From ‘Clueless’ To ‘Class’ And ‘Do Revenge,’ 8 Films And Shows To Inspire School Uniforms IRL
Can schools please consider these?
How many of y’ll loved your school uniforms? Well, count me out if you did, because I hated it. While school uniforms are not supposed to serve the purpose of looking stylish, especially for Indian schools, which dislike watching students look even a tad bit appealing. We definitely think uniforms need an upgrade. Apart from policing the hemlines of every girl’s skirt, and braids that are decorated with giant ribbon bows, school uniforms were meant to look ugly IRL. Unlike students in films and popular television dramas, uniforms never matched the fantasy shown in these dreamy high-schools. On the contrary, they were always filled with tons of drama, colours and absolutely no scope for teen romance. And while we all would love to sign up for Euphoria High in our real lives as well, a closer step to living that high school life can only be actualised through at least appealing uniforms. With slowly fading relevance in times today, uniforms talk about the visual story of the school, with kids who wear their merit on it.
Besides presenting unity in diversity through a dress code, it would be wonderful to watch a better style that suits and celebrates every body type and cultures. And consider this as an open letter to schools, that are looking to rethink their uniforms this coming year. If yes, then please fill your mood boards with these fabulous onscreen uniform designs from Clueless, Class, Student Of The Year and more.
1. Student Of The Year
A Karan Johar school of our dreams was brought to the screen through the Alia Bhatt, Sidharth Malhotra and Varun Dhawan-starrer Student Of The Year. From competition, and romance to songs, the film’s uniform was love at first sight. The rich lads studying at St. Teresa High School wore crisp blazers over their expensive wardrobe collection. The dress code brought commonality through this striking-lapel blazer with the school’s logo. The silhouette was not only a great way to regulate a dress code, but also a perfect gender-neutral choice for students.
2. Clueless
In the era of classics, Clueless revamped the boring school plaids into bright colours to make school corridors an appealing sight. Headlined by Alicia Silverstone who played Cher, the signature, lemon yellow uniform is a significant member of our teen dreams. The cult-favourite uniform featured a plaid skater skirt, teamed with a tiny blazer, a solid-coloured vest, topped over a white shirt. Cher completed her high school look with a pair of knee-high stockings and matching white shoes. Can we please welcome some colour to our school costumes?
3. Gossip Girl
Well, everyone deserves to loosen their oily braids for a romantic hairband like Blair Waldorf. Right? The Gossip Girl star was a part of every teen girl’s mood board, who only wished to dress like her for school. From her signature red scarf hairband to the European ruching on the shirt button strap, and a cute blue bow instead of those long ties and checkered uniform, built the school look of our dreams. Schools can definitely skip those ties for these cross-wing bows or even a short lavalliere.
4. Do Revenge
The best school uniform we saw in a long time was delivered by Netflix’s film–Do Revenge. A sweet tribute to the classics of cult-favourite characters from the late 90s, the film’s protagonists–Camila Mendes, and Maya Hawke minted fabulous high school fashion with their makeup, and on-campus plaids. Unlike the signature navy blue and red, the class of Rosehill Country Day School wore plaid skirts in colours lilac, and coral green, with Parisian berets fixing their hair. Besides matching ties and cross-wing bows were sheer, calf-length socks and a shoulder wrap that infused more colour to their neat whites. Taking cues from this show, schools can definitely rethink their choice of colours and experiment with more formal accessories.
5. Class
The newly released show on Netflix is an official adaption of the popular teen drama–Elite, that touches upon subjects like socio-economic class, colour, culture and protests. Unlike the Spanish show, Class takes a more subtle route towards school uniforms but plays along with skirt lengths. Like Student Of The Year, the uniforms on girls feature the usual plaid skirts, a matching tie and a blazer to bind it all together. Through the uniform, the show took a sly dig at the Hijab row in India, and the conversations around schools that ruled out the traditional head scarf worn by muslim students, from school uniforms.
6. Wednesday
A dead hand on our school uniform is not what we want, but some neat tailoring would be lovely. Like Wednesday’s style recipe of grunge met goth, students of Nevermore Academy took a dip in the theme of the show’s dark colour palette. Playing with vibrant violet and charcoal black, Wednesday’s uniform included a striped blazer, a mid-length skirt, and a skirt vest. Unlike Wednesday who stood out in her favourite black, the rest of her schoolmates sported violet-coloured uniforms that followed a similar silhouette design. The incorporation of the shade in the dress code can be an interesting choice, since the colour symbolises–wisdom, spirituality, and encourages positivity.
7. The Princess Diaries
Well, studying in a school and suddenly finding that you’re the princess, is a dream we all cannot afford to see, all we could hope for is a uniform like the students of Grove High School. Like Mia Thermopolis and her best friends, we too would love to exchange the ugly navy blue skirts with a sky-blue plaid skater skirt. With blazers in place, and an elongated ribbon bow, everything was a delightful twist to the classic school uniform.
Also Read: Cass Review: Fairly Gripping Elite Adaptation Gets India’s Teens And Class Struggles Somewhat Right
8. Lucky
Remember when Salman Khan introduced actress–Sneha Ullal, as the schoolgirl Lucky in the 2005 film? The interesting romantic drama not only created a lot of buzz around the lead heroine who seemed like a doppelgänger to Aishwarya Rai but her very own song–”Lucky Lips” earned popular status in every playlist. Set in Russia, Lucky’s school uniform symbolised the flag of Russia, with colours like–red and navy blue, picked to curate the look. The iconic dress code included a blazer, sweater vest, a classic Russian plaid skirt and red leg warmers. Well in that era, we all wanted to channel the Lucky look in our high school.
Which is your favourite, school uniform in films/shows?
Image Credits: Instagram
First Published: February 15, 2023 1:19 PM‘Euphoria,’ ‘Qala,’ ‘Do Revenge,’ And More Films And Series Push Fashion As The New Storyteller
