Keep It Short and Sweet
The Movie: “Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion”
The Setup: Romy (Mira Sorvino) and Michele (Lisa Kudrow), L.A. babes who live for clothes, plot their return to their 10-year reunion in that fashion backwater known as Arizona.
The Costume Designer: Mona May, whose credits include the movie and television series “Clueless,” making her one of Hollywood’s hottest trend meters.
The Look: Clothes with a fashion life of about one month. You probably know Romy and Michele’s type. They’re on a tight budget, but so what? Their existence depends on the newest shades of nail polish (a different color for each finger, of course) and second markdowns on funky platform shoes, which can be spray-painted silver, say, after pink gets old.
The Message: Long skirts are not fun. Flat shoes are not fun. Black is most certainly not fun. Pants are not fun. Sheer is not fun.
May believes in drastically short hemlines: “Long is boring!” As for the current see-through fixation, she’d rather see dangerously tight clothes in shiny, stretchy fabrics.
The Method: May imagined the characters as girls who would scout the racks at Barneys and Versace for inspiration, then hit more affordable stores, scoring such items as $20 vintage handbags.
A few designer labels do appear, including Michele’s short red Dolce & Gabbana jacket worn with a flowery Jill Stuart skirt, and her window-shopping ensemble of a yellow gingham-trimmed suit by Moschino. Romy’s skinny papaya-colored halter dress is by Herve Leger. Still, much of the wardrobe came from Melrose Avenue.
Although many dedicated shoppers say the street is well past its prime, May insists it’s still the place for great, inexpensive finds at such stores as Exit 1, Red Balls, XTC and X Collection. “There’s so much crap [on Melrose],” she says, “but these stores are very, very original. La Brea is more upscale. It’s more for the Beverly Hills crowd.”
You Should Know: Sorvino and Kudrow have fabulous bodies, but even they depend on special undergarments for help with body-revealing clothes. Each wore G-strings and Wonderbra-style bras--meaning padded, under-wire models. “It’s so important to have a very good under-wire bra,” May instructs. “That’s what makes a beautiful cleavage.”
