25 Years later, The Movie Jawbreaker Still Inspires My Makeup

It’s been over two decades—25 years, to be exact—since a popular clique of well-dressed teen girls (played by Rose McGowan, Rebecca Gayheart, and Julie Benz) accidentally murdered their BFF after stuffing her mouth with a candy jawbreaker. In the history of stylish, high school clique flicks, Jawbreaker is perfectly sandwiched between Heathers and Mean Girls, but the cult film, written and directed by Darren Stein, stands out so much on its own. Its dark comedic plot, cutting one-liners, incredible performances, and candy-colored fashion and beauty looks still inspire me, and so many others, all these years later.

From the moment we first meet the girls, strutting down the hallway in impeccably cool outfits, it is clear these aren’t ordinary teens. “I didn’t want them to look like girls you would find in any high school,” Stein tells me. “I went to an all-boys school, so I was like, this is gonna be my fantasy school. I wanted them to be runway models. It was all very much about fashion and editorial.”

Hair department head Alex Dizon helped give the film that editorial look Stein craved; he had previously styled McGowan on a shoot and was known for his magazine and celebrity work. “Darren gave me a lot of creative freedom with the hair, which, for me as an artist, helped me excel. I could do whatever I felt was suited for the scene or the character,” says Dizon. “The only thing Darren told me was that these girls are the It girls in school. The kids look up to them to see what they’re going to look like or what they’re going to wear, so I had to make sure that they had that It factor when it came to their looks.”

For the girls’ hairstyles, Dizon took inspiration from celebrities such as Gwen Stefani (in her No Doubt era), Britney Spears, Madonna, The Dixie Chicks, J.Lo., and Christina Aguilera. Another big inspiration for both Dizon and costume designer Vikki Barrett was the film Grease, which is evident in the 1950s silhouettes and bouffant flipped-out hairstyles. But with its colorful splatter, the jawbreaker itself greatly influenced the film’s overall look. The makeup, created by the late Carol Strong, featured bold, glossy lips and colorful nails. Each girl was assigned a color palette: Courtney wore a lot of purples and reds; Julie wore blue, which softened and expanded into blue denim as she distanced herself from the clique; Marcie wore green; and Vylette sported garish hot pink in her clothing and on her lips.

There are fun references to some of the popular makeup brands at the time, like Hard Candy, which Stein says had sponsored the film. (You can see bottles of the brand’s beloved nail polish in some bedroom scenes.) There’s also one for Urban Decay “When I was writing the script, Urban Decay was huge, and they had the craziest names, like Exhaust or Gash,” recalls Stein. “So, there’s a dialogue when they’re talking about their nail polish shade names, and she’s like, ‘Mine is Decayed.’ That’s an homage to Urban Decay. And when the film came out, Urban Decay had a color called Jawbreaker.” Stein also points out how Jeffree Starr had a Jawbreaker palette and lipstick and that Trixie Mattel was inspired by the film. “I love that the movie inspires cosmetics because I’m really into all that. I’m into fashion and drag and glamour so it was fun to play with that in the film,” he adds.

Rose McGowan in Jawbreaker

(Image credit: Courtesy of Darren Stein)

For Courtney, Stein wanted a femme fatale, vixen-inspired look. “She has almost like a chola, Tura Satana-like vibe. It was definitely Russ Meyer territory, or even Divine or Joan Crawford,” he says, adding that the character was a “descendant of that sensibility.” McGowan was, of course, perfect for the role. “Even in her 20s, Rose was getting blowouts once a week; she was glamour overdrive. He recalls being inspired by her during their first meeting, as well as her role as Amy Blue in Gregg Araki’s Doom Generation: “In that movie, she’s playing a variation of herself, and I think in Jawbreaker, it’s a more glamorous variation or a more old Hollywood interpretation.” McGowan had been blonde for Scream just a few years earlier, but he wanted her to keep her hair dark. “The red lip was very intentional and then the arched eyebrows. It was a very stylized look,” he says.

Rose McGowan on the set of Jawbreaker

(Image credit: Courtesy of Darren Stein)

Another bold look was that of Vylette, fka Fern, Greer’s character who undergoes an extreme makeover as part of a deal with Courtney. As Fern, Greer had drab brown hair, wore no makeup, and dressed in understated “nerdy” clothes, then transformed into Vylette, an alter ego of sorts, with hot pink clothes and makeup and a platinum blonde haircut. “The platinum was really in reference to Debbie Harry, Angelyne, and Cherie Curie,” explains Stein. “It was all very punk and new wave.” While Fern’s long brown hair was a wig, Greer ended up dying her real hair blonde for the role. “It was kind of like a Marilyn Monroe style, and at the time, the Dixie Chicks were doing that look. I had worked with them so I referenced them,” Dizon explains. “But we wanted it to be high glamour, and almost like she overdid it. It was her revenge.”

Darren Stein and Judi Greer on the set of Jawbreaker

(Image credit: Courtesy of Darren Stein)

Greer’s character may have been the only one with an onscreen transformation, but both Gayheart and Benz experienced makeover moments themselves. Gayheart, who was known for her naturally curly hair in her “Noxzema girl” era, had her hair straightened for the film. “I wanted to give her something that we’d never seen from her, which was straight, shiny hair. “It took at least two hours every day just to straighten the hair before styling. We were always the first ones on set,” says Dizon. Meanwhile, Stein says that Benz had the ‘most traumatic hair transformation” since they chopped her long blonde hair into a bob to make it more stylish. “It’s a very sophisticated look for a high school girl. It’s a bit of a mom cut,” he laughs. However, he also points out that Marcie’s hair was the most ‘90s because of the twists and clips she wore. Dizon says Gwen Stefani’s hair was the inspiration for those looks.

Rebecca Gayheart and Julie Benz in Jawbreaker

(Image credit: Courtesy of Darren Stein)

Another big beauty moment in the film happens during its climactic prom scene when Courtney’s hair unravels as she’s revealed as the killer. As the story goes, McGowan saw Gayheart wearing blue flowers in her hair and she didn’t want to be outshined, so she brought out a silver leather ribbon. “The silver would pop on camera, so I did a French twist with big rolls on the top and figured out how to wind the silver band around her hair,” says Dizon. “Rose wanted something special, so that elevated the work for me. We had to come up with a nice, stylized hairdo that could stand the test of time. And as a hairdresser, I’m always looking back, like, do I still like it today? And I do.”

The film endures as inspiration for fashion and beauty looks, and Stein says it’s because they were creating a world they hoped would be completely original. “When you bring in elements like fashion, noir, ‘80s New Wave, 50s stylings from Grease, punk, fetish, and blend all that it together, it becomes its own look,” he says. “It was all deliberate, and when you’re paying attention to that, you can create something that transcends time.” Stein also says that a “lot of other directors let the hair and makeup teams do their own thing and don’t “fuss over them as much. “I was in the hair and makeup trailer a lot because I enjoyed watching the girls get ready and see how they were coming along. And I don’t think a lot of heterosexual directors would probably be in the hair and makeup trailer,” he laughs.