28 details you probably missed in 'Clueless'

Cher seems to forget about her high-tech closet throughout the film.

Cher's massive wardrobe and fantastic outfits have become iconic, and most "Clueless" fans probably dreamt of owning the computer program Cher uses to put together her famous yellow plaid outfit at the beginning of the film.

The program allows her to click between tops and bottoms that she owns to see what the combination will look like, and it can even tell her if the outfit will match or clash.

Although she has this useful application and struggles to pick outfits throughout the film, Cher never uses this high-tech closet's program again.

Cher and Dionne's matching outfits don't seem to be planned.

After Cher picks out her iconic outfit using the computer program in her closet, she picks up Dionne for school, and Dionne is wearing a black and red version of Cher's yellow and white outfit.

Dionne's entire outfit (minus her bold hat) looks nearly identical to Cher's, but we never saw the two girls actually coordinate these outfits. Seems like a pretty big coincidence.

Murray wears a Superman necklace in his first scene.

Dionne's boyfriend, Murray, has a few memorable moments that center on his looks, including shaving his head at a party and wearing his jeans extra-low — a style that Cher complains about.

But viewers may not notice that the necklace Murray is wearing when he talks to Dionne and Cher before school has a pendant with Superman's "S" logo on it.

There's a slight dig at the patriarchy in the background of Cher and Amber's debate.

During Cher's first real scene in a classroom, she gives an improvised speech on whether people should be allowed refuge in America. Her speech compares America welcoming refugees to the way she allowed guests who did not RSVP to still attend a party she threw.

As Cher and Amber are defending their positions in the debate, the chalkboard behind them is filled with notes from what looks like a previous debate on women's rights.

The top of the board reads: "Resolution: Women are still treated as second-class citizens."

During Cher's speech, one of her classmates is giving someone a manicure.

After Cher finishes her speech and sits down, viewers get a better look at the rest of the students in her class.

Several students appear to be on their phones/beepers, listening to music on headphones, or talking to each other with little to no regard for the class happening around them.

One student is even giving the girl next to her a manicure in the middle of class.

Cher's house is actually in the Valley, not Beverly Hills.

When Cher drives home after school, viewers get their first clear look at the exterior of her house.

The movie makes a big deal out of the fact that Cher lives in Beverly Hills, a luxurious city in California where many Hollywood stars live, but the house they filmed at is actually located in the San Fernando Valley.

The Valley is a 20- to 30-minute drive outside Beverly Hills and is generally seen as more suburban than the glamorous Hollywood city.

The painting of Cher's mom was made specifically for the movie with Silverstone's features in mind.

Cher says her mother died due to "a fluke accident during a routine liposuction."

We aren't shown pictures of her mother or given an idea of what she looks like aside from the painted portrait of her that Cher shows her report card to.

This portrait was actually made by director Amy Heckerling's friend, Victor Renaldo, and it was specifically painted for the movie. He created the portrait based on pictures of Silverstone, who played Cher.

Heckerling kept the painting from the set.

Cher changes her entire look between school and dinner.

Cher's dad tells her in the morning that her former stepbrother, Josh, will be coming over for dinner that night.

We see Cher wear her yellow plaid look to school, come home, and completely change outfits before dinner. She changes into a much darker look, and the outfit change also includes fully switching out her accessories and reapplying her makeup.

Although the new, dark outfit looks great, there doesn't seem to be any reason for Cher to completely redress herself between school and dinner.

Even though Cher gets her grades changed, her teachers' original comments are still visible on her report card.

Cher successfully manages to improve several of her grades, as we can see from the crossed-out marks on her report card.

But the comments the teachers wrote with her original grades remain.

Viewers who are looking closely enough will be able to see that next to two of Cher's "A" marks, there are comments reading, "Illprepared, undisciplined" and "Must try harder to pay attention to current events"

These definitely don't sound like criticisms that should be written next to "A" grades, but it makes sense because the original grades for those classes seem to be a "C" and a "B."

Cher botches a famous Shakespearean poem in the note for Ms. Geist.

Cher writes a note from a "secret admirer" to Ms. Geist and makes it seem like it's from Mr. Hall.

