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You Guys, VMAs Fashion in 2001 Was Legitimately Terrifying

Of all the awards shows, the MTV VMAs have a reputation for being the most adventurous, fashion-wise. It’s not the Oscars, where stars compete to wear the most tasteful Dior gown. It’s not the Grammys, where experimentation takes the form of a little leather here, a loud print there to prove the wearer’s rock-star cred. It’s a let-it-all-hang-out free-for-all — where stars let their “freak flags fly,” if you will. (Looking at you, Miley.)

But if VMAs fashion pushes the boundaries of taste on a good year, there was one year when the fashion was at its absolute peak (or its nadir?) of trashy: 2001. This was the year when a certain boho mood swept over many attendees, causing otherwise-sane stars to wear Harley Davidson T-shirts as evening wear, fur vests with conch belts, and, yes, plenty of double denim. And we’re not going to begin to speak of the crimes against fashion perpetrated by Christina Aguilera. It was a rough year from which only a few stars, like Jewel and Mary J. Blige, emerged relatively unscathed.

Ahead, photographic proof that 2001 was, sartorially speaking, a raging dumpster fire. If dumpster fires wore fringed Ultrasuede and chaps. RIP your eyes.

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