Hi everyone! Welcome, I'm Courtney! Fashion, beauty, and content creation are my brand. Here are two short writing pieces that explain my current likes and why my brand is what it is today. Hope you enjoy!
“99 and 2000s fashion taking over 2022”
Picture this, you're at home, you and your BFF are watching the new episode of Lizzie McGuire, and you are obsessing about how cute Ethan Craft is while flipping through a J14 magazine. You're wearing a bright multi-colored crop top with a bedazzled star in the center, low-rise multi-denim wide-leg pants, multi-colored butterfly clips in your hair, and a Yin and Yang Tai Chi Pendant necklace on. Ok, zoom out because Y2K fashion is back, and GenZs are reppin the 99 and 2000s (in our Juvenile voice).
If you were born after 2006, you've probably wondered, “What is Y2k?” To make it short and simple, the Y2k era started as an end of the world panic, with speculation of all computers crashing and the end of the digital age, when all that needed to happen was a simple computer program update.
Now back to important matters, the Y2k fashion era spanned from the late 1990s to the mid-2000s. It is all about being colorful, bold, and making a statement. It was defined by women who dominated the pop culture scene, Brittany Spears, Christina Aguilera, Destiny’s Child, Spice Girls, Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie, and Aaliyah. Even onscreen icons like Regina George in Mean Girls, Paris Morgan in Love Don’t Cost a Thing, and Drew Barry Moore in Charlie's Angels.
There were lots of pink, multi-colored clothes, sleeveless crop tops, bedazzled designs, small handbags, mixing denim, wide-leg jeans, and not a neutral in sight. Some of the brands that dominated the trend were Juicy Couture, Baby Phat, Ed Hardy, Sean John, Von Dutch, Rocawear, and FUBU.
As we all know, fashion is just a never-ending cycle, and GenZs are probably hearing a never-ending phrase from their parents that we Millenials have heard “Oh, that’s not new, we used to wear that in my day.” GenZs that are embracing the Y2K trend are Bella Hadid, Addison Rae, and Teala Dunn.
Where can you buy the Y2k trend? While some of the old brands like Juicy Couture and Baby Phat are making a comeback, you can see this trend in stores like Target, H&M, and Forever 21. So whether you want to go full out and live in the nostalgia or just a few accessories to give your outfit some pop, this Y2K fashion is here to stay, for now at least.
A backwards glance of me
Is this another small-town girl story? Yes, it is, so get ready. I grew up in a small country town of Zachary, La. So country, we lived across from cow pastures and only had four stoplights at the time. Being the youngest of three girls, some clothes were handed down, but when it came to church clothes, that was a different story. If you grew up in a country baptist church era then you know that coming to church in jeans was just unheard of. As a little black girl, if you didn’t have on those white ruffle socks with those patent leather shoes, then shame on your parents. I have four fashion inspiration stories. For my fashion inspiration story, people would think that it started with my mom, but that’s not my case. It started with my dad. My dad had us dressed in our Sunday best every church service. With only three girls and no boys, he would frequent Dillards so much that the saleswomen would know him by name and contact him when another shipment of girl clothes arrived at the store. My dad would style us in large frilly, fufu dresses with ruffle socks, patent leather shoes, and a purse to match. My favorite dress was a red watermelon poofy dress with a watermelon purse to match.
My second fashion inspiration was my first black Barbie, The Brandy Barbie. After the remake of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, Brandy was the IT girl of the 1900s and 200s. The first Brandy doll came out in 1999 when I was seven years old. It was the first time I ever played and owned a black barbie doll. She came with cool clothes that I styled her in and would pretend I was her.
My third fashion inspiration is not as happy, but what now leads me to be unapologetically me and embrace my midsize body. When I was around 4th-6th grade, I wasn't as small as the other girls in my class and couldn’t wear "typical" girl sizes. When my mom took over my clothes shopping, she would shop for me at JcPenny. There were the regular girl clothes and the plus size girl clothes in the girl's section. The "typical" girl clothes always had cute colorful clothes, and the plus had boring, mostly neutral-colored clothes. As a kid, you want to wear what everyone else is wearing, but most department stores did not have cute styles for plus clothing. While options for stylish clothes of all sizes are much better now, those experiences in the JcPenny girl section have led me to advocate for midsize and plus-size clothing that is cute and stylish.
My last fashion inspiration led to me being obsessed with 'Projecting Runway" and watching season 4 with Christian Siriano. During that time, I thought I wanted to be a fashion designer. To explore that obsession, my mom got me my first sewing machine and a life-size mannequin at 16.
Although I did not become a fashion designer, I did help a friend with her new boutique by doing photo shoots and creating content for the boutique's social media. Learning about how to style clothes for a photoshoot, the best poses for models, the best lighting to get the best shot, defining the colors for a brand, creating mood boards, creating a website, and learning how to use Canva have led me to my love for creating content.
Even though my career choices have changed, all those experiences and memories have led to what helps make me Courtney. Fashion, content creation, and beauty are topics that I think about all the time because I am passionate about them, so I choose them as my niche for my brand. My niche inspires me to be bold and unapologetically me.
