The spirit and style of early aughts fashion trends tend to be sweeping celebs lately, and Dua Lipa has decided to throw her hat in the ring. The singer-songwriter posted herself to Instagram wearing a denim on denim two-piece outfit complete with pigtails. While Lipa’s outfit took Instagram by storm, it is important to remember that denim on denim once had its place on red carpets everywhere in the early 2000’s.
Lipa’s outfit consisted of a pair of baggy, low-rise dark wash jeans, with a shirt that tapered towards the navel and had patchwork motifs of butterflies. The singer finished off the look with an abundance of gold and multicolored jewelry, posing in pictures that were very reminiscent of girl groups like TLC and The Spice Girls.
But let’s look at a brief history of this trend, because it didn’t appear out of thin air. Everyone’s most famous, or infamous memory of is probably Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears at the 2001 American Music Awards red carpet. The couple matched in head to toe denim on denim, including JT’s denim cowboy hat. The outfits became iconic over the years and arguably became a symbol of high-camp fashion, especially within the Y2K context.
JT and Britney weren’t the only ones to rock this trend. Destiny’s Child, the ’90s girl group consisting of Beyoncé, Kelly Rowland and Michelle Wiliams also pioneered the look. In a throwback picture posted to Destiny’s Child’s Twitter page, it was captioned “it’s the denim for me.” The trio posed in an onslaught of denim on denim outfits, complete with tears and bell-bottoms.
It's the denim for me 👖 pic.twitter.com/9bpKgaLERj
— Destiny's Child (@destinyschild) April 22, 2021
Love or hate the trend, it had an important cultural moment that might be coming back thanks to Dua Lipa. As the tides of fashion turn once every twenty years, no one should be surprised that Y2K looks are in vogue once again. Let’s just hope stylists learned from some outfits the first time around.
