I distinctly remember uncovering a brown Juicy velour hoodie in a South Carolina discount store 12 years ago and telling my sister to buy it because Nicole Richie had the same one. Those comfy, monochromatic confections were the pinnacle of capital S Style between 2001 and 2006. If you wore one, you were practically just a Blackberry message away from scoring a guest spot on The Simple Life — which, let's be real, was everyone's dream back in 2003.
Richie was a Juicy velour trailblazer in many ways; she made it the must-have item of the early aughts. In fact, she — and Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, the Olsen twins, and Ashlee Simpson — defined that whole era of fashion. Big sunglasses, scarves as hats, maxi dresses: All those items harken back to a simpler time, when we lied about our ages on MySpace and Nickelback ruled the charts.
But sadly those days are long gone. Yes, early 2000s fashion is making a comeback, but it'll never be the same. Never again will we see Lohan wear a bucket hat and talk about her feud with Hilary Duff. Or watch Hilton text on her sidekick while wearing head-to-toe Von Dutch. Or see Richie drink a big Starbucks latte while rocking even bigger sunglasses.
Actually, we can see that last one. Richie teamed up with Papermagazine to re-create some of her most iconic 2000s looks, and the photos are so good that I feel compelled to sing "Stars Are Blind" to strangers on the street.
"Just as I was prepared to lock up the early 2000 Nicole & throw away the key, @papermagazine asked me to re-create some of my looks for the most fun photo shoot I've done in a long time," Richie posted on Instagram, alongside some pics from the shoot. "I got to play with wigs, small dogs, and laughed for about 8 hours straight. So here she is, in all her glory... minus the Percocet. Love you! 💅🏿"
Seriously, I'm screaming. I'm crying. I'm attempting to sign back into my AIM account (DUDE ITS CDAWG 7—I was pretending to be straight). Check out the pics for yourself, below:
Instagram content
And here are the original lewks Richie and Paper seem to be referencing:
The Juicy tracksuit
Perfect for a quick trip to Kitson, ya know?
The baggy dress over leggings
Who needs trousers?
The floral maxidress
Perfect for dancing around to "Yeah!" by Usher
