Top 10 Iconic Mean Girls Outfits

When Cady tries to take over the title of Queen Bee and hosts a party, she wears a perfect Plastics inspired outfit for the “casual get together,” which turns into an out of control rager. Her black satin mini dress with a pale pink stripe down the side gets a trendy upgrade with the black choker necklace she pairs with it. While the dress is strapless, she doesn’t care about concealing her bra straps, and in fact embraces them by wearing a bra that is pink too. And of course she tops it all off with pink hoop earrings, because they’re her thing now.

For the Spring Fling, Janice and Damian decide to go in matching suits, which don’t exactly conform with any gender standards. The outfits are a Barney-purple hue, and seem to be intentionally bad, with ruffled shirts and lapels and even coordinated bow ties. This androgynous look was pretty avant garde for 2004, and they were clearly trying to make a statement by going with something so unconventional. Come to think of it, this would make an awesome Halloween costume for a couple or two besties!

When Cady officially becomes part of the Plastics, she of course needs a makeover to fit in with the group. When the audience first gets to see the foursome walk down the school hallway, they’re dressed to the nines in outfits that are definitely not school appropriate. They’re all wearing heels and three of them are in thigh-baring mini skirts while Gretchen wears a slightly more modest halter dress. It’s Cady’s first time strutting her stuff as a member of the squad, and she kills it in a plaid skirt, pink top and pale blue zip up sweater.

When it comes time for Halloween, Cady is ready to get into the tradition of dressing up in a frightening costume. But when she arrives at the party, she realizes she has missed the mark a bit in terms of what is actually typical of teenage girls to wear for the holiday, especially the plastics. Cady dresses up as an “ex wife” in a full spooky vintage wedding gown with a dark wig and gross fake teeth. She may not look like all the other girls, but it’s certainly a memorable look.

In stark contrast to what Cady is wearing, the Plastics get ready for Halloween a little differently. According to what Cady has learned, in girl world, Halloween is “the one night of the year that girls can dress like total sluts and no one can say anything about it”. Regina, Gretchen and Karen all take full advantage of this, with Karen sporting mouse ears and lingerie, Gretchen wearing a rubber catsuit and Regina going for a play on the classic Playboy Bunny outfit. If you’re a Mean Girls fan, there’s a lot of material here for your own costume.

Regina’s Spring Fling dress is a plot point earlier in the movie when Cady intentionally makes her gain weight and she eventually can’t fit into it when she goes to the store to try it on for her friends. By the end of the movie though, she has different problems after being hit by a bus. The pink satin dress fits, but she has to make it work with the elaborate brace she has to wear after fracturing her spine. She adorns the head piece with something like a flower crown, and miraculously makes it work.

She’s not like a regular mom, she’s a cool mom! When the girls head to Regina’s house, they meet her mother, played flawlessly by Amy Poehler. When the audience first sees her, she’s wearing a pink velour tracksuit, which pretty much sums up her character before she even has any lines. Of course, it’s Wednesday, and she knows the dress code as well as anyone else does. This entire performance is iconic, and it’s crazy how perfectly in character Poehler is throughout the scene. We really can’t imagine anyone else in this role!

As part of Cady’s attempted take down of Regina, she gets Janice to sneak into the girls locker room and cut holes into one of her white tank tops. But when Regina gets dressed, she just shrugs and decides to rock the look, sauntering out of the dressing room as everyone stares. Her bra may be showing but it’s clearly a look that works, because soon enough all the other girls in school have taken scissors to their own shirts in order to look like their Queen Bee. That’s how trends get started, right?

The Plastics love an opportunity to dress up, and Christmas is no exception. For the Winter Talent Show, they perform a choreographed dance to Jingle Bell Rock all while wearing matching Santa outfits. Now the ensembles aren’t necessarily meant to be canonically accurate, but hey, does it really matter? The red latex mini skirts and fur trimmed tops may not exactly be school appropriate, but it does seem like North Shore High School is pretty lax on the dress codes. These looks have certainly served as our holiday inspiration since the movie was released.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

Damian’s Blue Incognito Look

Janis’ Grunge Outfit

The Plastics’ PE Outfits

Regina’s PJs

After Cady joins the Plastics, she gets a lunchtime primer on all the rules that go along with being part of their clique, all of which are punishable by excommunication if they’re not followed. She learns when she can wear jeans, how often she can put her hair into a ponytail and most crucially, the fact that on Wednesdays, they wear pink. For her first Wednesday as an honorary plastic, she doesn’t quite have the materials to fit in with the group, but her oversized polo shirt is a hilarious attempt to make it work. Of course the other girls all look flawless, making the contrast both funny and memorable.