean Girls is back on our screens with a musical reboot that puts an all-singing spin on the original. As Regina George would say, coolness!
The OG Mean Girls was released in the early '00s, a very, let's say, specific era when it comes to style. 'Y2K fever dream' pretty much sums up the wardrobe of the Plastics, whose school uniform was baby tees, miniskirts, shoulder bags and court shoes. Because why not? Some of the film's best lines - e.g. 'I saw Cady Heron wearing army pants and flip-flops. So I bought army pants and flip-flops,' - are like a trail of sartorial bread crumbs that take you, 20 years later, down a very nostalgic path lined with layered vests, velour tracksuits (shoutout to Mrs George!), ra-ra style minis - and more. Without further ado, these are the seven style lessons we learnt from Mean Girls. 'That is so fetch!'
1. Heels and miniskirts is never too much
The Plastics never had a problem with wearing micro hemlines with sky-high heels. In fact, it was encouraged - just see the above hallway scene for evidence that a flat-footed sole was very much a no no in their world. Cady Heron does end up falling headfirst into a rubbish bin (or should that be trash can?) but that probably would have occurred if she'd been wearing trainers. Right?
2. 'Interesting' cut-outs are still all the rage
In an act of sabotage that badly misfires, Regina George ends up 'rocking' the tank top with twin cut-outs over her boobs. In fact, such is her influence that, before long, everyone's snipping a pair of circles into their vests.
3. Your personalised necklace should be visible from space
Regina George's 'R' necklace isn't a teeny-tiny initial that gets lost in your tangle of necklaces. It's huge. So the next time you're debating between something subtle and statement, you know what to do.
4. You should always do you
The OG goth, Janice Ian certainly stood out in the sea of pink, wearing plenty of black eyeliner, fishnet tops, sleeveless denim vests and studded leather bracelets. She also, however, wore butterfly clips, making a subtle yet important point that people contain multitudes.
5. The rugby shirt trend has stood the test of time
Despite the fact that rugby isn't a flagship sport in the States, Cady still wore its namesake shirt in Mean Girls (with a miniskirt, of course). The way to wear one now is much more oversized, with tracksuit bottoms or baggy jeans so that you're still nodding to Y2K.
6. The going-out top lives on
Who remembers the good old days of the 'going-out top', a genre of top that reached its style zenith in the '00s (also sometimes referred to in combination with jeans i.e. 'What are you wearing tonight?' 'A nice top and jeans.')? When they weren't wearing pastel cardigans and miniskirts at school, these girls were always in the kind of going-out top that you used to wear to house parties with boot-leg trousers (admit it!).
7. On Wednesdays, we wear...
Pink! As you can see from this line-up, pink was very much on the menu in Mean Girls. And you don't have to save it for Wednesdays!