Although she does successfully pair these two teachers up, she fails to correctly quote Shakespeare in the note. She's writing out a portion of Shakespeare's famous "Sonnet 18," which she tells Dionne she read on CliffsNotes.

Cher seemingly took a few random lines from the original 14-line poem and mashed them together in a way that doesn't make a ton of sense.

Cher's dad's desk seems to be facing the wrong way in his office.

Cher's dad's office has an interesting design. The dark wood and moss-green combination make it stand out from the rest of the house.

But his desk seems to be facing the wrong way.

Cher's dad sits behind the desk, closer to the wall, but his desk has drawers that face the other side. A closer look even seems to show that the desk has a cutout to fit a chair on the opposite side of where her dad is actually sitting.

Viewers never get a good look at the other side, so it's hard to tell if the desk is just unique, or if he really is sitting at it incorrectly.

Unlike many teen movies and shows, brand names are clearly visible throughout "Clueless."

There are countless examples of brand names being changed in teen shows, a move typically done to avoid having to obtain permission to showcase a brand's name, logo, or product (all of which may be protected under strict licensing laws).

This can lead to some shows thinking of clever knockoff products, like the Pear computers on Nickelodeon's "iCarly" or the Hastygram social-media app on Teen Nick's "Degrassi."

"Clueless" doesn't take this route, though, and instead has several moments where brand names and logos are clearly visible.

In one particular lunch scene, Cher and Dionne's meal shows at least three Coca-Cola brand products with visible labels — Diet Coke, Minute Maid, and Naya.

Amber restyles the exact same outfit on two different school days.

Amber first wears this green, leopard-accented outfit in the background of a lunch scene.

A few scenes — and days — later, she appears in nearly the same outfit again.

In the second scene where Amber wears this outfit, Cher has changed clothes and it's clear that several days have passed, but Amber is still wearing almost the same outfit, right down to her dog-tag necklaces.

Her hair, however, has been restyled from a high bun to two low pigtails and she wears the jacket open in the second scene.

The girls in "Clueless" clipped their electronics to their pants before Paris Hilton made headlines with the look.

When Cher goes to gym class, viewers are treated to more moments of students talking on phones, fixing each other's appearance, and in general, not paying attention to class.

Everyone seems to be wearing black, white, or gray during the scene, which makes the red accessory clipped to Amber's pants quite noticeable.

The device looks like it's a pager or a flip phone, and the sight of it clipped onto her waistband is very similar to the early-2000s trend of hooking phones onto pants that didn't have pockets.

Dionne also appears to have some sort of pager clipped to the outside of her outfit during the scene, but Cher is carrying around a very small bag instead.

Travis slides his skateboard in the lunch line instead of a tray.

Tai and Travis first meet when they stand next to each other in line to get lunch.

Tai has a lunch tray with her binder on top of it, and other students can be seen pushing lunch trays down the line.

Travis, however, is pushing a skateboard instead of a tray, which may not be practical but does help start his first conversation with Tai.

There are at least three fireplaces shown throughout Cher's house.

Despite Cher's house being (supposedly) located in the typically warm Beverly Hills, California, it has at least three visible fireplaces.

There's one in the bathroom where Cher and Dionne wash the red dye out of Tai's hair, one in the living room where Cher and Tai work out, and one in Cher's father's office.

The fireplace in the living room and the one in the office are even lit in different scenes. And it seems like an especially odd choice for Tai and Cher to sit in front of a lit fireplace after a workout.

Amber's hair looks like something out of a Dr. Seuss book in one of the school scenes, but no one bats an eyelash at it.

After Tai's makeover, Cher and Dionne arrange a photo shoot so they can set up Tai and Elton.

Amber stands out in this scene for her bizarre outfit choice. Her turtleneck, skirt, and knee highs are very colorful and patterned, but Amber takes the odd look one step further by wearing her hair in two gravity-defying ponytails like Cindy Lou Who from "How the Grinch Stole Christmas."

Stranger still, in a movie full of fashion advice, no one comments on this look.

The party in the Valley appears to be Christmas-themed, but no one ever acknowledges this.

In the film, Cher, Dionne, Tai, and Murray drive out to the Valley to go to a party.

