August Style Icon: Tai Frasier

Ms. Stoeger: "Tai, you don't have time to change, but you can hit a few balls in those clothes..."

Amber: "She could be a farmer in those clothes"... 

Seeing as this blog is named after Amber's contemptuous remark about Tai from hit teen movie Clueless (1995), it only seems appropriate that my first edition of Style Icons should feature Tai Frasier. Clueless director Amy Heckerling credits the films costume designer Mona May for catapulting the 'Cher' look into mainstream fashion culture and popularising it amonsgt young girls of the 90's worldwide, and it is the character of Tai in particular that underlines the evolution of mainstream style in the mid-90's. She ditches her grunge aesthetic; heavy with plaid and denim (and amazing Troll t-shirt) in favour of the 'babydoll' look sported by the characters Cher and Dionne. 

What is so appealing about Tai for me is her awkwardness and her vulnerability. To make her one of the most popular girls in school, Cher gives Tai a 'betty' makeover, a Buns of Steel workout and fancy new vocabulary. The insecurities Tai has about the way she looks reveal themselves in the way she continues to dress and significantly, in her reluctance to ditch the grunge. She clings to her plaid flannel shirt is like a security blanket; she even wears it tied around her waist during her workout to Buns of Steel. She doesn't know how to work her new look, she ties her baggy shirt in every which way around herself when she's in public...

 And I have long since wondered if the enduring appeal of Travis Birkenstock, the ultimate 'grunge baldwin' wasn't more about her mourning for the loss of her awesome slacker wardrobe than anything else...and if it was...who can blame her...?