Production designer Steven Jordan found inspiration for the revolving closet when he visited a baseball collector’s museum-style home in New Jersey a few years ago. “He took a painting off the wall and behind it was a conveyor belt full of vintage baseball jerseys and things like that,” he recalls. “When I was trying to do a bedroom for Cher, adding a dry cleaning conveyor belt just seemed like the best solution for the girl who has everything.”
Even 25 years later Clueless Wardrobe is still a singular force. Yet there are some that have tried to emulate it. Whering, for example, is an app that lets users style from their closet on the go via the app. Reformation has even introduced a futuristic “smart” fitting room where shoppers can view pieces on an iPad and order them into the fitting room. These are good attempts, but in May’s eyes they are still not The Clueless Schrank. “I don’t think anyone has done it successfully 30 years later,” she explains.
Romy and Michele’s high school reunion
Romy and Michele’s high school reunion begins and ends, quite literally, with clothes. At the beginning of the film, viewers get a glimpse into best friends Romy (Mira Sorvino) and Michele’s (Lisa Kudrow) penchant for colorful and crazy looks through the closet in their shared Venice Beach apartment. Production designer Mayne Berke told director David Mirkin that the couple were the visual embodiment of “Sorbet.” Their closet was an extension of that, with oranges, purples, blues and pinks that matched his aesthetic vision. “They were clubbing girls,” says the film’s costume designer Mona May. “They went out, so the closet was a lot more fun. There were chain mail dresses, boas, a lot of leather and crazy patterns and a lot of brighter, wild colors.”
By filming Romy and Michele from their purple-walled closet, the filmmakers were able to show the full extent of their fun and crazy wardrobe. “We literally oversized it (to about) 8 feet wide,” Berke recalls. “And we made the back of the closet removable so we have the perspective of the closet.” For Berke, clothes are an important thread in the film: “It starts with the closet and the clothes, (and) it ends with clothes in a designer boutique on Rodeo Drive
The Princess Diaries 2
