Are you ready for the dress-over-jeans comeback?

The New York Times

For some people, the early 2000s was a fever dream time in the fashion world. Juicy Couture tracksuits. Stretchy, rainbow-colored bracelets on each wrist. Graphic T-shirts, vests, V-necks and slim scarves. Hats worn without the intention of being ironic. Double dose denim (or all denim, like Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake). The list goes on.

But for those old enough to reflect, during those years, the return of some of these trends can provoke strong reactions, as if it were a disturbing visit from the ghosts of the past. Now, thanks to Katie Holmes, we have an exciting new entry in the ongoing debate about the turn-of-the-millennium fashion resurgence: the dress over jeans.

Recently, Holmes, 43, attended the iHeartRadio Jingle Ball show in New York City and walked the red carpet in a deep blue Tove strapless top (which some people called a mini-dress), loose-fitting straight-cut jeans and Margiela sneakers. At the show, in which Dua Lipa, Lizzo, the Backstreet Boys, Demi Lovato, Kid Laroi and other artists performed, Holmes took the stage to introduce musician Charlie Puth. She had already participated in the Jingle Ball other times, for example in 2017, when she announced with her daughter, Suri Cruise, the presentation of Taylor Swift.

We’ve learned to say goodbye to trends, to put away our cargo pants and glitter-embellished short T-shirts – but in some cases, we’re forced to see those same trends come back with a vengeance. As predicted earlier this year, low-waisted pants made a comeback in style, accompanied by borderline derivations like the purposely unbuttoned jeans look.

Some members of Gen Z embrace the chaos of the edgier looks of the early 2000s, include 2000s references in their personal style, and even operate TikTok accounts about millennium fashion. The 20-something characters in some of this year’s popular movies and television shows — like Portia in HBO’s “White Lotus” — wear “vintage” pieces from the 1990s and early 2000s.

Photos of the look Holmes wore on the red carpet circulated on social media over the weekend, sparking a discussion about her outfits and wearing dresses over jeans in the past. People posted pictures of celebrities who rocked similar looks years ago, like Anne Hathaway at the 2004 premiere of “The Enchanted Girl,” Miley Cyrus at the 2006 Teen Choice Awards, and Ashley Tisdale during her years as the star of hits like “High School Musical” and “The Suite Life of Zack and Cody”.

Brie Welch, Katie Holmes’ personal stylist, worked with the actress on her look for the “Jingle Ball.” According to Welch, the choice was a combination of her style and Holmes’ personal taste and practicality.

“We decided that the bold color and subtle bustier detailing the top were stylish and that it would be fun to pair them with jeans, creating a more youthful feel for the Jingle Ball and the environment there,” Welch wrote in an email. (A representative for Holmes did not respond to requests for comment.)

Initially, some people online assumed that the red carpet photos of Holmes were images from 20 years ago, when her pivotal role as Joey Potter in “Dawson’s Creek” made her an icon in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The actress gained fame around the world as a perfect example of the girl next door, and the character continues to resonate with fans even today — including on TikTok, where videos and “fan-cams” register more than 99 million views on tag #JoeyPotter.

Some viewers loved the look, and others were fiercely opposed to the idea of ​​bringing back the dress-over-jeans look. A Twitter user he wrote that “this is what the year 2000 really was, but you guys are not ready for this conversation”, and received over 177,000 “likes”.

This is not the first time that the combination of a more or less elegant dress and jeans has attracted attention. In recent years, publications like Vogue and InStyle have written about the trend, discussing ways to make it chic and trendy.

As for the sneakers, they seemed appropriate for the occasion, Welch said. “On that day (and because Katie has her own natural style, which deserves to be appreciated here), she said she wanted to wear sneakers, because it was a concert and obviously there would be a lot of dancing to Dua Lipa (and nothing is more comfortable!)” , added the stylist.

Whether Holmes intended to reference her days as Joey Potter or she simply wanted to wear show-appropriate footwear, Welch added that the actress is “more than capable of looking cool wearing an unintentional trend 20 years later.”