Why the fashion in Mean Girls (2024) did not live up to the Plastics’ standards
The new Mean Girls movie wardrobe design has received a lot of social media backlash with users coining the term “Shein core” in reference to the overall cheap appearance of the characters’ outfits.
The Plastics are supposed to represent exclusivity, privilege, and social power, and how they’re dressed should clearly align with these concepts. Their clothing pieces in Mean Girls (2024) are generic and look poor quality. Anyone with access to TikTok and fast fashion can easily recreate the outfits worn by Regina George and her sidekicks.
When the Plastics are first introduced in the new movie, their outfits do not convey a sense of individuality. They look generic, probably because the movie stylists just dressed the actresses in dated microtrends. They seemed to have lost the voices and curated styles of the unique characters created in the original movie.
In fact, when I saw the first promotional image of the Plastics, the actors playing Gretchen and Karen were unclear to me.
While Karen and Gretchen are wearing essentially the same outfit—a mini skirt and cardigan with primarily pink shades—a main distinguisher is that Bebe Wood (Gretchen) wears a shirt with her bra peeking out. I assumed she was Karen, as this style tends to be associated with more sexualized, “bimbo” characters in pop culture. Avantika Vandanapu’s (Karen) outfits do not hint at this archetype, which is why I thought she could be Gretchen.
Additionally, the only indicator Renee Rapp plays Regina is that she’s standing between the other Plastics. Ironically, she portrays the antithesis of Regina George in a corset-like mesh-patterned shirt and baggy cargo pants.
A modern Regina would sport a more sophisticated and tailored look with elements modeling the “clean girl” aesthetic. In the Plastics introduction, she should have worn tailored wide-leg pants with a simple and stylish pink satin top, coordinated with a designer bag and kitten heels.
While Regina can pull off an edgier look, the shiny faux leather jacket and pants seem forced for her character. A fitted pair of genuine leather flare pants and a trendy black fur cardigan or pink blouse are more suitable options.
Compared to the other two Plastics, Gretchen’s aesthetic incorporates more preppy patterns and styles. Wood’s wardrobe mainly hints at this element of Gretchen’s style with patterned sweater vests.
While this look is truer to the original Gretchen, Wood’s sweater vests are from Cider, a popular fast fashion company. Instead, she should be wearing more classic and elevated outfits. Her character would feel more at home in a coordinated tweed-patterned set accentuated by some elegant jewelry and a headband.
Wood also could have pulled off something high fashion, like a sweet and smart Miu Miu dress with pink Mary Jane heels.
The original Karen Smith wore soft and feminine clothes with a pale pink and blue color palette to convey her naïve nature. Her wardrobe was primarily soft fabrics decorated with whimsical elements like bows and stars.
Karen’s outfits in Means Girls (2024) look more generic and do not give a fresh perspective on what a modern version of this character would dress like. A lot of her garments—especially the skirts and cardigans—are exhausted trends from a few years ago.
Instead, the 2024 Karen could have represented a mix of the old and the new by dressing in the Y2K aesthetic adopted by Generation Z. This aesthetic encompasses numerous clothing pieces reminiscent of Karen’s soft yet flirty nature.
It is fair to acknowledge that the fashion world has changed immensely since the first Mean Girls was made. With the emergence of TikTok, everyone has instant virtual access to information on the newest fashion trends. Shein exacerbates this by mass-producing cheap garments to consumers.
However, as a large film with money and resources, Mean Girls (2024) could absolutely have been a modern adaptation with well-dressed actors. The stylists should have been more thoughtful and taken the time to curate the wardrobes to the individual traits of each character.
In Mean Girls (2004), the Plastics’ outfits are revered as iconic, with people today still recreating and gathering inspiration from their wardrobe. Many of the exact styles from Mean Girls (2004) are currently trending. The new movie missed a great opportunity to harness this trend cycle and put the cast in clothes that nod to the original film.
Jenna Yingling is a blog writer for Revolution. This article was edited by Meliha Ural.