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1
Baguette (bag)
Fendi Baguette, designed 1997, peak around 2000
Silvia Venturini Fendi designed a small bag to be tucked under the arm like a loaf, and Sex and the City made it a punchline when Carrie corrects a mugger: it is a Baguette, not a bag. Fendi reissued it in 2019, and this is one revival that genuinely flatters, because the short strap and compact shape work with anything from jeans to a slip dress. Original late-1990s beaded and sequined versions are the collector pieces; plain leather ones are the easier everyday buy.
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Hair clip
Butterfly clips, late 1990s to early 2000s
Tiny plastic and glitter butterflies, clipped in rows along a part or scattered over twisted sections of hair, were the cheapest way into the era's look and sold by the card at every drugstore and accessory store. By the late 2000s they had become shorthand for trying too hard. The clip came back in the early 2020s, helped along by TikTok and stars such as Billie Eilish, and the revival works when it is restrained: one or two clips holding back a front section look playful, while a full head of them still looks like a costume.
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Dior Saddle bag
Dior Saddle bag, Spring/Summer 2000
John Galliano's kidney-shaped bag, borrowed from equestrian gear, debuted on the Spring/Summer 2000 runway and became the logo-heavy It bag of the early 2000s. Maria Grazia Chiuri brought it back for her fall 2018 collection, and the revival stuck: the curved shape still looks unusual against a sea of rectangles. Logo-print originals are now prized resale finds, though the full monogram look reads very loudly today, and the plain leather versions age better.
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Green Versace dress of Jennifer Lopez
Grammy Awards, February 2000
Jennifer Lopez's plunging green Versace silk chiffon dress at the 2000 Grammys is the look with the best origin story of the era: Google has said searches for it were the most popular query it had ever seen, and that the demand for a picture of it helped prompt Google Images. Versace closed its September 2019 show with Lopez wearing a new version, which proves the dress still works as a reference. It is a red-carpet moment rather than something to copy, but its jungle print turns up on revival pieces constantly.
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Dior
The John Galliano newspaper-print dress, fall/winter 2000, worn in Sex and the City
Galliano printed a Dior slip dress with mock newsprint for fall/winter 2000, and Carrie Bradshaw wore it in the third-season episode "What Goes Around Comes Around", which turned a runway joke into one of the show's best-remembered outfits. Sarah Jessica Parker wore it again in Sex and the City 2. Mass-market newsprint copies keep appearing, but the original's fluid slip cut is what makes it hang well, and cheap copies in stiff fabric rarely manage that.
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Britney Spears
Born
Matching denim with Justin Timberlake, American Music Awards, January 2001
Spears arrived in a strapless patchwork denim gown beside Timberlake in a full denim suit and hat, and the photograph became shorthand for the whole era. Spears herself later called the outfits tacky in her memoir, which is a fair verdict on the matching. The useful lesson for now is the gown on its own: a patchwork denim maxi skirt or dress looks deliberate today, while head-to-toe denim on two people still reads as a costume.
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Swan dress
Björk at the Academy Awards, March 2001
Marjan Pejoski's dress, with a swan's neck wrapped around Björk's own and its head resting on her chest, was widely mocked in 2001 and is now treated as one of the bravest red-carpet looks ever worn; it has since been shown in museum exhibitions. It earns its place as the counterweight to the era's logos and velour: proof that the early 2000s could be strange and artistic too. Nobody needs to wear one, but it explains why camp red-carpet dressing is taken seriously today.
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Juicy Couture
The velour tracksuit, introduced 2001, peak around 2003 to 2005
Pamela Skaist-Levy and Gela Nash-Taylor sent their velour hoodies and matching pants to famous people, and paparazzi pictures of Paris Hilton and others in pastel sets did the rest. The revival is real and mostly kind: a velour zip-up worn with jeans, or a single matching piece, looks relaxed rather than costume. The full set with a rhinestone logo across the seat is the version that proves nostalgia is selective, because it says more about 2004 than about comfort or flattery.
