Picture this: you’re at the mall (real, brick-and-mortar). Dining at the food court, checked off. Christina Milian plays over the speakers and something big—something bright—catches your eye. You have to toss your Blackberry into your multicolored LV Pochette bag to focus. Velour tracksuits ranging in this season’s neutrals of hot pink to lime green line the window display. And you think to yourself, “That’s hot!”.
It was the 2000s, after all—you just had to be there. Phones still flipped, sweatpants were not just WFH fashion and “Fat” was spelled with a p-h.
In an ever-digital decade where QR codes are in command and nostalgia for a time pre-follower count is all the rage, we yearn for a time when things seemed to move just a little bit slower and a whole lot blingier. Enter NTWRK, a curated luxury retail platform for limited edition keepsakes. They’ve “timecapsuled” the early aughts in major brand collaborations with Google and McDonald’s to bring to life Y2K dreamscapes during Miami Art Week.
The first contender of cultural crossovers is tech giant Google Android’s partnership with Baby Phat, the it-girl label that defined an era of flashy maximalism in the run off of 90s corporate-esque minimalism. Fronted by supermodel turned designer, Kimora Lee Simmons, Baby Phat brought voice to women of color in a burgeoning streetwear industry. Launched at the turn of the millennium, the label began as a womenswear offshoot to her then-husband, music mogul, Russell Simmons’ Phat Farm. Then just a measly range of fitted tees, Kimora Lee inherited the brand and set out to shape a collection she herself would want to wear.
And shape, she did. In the face of baggy light wash denim and two-sizes-too-big slouchy tees, the touch of a woman was unmistakable: unapologetically pink, rhinestone emblazoned and curve-hugging. Simmons cut menswear down to size—the feminine form, to be exact.
Marketing? Don’t worry about it. The fashion maven’s well defined network amongst hip-hop’s elite landed Baby Phat tracksuits on the cover of every checkout line tabloid. Simmons’ designs were quickly donned by the gaudy noughties’ glitterati—everyone from Paris to Britney and Beyonce splashed on gossip mags in head-to-toe velour. The rhinestone feline reigned supreme and Baby Phat was women’s fashion. Often imitated, but never duplicated.
As fashion cycles back to low-rise denim and bejeweled buttocks, a return to the spotlight is only natural for Baby Phat. Kimora Lee Simmons passes the torch to daughters Ming and Aoki Simmons for the next gen of the Baby Phat empire as seen by their latest collab with Google Android centered around their latest capsule collection and the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5 (emphasis on the “flip”!). Set in a hyper-2000s venue at Wynwood Studio, attendees selfied with Ming and Aoki, mingled to the mixes of DJ Amorphous, and food courted like it was 2004.
Perhaps a Happy Meal should’ve been on the menu. Debuting down the road at BLK Wynwood, NTWRK teamed up with McDonald’s to bring their latest artistic alliance to the world wide web. The fast-food giant partnered with talk show host, DJ, and comedian, Kerwin Frost in a supersized exhibition titled “Frost Way Experience.” In celebration of the newly unveiled Kerwin Frost Box and reimagined McNugget Buddies, the venue brought to life an interactive showcase of each McNugget Buddy, an early aughts essential in each Happy Meal box. The Harlem-native lended his artistry to the Golden Arches for a revamped box design and 6 new McNugget Buddies.
"I've loved McDonald's since I was a kid. I even had my own Ronald McDonald doll that I brought to picture day at school, and it was my dream to collect all the McNugget Buddies," shared Frost. "Now, coming up with my own special set of Buddies–each one representing different aspects of self-expression–it's unreal, a dream come true. McDonald's has been a great partner from day one, and they've truly allowed me to create without limits. I hope the Kerwin Frost Box will serve as a reminder for people to hone their creativity and not be afraid to show the world who they really are."
In further McCollaboration, NTWRK created exclusive merch including a Jeff Hamilton x Kerwin Frost leather jacket highlighting the new McNugget Buddies and buzzworthy new box. The one-of-one leather jacket was made available via a drawing exclusively on the NTWRK app.
Consider the clock successfully turned back. As Miami Art Week drew to a close, the forecast was clear: the future of fashion is just as multilayered as Ashley Tisdale’s ensemble on a 2007 red carpet. As tech marries trends, our clothes reminisce on simpler times when our phones didn’t eavesdrop and our wifi was dial-up. Perhaps that’s what the 2020s are all about: bringing back that brash hope for the future, the fresh slate of a new millennium. And if it’s optimism they’re selling, we’re buying it in surplus.
One thing is for certain: Y2K is just as much our future as it is our past. And we’re okay with that.
