Oops, they did it again!
From the Juicy Couture comeback to a reboot of The Simple Life, the Y2K revival has been happening for years. In turn, the early aughts obsession has also come for our denim. Though the baggy, low-rise, jewel-adorned jeans of the early aughts faded out of view for a period of the 2010s, the trend cycle has ushered them back to the forefront, and some of the same brands that were omnipresent two decades ago are trending again.
The trend is particularly visible on resale platforms like Depop, where brands like True Religion and Miss Me are among the most searched, according to a spokesperson. Internal data reveals searches for ‘Y2K denim’ spiked this summer, while searches for ‘Von Dutch Denim’ rose 65 percent over the course of this year. “There’s been a lot of buzz around the “Indie Sleaze” look this year, which tends to combine certain elements from both the early aughts and 2010s,” says Agus Panzoni, a trend forecaster for Depop. Panzoni points to Diesel’s most recent runway show, which featured shredded denim shorts and tromp l’oeil details, as an example.
A slew of celebs have endorsed the nostalgia-heavy trend. Ice Spice wore a Baby Phat denim set to the 2024 Grammy Awards, while Megan Thee Stallion recently partnered with True Religion for an ad campaign. And, on TikTok, it's hard to scroll without coming across videos of jeans hauls featuring brands like Miss Me and Von Dutch.
It's clear that all that comes around goes around, and denim is no exception. Ahead, find the Y2K jeans brands that made an impact in 2024.
Von Dutch
A Von Dutch trucker hat was once a staple of celebrity street style, worn by the likes of Gwen Stefani, Brittany Spears, and Paris Hilton. The early 2000s relic resurfaced in 2016, when Kylie Jenner, at the peak of her King Kylie era, posed in one of the hats on Instagram. Two years later, a Von Dutch store opened on Melrose Avenue in L.A., not far from where it once stood decades earlier. More recently, Bella Hadid wore a pair of low-slung Von Dutch jeans and carried a branded bowling bag. And in 2023, Von Dutch a French division at Paris Fashion Week.
Diesel
The Italian brand Diesel made a name for itself by breaking rules, selling pre-destressed denim via provoking ad campaigns. Though the brand struggled financially throughout the 2010s, Glenn Martens was appointed creative director in 2020, a change that seemed to revive the brand. Dua Lipa starred in a series of ads for the brand in 2021, and in 2023, Diesel returned to Milan Fashion Week with a runway show-turned-party that lasted eight hours and was open to the public. And in what was surely a vote of confidence for the brand, Charlie XCX and Julia Fox were in attendance.
Miss Me
Few things date a photo like a pair of jeans whose back pockets are adorned with a bejeweled cross or fleur de lis, a staple of early 2000s Miss Me collections. You could identify a pair of their jeans on stars like Beyoncé via the signature red tab on the front pockets, if not the bold white stitching. More recently, the queen of the Y2K revival, Ice Spice, was photographed in a pair of Miss Me jeans for a Rolling Stone cover story, Today, Miss Me jeans feature the same bold pockets but come in more updated silhouettes.
Baby Phat
Founded in 1999, Baby Phat rose to such fame that by 2007, its founder, Kimora Lee Simmons, had her own reality show. Simmons, a former model and muse of Karl Lagerfeld, started the brand under the umbrella of her then-husband, Russell Simmons' company, Phat Farm. The streetwear brand was already a staple in the hip-hop world, so it followed that Baby Phat would become a favorite of artists like Lil Kim, Missy Elliot, and Mary J. Blige. The brand's omnipresence eventually led to limited edition Baby Phat Visa cards and Motorola phones. The brand went quiet in 2010 after Simmons stepped away, but she relaunched it in 2019 through a collaboration with Forever 21. In 2024, Ice Spice chose a custom Baby Phat look for her Grammys debut, where she was nominated for Best New Artist.
True Religion
True Religion was founded at the end of 2002, but it wasn’t long before The Black Eyed Peas cemented the brand in the cultural lexicon by name-dropping them in their iconic 2005 song “My Hump.” The brand faced financial troubles in the 20-teens but returned to New York Fashion Week in 2023. For their 2024 holiday campaign, they teamed up with Megan thee Stallion, who says she’s been wearing the jeans since she was 14.
FUBU
Founded by four friends in 1992 in Queens, the ethos behind FUBU was clothes created by the people who would wear them. (FUBU represents the motto “for us by us.”) LL Cool J wore a FUBU hat in a 1997 Gap commercial, drawing mass attention. Usher and Beyoncé followed, and FUBU soon became a favorite in the hip-hop world, often spotted on MTV and VH1. Today, FUBU hats are found across Depop and Vestiaire Collective. The brand’s 2024 runway show at Atlanta Fashion Week featured their signature hats and jerseys, plus tailored suits.