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Silver Julien Macdonald dress of Paris Hilton
Paris Hilton's 21st birthday, London, February 2002
The tiny silver chainmail slip by Julien Macdonald, worn with a matching choker, became the template for the Y2K party look, and Kendall Jenner wore a similar design for her own 21st in 2016. Hilton has recreated it since, which says plenty about how well it photographs. As a style to borrow, metallic chainmail and sheer slips are back in party season, though the barely-there cut is a commitment few will want beyond one night.
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Elie Saab net dress of Halle Berry
Halle Berry at the Academy Awards, March 2002
Berry won Best Actress for Monster's Ball in a burgundy Elie Saab gown with a sheer mesh bodice and embroidered flowers, and Saab has credited the night with making his name more widely known. The gown has since gone on display at the Academy Museum, and Berry wore it again on Saab's runway in Riyadh in 2024. It is the red-carpet look from this list that has aged best: the sheer-bodice idea is everywhere at award shows now, and the original still looks current rather than dated.
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Low-rise (fashion)
Low-rise jeans, peak around 2001 to 2004
The defining silhouette of the era sat inches below the navel, usually with a cropped top and sometimes a visible thong, and Britney Spears, Paris Hilton and early 2000s Victoria Beckham made it the default. The revival has been real since the early 2020s, but kinder: today's low-rise jeans are usually relaxed, baggy or wide-legged rather than skin-tight. That change is the honest verdict, since the original skinny, ultra-low cut flattered very few people and the softer version flatters far more.
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Von Dutch
The trucker hat, peak around 2002 to 2004
The mesh-backed cap with the cursive logo spread when Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears and Ashton Kutcher, who wore one constantly on Punk'd, were photographed in it, and designer Christian Audigier steered the brand into a celebrity craze. Charli XCX's 2024 single named after the brand gave it a second wind. Worn now, the cap is pure irony: fun for a festival, but the logo carries more nostalgia than style, and the brand's namesake had a documented ugly side that the revival rarely mentions.
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Louis Vuitton
Monogram Multicolore by Takashi Murakami, Spring/Summer 2003
Marc Jacobs invited the Japanese artist to redraw the house monogram in 33 candy colors on white or black canvas, and it became one of the most recognizable luxury prints of the mid-2000s. Louis Vuitton discontinued it in 2015 before bringing the collaboration back as a re-edition, so originals and new pieces now sit side by side. On second-hand originals, white canvas shows dirt and wear quickly, so check corners and handles carefully; the black version hides age better and looks less like a souvenir.
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UGG (brand)
The tall sheepskin boot, peak around 2003 to 2005
Pamela Anderson wore them on the Baywatch set in the 1990s and Oprah Winfrey gave pairs to her studio audience in a Favorite Things episode, but the boots became a uniform once they were paired with denim miniskirts and velour. The revival flatters on its own terms: the short and ultra-mini styles worn with straight jeans or leggings look cozy rather than sloppy. The tall boot with a microskirt, the true 2004 look, is the one that mostly survives on nostalgia.
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Livestrong Foundation
The yellow Livestrong wristband, launched May 2004
Nike and Lance Armstrong's cancer charity launched a $1 yellow silicone band in May 2004, planned 5 million and had sold more than 20 million by the end of that October, and it turned up on actors, musicians and Olympians that summer. Charity bands in every color followed for years. It is also the clearest case of selective nostalgia here: Armstrong's 2012 doping disgrace means the band now reads as a reminder of a fallen hero rather than a look anyone revives.
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Sienna Miller
Born
The beaded belt and boho look at Glastonbury, June 2004
Sienna Miller's festival outfit, a short black dress with an embellished belt slung low on the hips, helped make boho chic the defining look of 2004 and 2005, widely copied by mass-market stores with tiered skirts, peasant blouses and sheepskin. It is the most wearable revival on this list: low-slung belts, loose white dresses and suede now look easy rather than dated. Miller has since said she felt saddened to see her treasured vintage pieces copied so widely, which is a fair reminder to borrow one piece rather than the whole look.
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