Storytelling for the Screen: Clueless

Clueless (1995) is director Amy Heckerling’s sharp, stylish update of Jane Austen’s classic novel Emma. The film follows the wealthy and popular Beverly Hills teenager Cher Horowitz (Alicia Silverstone) as she navigates high school, charting her evolution from well-intentioned but shallow matchmaker to someone capable of empathy and genuinely improving the lives of those around her. Both a satire and celebration of 1990s youth culture, the film captures the dynamics of teenage friendship, social hierarchies, and the decade’s ever-evolving fashion. Using bold plaid prints and coordinated sets, costume designer Mona May made wardrobe choices that became instant cultural touchstones. The film’s fashion shaped real-world trends, influenced designers for decades to come, and spoke to the film’s preoccupation with reinvention and the performative nature of teenhood. Clueless endures not only as a coming-of-age teenage classic, but as one of the most fashion-forward films in American popular culture. Costume designer Mona May will join moderator Kelsey Moore (Film and Media Studies, UCSB) for a post-screening discussion of Clueless. After the Q&A, Mona May will join audience members for a book sale and signing of her book The Fashion of Clueless. Books will be available for purchase in the lobby from Chaucer’s Books. Costumes are encouraged! Mona May redefined fashion in film with the release of Clueless. Hailed by Women’s Wear Daily as “the fashion movie of the year,” Clueless introduced Mona as a bold creative and established a signature style that continues to inspire audiences around the globe. Mona has created some of the most memorable looks in modern cinema and television, shaping characters that have become icons of pop culture. Her fearless designs can be seen in beloved films such as Enchanted, Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion, Never Been Kissed, The House Bunny, and The Wedding Singer. Mona has collaborated with Hollywood’s biggest stars, including James McAvoy, Julianne Moore, Liam Neeson, Alicia Silverstone, Drew Barrymore, Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Aniston, Adam Sandler, and Amy Adams, fostering profound creative relationships that resulted in transformative and empowering performances. Mona’s work continues to be recognized as iconic by esteemed publications including The New York Times, Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People Magazine, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, ABC News, and Access Hollywood. Beyond the screen, Mona is a passionate mentor and creative consultant. She regularly shares her expertise through keynote talks, lectures, and workshops, and has collaborated with leading international brands such as The RealReal, Bloomingdales, StitchFix, and Paramount Pictures. Mona is the author of The Fashion of Clueless, a book that offers a captivating, behind-the-scenes exploration of the film’s costumes and legacy. Kelsey Moore is a PhD candidate in Film and Media Studies and a graduate student researcher with the Carsey-Wolf Center at UC Santa Barbara. She holds a BA in Media and Cultural Studies from UC Riverside and an MA in Cinema and Media Studies from USC. Prior to studying at UC Santa Barbara, Kelsey worked as an assistant digital media archivist for the Sherman Grinberg Film Library and for Women and Hollywood, a mainstream website that advocates for gender diversity and inclusion throughout the global film industry. Her research examines the relationship between visual archives and digital practices of appraisal and preservation, and how these practices influence cultural and intergenerational memories of the WWII Japanese American incarceration. This event is sponsored by the Carsey-Wolf Center. Since their emergence, cinema and television have been in a state of constant technological and industrial flux. But even as our ways of distributing and accessing moving images have changed, and even as tastes and styles continue shifting with the times, our passion for compelling onscreen storytelling persists. At the Carsey-Wolf Center, we are committed to fostering a nuanced understanding of cinematic and televisual storytelling across genres, formats, styles, and historical periods. To this end, we sponsor a wide range of events, programs, and workshops designed to cultivate a new generation of media storytellers, and to help audiences better understand the evolving role of narrative across diverse media forms.