Britney Spears and Justin Timbelake wearing coordinating denim looks to the 2001 American Music Awards.Photo:Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage
Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage
Britney Spearsis reminiscing about her iconic denim-on-denim moment withJustin Timberlake.
Back when she and the former*NSYNCstar were dating, the pair famously showed up to the 2001American Music Awardsin matching head-to-toe denim looks. Now, more then 20 years later, Spears, 41, is admitting that the fashion statement was “tacky.”
When she found out that Timberlake was planning to wear denim to the awards show, she suggested to him, “We should match! Let’s do denim-on-denim!”
However, she wasn’t actually serious. “At first, honestly, I thought it was a joke,” she recalled. “I didn’t think my stylist was going to do it, and I never thought Justin was going to do it with me. But they both went all in.”
Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake wear denim to the 2001 American Music Awards.Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage
For Timberlake, stylist Steven Gerstein assembled a version of a “Canadian tuxedo” with a denim jacket, pants, shirt and — to top it off — a western-inspired hat complete with a button waistband detail.
“When he put it on, I thought, ‘Whoa! I guess we’re really doing this!'” wrote Spears, who donned a strapless floor-length patchwork denim dress and carried a small denim bag at the event.
It was hardly the first time the duo had done matching looks. Spears said they enjoyed stepping out together in color-coordinated outfits when they were a couple from 1999 to 2002. “But with the matching denim, we blew it up,” she said of the over-the-top AMAs ensembles.
She also remembered suffering for the sake of fashion that night. “My corset had me sucked in so tight under my denim gown, I was about to fall over,” she explained.
As she looks back on the outfits now, she understands why they’ve been so widely roasted over the years. “I get that it was tacky — but it was also pretty great in its own way, and I’m also happy to see it parodied as a Halloween costume,” she wrote.
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Spears acknowledged that Timberlake has also endured plenty of ribbing for his part in the Y2K denim disaster.
“I’ve heard Justin get flak for the look,” she wrote.
“Onone podcast where they were teasing him about it, he said, ‘You do a lot of things when you’re young and in love,'” she continued. “And that’s exactly right. We were giddy, and those outfits reflected that.”
Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears in 2002.Diane L. Cohen/Getty
Diane L. Cohen/Getty
In 2020, ahead of the 20th anniversary of the AMAs fashion statement, Gerstein explained how Timberlake’s look came to life.
“It was such a no-brainer. Justin and Britney were dating at the time. We were in New Orleans when Britney and Justin were like, ‘We’re doing matching denim.’ And I was like, ‘How are you doing that? Who is doing that?'” he recounted toJezebel.
“We wound up taking the Costume National suit that Justin wore for theCelebrityalbum cover. We remade it in denim. Conversations with Levi’s were happening were happening at the same time, and Britney was working with [costume designers] Kurt and Bart. We had some crossover contacts at Levi’s, so it went from being an idea to it being made within days.”
“It was kind of like their prom,” Gerstein added. “They had an idea, and we did what they wanted as opposed to the other way around. The rest is history.”
Timberlake also shared his thoughts on the look back in 2020, on his former*NSYNCbandmateLance Bass’ podcast where he maintained that the look was a classic.
“You can kind of rock that one today,” Timberlake told Bass of the denim-on-denim trend, adding, “You do a lot of things when you’re young and in love.”
Spears acknowledged the recreation,tweeting Perryat the time, “Just when I thought the denim dress had retired … you bring it back!”
source: people.com
