The Most 2004 Looks From the Original Mean Girls Premiere

This was during Lohan’s apex—and unsurprisingly, she showed up with the most intentional look. The fake tan is fresh, the hair is blown out, and the dress is perfectly chosen for someone attempting to make the transition from kid-friendly Disney star to mainstream actress.

In contrast, Rachel McAdams was basically an unknown at this point, and, notably, in real life, she was also a tad bit older than her fellow Plastics. So rather than dress down in the teeny-bopper fashions of the moment, she leaned into maturity. Perhaps she was already looking forward to the premiere of The Notebook later that year, a role that would cement her leading lady status and ensured she’d never play a teenager again.

It was the spring of 2004. Elizabeth Holmes was dropping out of Stanford. A young soap opera actress was walking the red carpet of her fist major movie in a buttery yellow shift. At the time, we had no idea those two events would in any way be related.

Coming off the success of Party of Five, Chabert was arguably the second most famous member of the central foursome at the time, and took the opportunity to really glam it up in a black gown with gold beaded details.

These days, you put your young male lead in a sheer blouse with a leather harness underneath. Back then, you’d get a suit off the rack, forget a tie, and call it a day.

Before playing the outcast in Mean Girls, Lizzy Caplan was best known for playing one of the titular geeks in Freaks & Geeks. You just know she wanted to let Hollywood know she could play more than a teenager. As her career has proven since, she was right.

As all the true scholars of ’00s pop culture know, Raven was, at one point, Lohan’s roommate, and came out to support. (We’re sure her pink Prada bag would cause a bidding war on Depop today.)

Wearing a slipdress over a pair of jeans at the Mean Girls premiere feels like such a perfect marker of 2004 culture. Thank you for this, actress Amy Davidson (then best known for playing Kaley Cuoco’s little sister on 8 Simple Rules).

Then again, the cheeky slogan tee and PVC Louis Vuitton tote worn by actress Agnes Bruckner, who came as Daniel Franzese’s date, comes in close second for the “sooooo 2004” category.

Although it certainly isn’t scandalous, Amy Poehler’s relatively simple outfit does foreshadow the sheer mania that has overtaken today’s red carpets.

30 Rock was still two years away. No one outside of Wasilla, Alaska had ever heard the name Sarah Palin. At this point, Fey was best known for co-hosting SNL’s “Weekend Update”—hence, a significant amount of the population had only seen her seated behind a desk in a blazer.

For no immediately discernible reason, Rosanna Arquette attended the premiere and showcased perhaps the biggest 2004 fashion grail at the event. No, not the pageboy cap. The lilac Balenciaga City bag.

What was Hollywood like before the full infiltration of stylists into every facet of a young starlet’s image? You could roll up to a premiere in a Lakers jersey and low-cut jeans and no one really cared.

With her fellow Baywatch alum scoring Skims and Proenza Schouler campaigns, you’d think the world was ready for a Traci Bingham renaissance. She truly was everywhere in the 2000s.

This is exactly how PinkPantheress dresses now.

One longs for the day when a starlet could attend an event dressed like an actual person.

It’s that head-to-toe American Eagle drip.

As much as Lalaine’s fashion is decidedly 2004, the fact she could attend this event without much fanfare is also decidedly 2004. She was the on-screen best friend of Hilary Duff (Lohan’s then arch-nemesis). If something like this happened today, there would be a million TikTok conspiracies and shady tweets about how this was some scandalous drama. Instead, she just looked cute in a striped top and a pair of chunky sandals.