THE MOVIE Clueless has become an across the board cult favorite for 20-something women these days, and a fundamental part of that popularity is the clothes. As silly as it sounds, seeing Clueless in the sixth grade was a pivotal part of my personal style development. The film presented a carefree, pre-9/11 universe where a makeover could turn a hapless new loser into a miniskirted foxy hipster, and where getting one's Alaïa dirty was just as bad as getting mugged.

The film was also my first real introduction to couture and how much fun fashion could be. Even today, watching the irrepressible Cher (Alicia Silverstone) bounce around the screen in her knee socks, chunky Mary Jane's and crop tops still makes me yearn for the grungy 1990s of my youth.

I'm not alone, and perhaps this is precisely why '90s–tinged styles have seen a resurgence this summer, from flannel to ripped jeans to the bravest trend of the bunch: the bare midriff. When I first heard that the crop top was back in business, I was skeptical if it would ever find a place off the runway and into reality. Though designers like Alexander Wang, Cheap Monday, Wildfox Couture and even Prada are hawking crop tops for summer 2009, the trend does have an inherent degree of difficulty. Considering the all-too-common sighting of the muffin top lately, I viewed the breaking out of belly shirts with doubt and a bit of apprehension.

However, I found myself won over when a walk along Paseo de San Antonio during a heat wave last month turned into a stroll down 1990s memory lane. As I headed out of Philz Coffee, I passed two different young women sporting bare bellies. One in a pair of high-waisted jean shorts, gladiator sandals and flowing peasant top that hit right under her bra line, and another with a flannel button-down tied to reveal her navel and a long skirt.

Seeing this trend in person again brought me back to that pivotal makeover montage in Clueless, where a barefaced Tai (Brittany Murphy) has her first experience with "the challenging world of bare midriffs." As Tai shakes her head in apprehension, Cher whips out a pair of scissors and precedes to chop off the bottom half of the teenager's T-shirt to reveal the ultimate in '90s hotness: the crop top. They both gaze into a mirror and smile.

To my surprise, the look that those two young women were going for in downtown San Jose didn't leave me with a trashy impression. On the contrary, being young, petite and fit, they looked surprisingly cool, causal and hipster chic. As such, I have conceded to the fact that the bare midriff is back, and it can be done right. I'm sure Cher Horowitz would be proud.

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