Whisper the name ‘Regina George’ into the ear of any twenty/thirty-something born before the new millennium and expect to receive back a plethora of perfectly cutting one-liners from the film that birthed a generation of dazzling high school dictators: Mean Girls. Originally portrayed by Rachel McAdams in the 2004 film, the ultimate antagonist and certified Queen Bee of North Shore High was the archetypal It-girl with a razor-sharp tongue and Prada pumps. In the words of one of her doting dominions: ‘One time she punched me in the face. It was awesome’.
Now, a new age of adoring fans are set to bow down to her mini-skirt-clad matriarchal prowess, as Mean Girls returns to the silver screen – with a film adaptation of the hit Broadway show inspired by its 2004 predecessor hitting the cinema tomorrow. Actress Reneé Rapp ascends the throne of top-dog-tottie, with loyal minions Bebe Wood (as Gretchen Wieners) and Avantika Vandanapu (as Karen Smith) to make up the unrivalled in-crowd: ‘The Plastics’. Meanwhile, Angourie Rice takes the helm of Lindsay Lohan’s former role of Cady Heron – the new girl trying to navigate teenage cafeteria turf wars for the first time, having previously only been homeschooled on another continent.
But the fine art of being Head Girl of the clique is in no way a modern concept saved only for the classroom. Throughout history, reams of ultra-elegant women have held court with iron fists and beguiling apparel. After all, is there any fun in going to a club that just anyone can get into?
Perhaps the inaugural Regina George was the inimitable Mrs Astor, who ruled over Gilded Age high society in New York in the late 19th century. Caroline Schermerhon Astor hailed from New York City’s Dutch aristocracy and married into the prolific fur-trade and property mogul Astor family when she wed William Backhouse Astor Jr in 1853. As more wealthy families flocked to New York’s burgeoning capital city following the Civil War, Astor acted as a gatekeeper to the societal scene, writing the codes of etiquette to follow, and picking out who among the new arrivals made the cut when it came to attending the most coveted parties. These parties were most often held in the ballroom of her brownstone mansion at 350 Fifth Avenue – now the site of the Empire State Building.
Akin to Regina George’s ‘Burn Book’, Astor put pen to paper to approve the people to know with her list, ‘The Four Hundred’. Declaring there were ‘only 400 people in fashionable New York Society’, if you wanted to get into this crowd, you had to impress Mrs Astor.
Following Astor’s death in 1908, her role in society was filled by three women, essentially the Gretchen and Karens of the turn-of-the-century gentry. Mamie Fish, Theresa Fair Oelrichs and Alva Belmont became known as the ‘triumvirate’ of New York society in her wake. It’s a tale as old as time; when one Regina George falls, another will take her place – always.
In New York at the turn of the 20th century, you were either in high society or you were out, and there was one woman who decided: Mrs Astor
Throughout the 1930s and 40s, New York once again acted as the setting for another Regina; the ever-elegant Babe Paley. Along with her siblings, the trio of goddess-good looks were affectionately known as ‘the fabulous Cushing sisters’ (Cushing being her maiden name). Her older sister Mary would go on to marry John Vincent Astor, a relative of Mrs Astor’s brood, but for Babe, it was CBS chief executive William S. Paley that she set her sights on, with the pair marrying in 1940 and instantly becoming the certified It-couple that everyone wanted on their guestlist.
A fashion editor with discerning to-die-for tastes, Paley was a bona fide style sovereign, ranking in best dressed lists across the country and captivating a generation of women who yearned to emulate her sophisticated chic. In 1968, WWD ran a story just on the fact that she’d bought a new coat from Halston, illustrating a sketch of Paley wearing the black ciré midi rain coat before she’d even had a chance to wear it herself. Now that’s a Regina George fashion power move.
She was one of Truman Capote’s greatest ‘Swans’ alongside Gloria Guinness, Slim Keith and C.Z Guest, before the author ruthlessly sold them all out in his tell-all memoir detailing the real lives of New York’s elite. ‘Babe Paley had only one fault. She was perfect. Otherwise, she was perfect,’ Capote once said in a remark that you could imagine Lindsay Lohan recounting in a Mean Girls monologue as she became intoxicated by Regina George’s power. ‘I spent about 80 percent of my time talking about Regina. And the other 20 percent of the time, I was praying for someone else to bring her up so I could talk about her more,’ said Lohan in the film.
But a new breed of Regina George was already on the rise, as the 1960s paved the way for the arty enigma to take centre stage. Like how a failed sabotage attempt resulted in North Shore High students cutting holes into their layered tanks after Regina debuted the damaged look in Mean Girls, the true power of a real-life-Regina is to inaugurate a trend that people will follow – no matter how irreverent, and Andy Warhol ‘superstar’ Edie Sedgwick knew how to cultivate a look like no other.
Her uniform to follow? Hosiery, sans pantalon. In 1965, Life Magazine said of her pioneering style, ‘This cropped-mop girl with the eloquent legs is doing more for black tights than anybody since Hamlet’. Paired with her signature arched eyeliner and a cigarette in hand, the heiress and It-girl caused a tidal wave of high-dernier-clad legs on the scene, so much so, in fact, that the look is still being riffed on today.
Some 60 years on, the ‘no-pants’ look is one of 2024’s hottest trends. During Milan Fashion Week a year prior, Miu Miu closed out the AW23 show with a series of turtlenecks, crystal knickers and, you guessed it, tights, in what seemed to be an homage to the trouserless originator. What’s more is, it was The Crown actress Emma Corrin who took to the catwalk for the collection’s finale in a pair of golden briefs and black nylons – another cropped blonde art-loving aesthete. Since then, Gen-Z's favourite style starlets Kendall and Kylie Jenner, Bella Hadid and Hailey Bieber have all opted to take to the streets in high heels and hosiery. You see, a true Regina is timeless, just like Sedgwick’s ever-inspiring elegance.
Villainous? Maybe. Elitist? Perhaps. Drop-dead gorgeous? Definitely. The true mark of a real-life Regina George is someone who cultivates her in-crowd, captivates her followers and does it all while looking threateningly fabulous. If you ask me, we could all be a little more Regina.
