CNN
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“A makeover can’t conceal the reality,” laments Rebecca Gayheart’s character Julie within the cult basic “Jawbreaker,” which celebrates its twenty fifth anniversary on February 19. However the movie’s candy-colored vogue actually hides the rot on the core of its plot, which follows members of “the Flawless 4” — highschool Queen Bee Courtney Shane (Rose McGowan) and her underlings Marcie Fox (Julie Benz) and Julie Freeman (Gayheart) — within the aftermath of a birthday prank gone incorrect. Horribly incorrect, that’s, in that it ends in the demise of the “4’s” fourth member, Liz Purr, by the titular jawbreaker.
“We wished it to be candy and sugary-looking,” the film’s costume designer Vikki Barrett advised CNN. “After which it takes a flip. We tried to not use any darkish or moody colours in any respect, and hold it actually gentle, festive and enjoyable, in order that the aspect of darkness could be a shock.”
One other shock for Barrett, who’d beforehand labored on different fashionable 90s teen motion pictures “Clueless” and “Romy & Michele’s Excessive Faculty Reunion,” was how iconic the fashions of “Jawbreaker” have grow to be within the 25 years since its premiere. Take the long-lasting scene by which Courtney, Julie and Marcie strut down their highschool’s hallway of their tight pencil skirts, “uncovered bosoms” and clutch purses is without delay the clear affect for the same scene within the authentic “Mean Girls,” whereas additionally hearkening again to “Grease,” which Barrett says was her principal inspiration.
Sartorial traces may also be drawn from “Jawbreaker” to “Gossip Woman,” “Euphoria” and “Do Revenge,” to call just some.
Retro motifs — which are concurrently fashion-forward — are clear all through the film. Barrett thrifted or made many of the costumes on “Jawbreaker” herself, as a result of the look she and her costume staff have been going for was not stocked in shops at the moment.
She remembered stitching uncovered seams into the characters’ stockings as a result of she couldn’t discover them anyplace: “You may’t even see it within the film, but it surely was one among my favourite issues!” she stated of the element. “For those who pay shut consideration you’ll see it, but it surely’s arduous to identify.”
There’s a transparent colour palette for every character, Barrett defined. Courtney is commonly seen in ice blue, to replicate her regal standing, together with on the climax of the film by which she’s topped promenade queen and her hair is knotted with blue ribbon to resemble a tiara.
The opposite characters are outfitted in “colours you’ll discover on a jawbreaker,” director Darren Stein advised CNN: Marcie in lighter shades of inexperienced as a result of she’s “inexperienced with jealousy,” whereas Julie transitions her materials from a darkish blue pleather to all-American denim after leaving the Flawless 4. “We wished her to not appear to be the opposite ladies anymore… we felt (sorry) for her,” Barrett stated.
In a fantastical makeover sequence, Courtney revamps the painfully awkward Fern Mayo (Judy Greer) into “Vylette,” to take the place of her clique’s deceased member.
This transformation co-opts the deceased Liz’s cotton sweet hue into an overripe and ultimately putrid rotten sizzling pink, a colour all Vylette’s personal. “She’s Courtney’s Frankenstein, in a method,” stated Stein. “And the monster usurps the creator and goes haywire.”
Notably, not one of the different characters put on magenta, and actively eschew it. “If we had used pink on different characters, it wouldn’t have been so show-stopping when (Fern) exhibits up as Vylette. It wouldn’t have made as large an affect,” Barrett stated of the makeover reveal. “The primary time you see her as dangerous Vylette, she’s in full-on sizzling pink.”
Why not purple just like the flower she’s named after? Stein initially wished a pink Corvette as Vylette’s new journey — in an homage to the Los Angeles icon Angelyne — and crafted Vylette’s entire go searching it. In the end, they ended up with a purple sports activities automobile, however the impact is similar: Vylette lounging on its hood in entrance of the college whereas her admirers look on, her ascension from Courtney’s creation to full-blown Head Bitch (as per her license plate) in Cost now full. Sandy Olsson, eat your coronary heart out.
“When Fern turns into Vylette she’s not a straight man’s fantasy… She’s primarily dressed like a drag queen!” Stein laughed. “We wished the style to look excessive and disturbing, in that it was not one thing that anybody would put on to go to highschool!”
Twenty-five years later although, it’s turned out to be an aspirational aesthetic nonetheless.