From the moment they pull up, viewers can see an absurd number of Christmas decorations on the lawn and the front of the house. There are even more decorations inside, including a tree, and many characters seem to be wearing red, green, or holiday-themed sweaters.

Viewers get an overwhelming sense that this is a Christmas party, but no characters ever discuss the holidays or take notice of these decorations at all.

Cher wears a pair of bee earrings in one scene.

With so many iconic outfits in the film, it makes sense that not all of Cher's accessories — like these bee earrings — aren't remembered as well as some others.

The earrings add a cute touch to what is otherwise one of Cher's plainer outfits.

When Cher attempts to bake cookies, she throws an entire roll of cookie dough into the oven without slicing it.

As part of her attempt to seduce Christian, Cher makes cookies. To do so, she throws the premade log of dough into the oven on a baking sheet without slicing it.

She also completely forgets the cookies are in the oven until Christian smells them burning.

When she pulls the burned mess of cookies out of the oven, viewers can see that it's still in the shape of the rolled tube.

Cher's father has statues all over the house.

As Christian points out, Cher's father has an impressive art collection. This includes paintings, sculptures, and statues that viewers see scattered throughout the house and yard.

These art pieces are most noticeable when Christian is commenting on the statues outside, but viewers may also spot similar sculptures in the background of scenes inside Cher's house as well.

Murray has a "MY JOINT" license plate.

Murray's car can be seen in multiple scenes throughout the movie, though is usually remembered best from the scene where Dionne accidentally merges onto the freeway.

During the stressful driving sequence, viewers can see the "MY JOINT" license plate on Murray's car.

Amber's outfit choices never get easier to explain, including this earmuff look.

Amber has several quirky, memorable fashion moments, but her choice to wear earmuffs with one of her outfits may be one of the most perplexing style decisions she makes.

Despite being in California's hot weather, Amber is wearing her earmuffs with a fur jacket and leather pants.

Any of these clothing items by themselves would presumably be too warm to wear in Beverly Hills, even in the winter, so the combination of them is definitely surprising.

Cher has a bizarre handbag in her wardrobe that doesn't seem to go with her style.

When Cher is looking for the shirt she wants to wear to her driver's exam, she searches through a huge pile of clothes in her room.

Many of the clothing items on the floor around her are brightly colored pieces that match Cher's chic aesthetic. But there's a handbag on the chair directly behind her that stands out. The large, pink bag features a one-eyed creature with a huge, toothy grin.

The quirky bag feels especially off-brand for Cher.

One of the club-fair booths references a Salt-N-Pepa song.

Cher participates in the club fair to run her "Pismo Beach Disaster Relief" booth, and several other booths are visible in the scene.

Amber's booth has a sign reading "Let's talk about sex, baby ... we're going to be talking about everything."

"Let's Talk About Sex" was a popular 1990s Salt-N-Pepa song, so people who watched "Clueless" when it premiered may have recognized the lyrics more easily than today's viewers.

Tai has three visible tattoos.

Tai has a few visible tattoos: one on her right shoulder, one on her right hand, and one on her left arm. It's unclear if they are meant to look permanent or temporary

The tattoo on her right shoulder is big enough to see that it is some sort of sun design, and behind-the-scenes photos from the set show that the tattoo on her right hand is a cherub and the one on her left arm seems to be a chain of flowers.

Several of Cher's classmates have apparently gotten nose jobs.

During the gym scene where Tai is introduced, Amber is excused from participating after saying, "My plastic surgeon doesn't want me doing any activity where balls fly at my nose."

Amber's comment here tells viewers directly that she's had facial surgery, but several background characters seem to have gotten plastic surgery during the school year as well.

During many of the school scenes, there are students in the background who have tape on their noses, which could indicate that they were recently injured, but more likely suggests that these girls have had nose jobs.

Paul Rudd's character, Josh, wears a KU hat during the movie as a tribute to his real-life alma mater.

Paul Rudd, who played Josh in the film, attended the University of Kansas.

In an interview with Big Slick Kansas City, he asked the "Clueless" costuming team if he could wear his own KU hat for a few scenes in honor of his alma mater.

They let him wear it, but unfortunately, he said he hasn't seen it since the film wrapped.

This story was originally published on July 19, 2020, and most recently updated on November 18, 2024.

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