Baby Phat Comeback: Iconic Early Aughts Mall Brand Returns With New PUMA Collab
It’s a sunny day in Y2K. You’re strutting onto campus like you’re stepping onto a catwalk. “Try Again” by Aaliyah is bumping in your head. (It wouldn’t be bumping in your ears for another year when the iPod debuted in 2001.) Your two-way buzzes at your hip. You pause to run a finger over your glittery lip-gloss and catch your reflection in the window. Dripping in head-to-toe blue velour, you pull the zipper of your body-hugging track jacket to just the right spot and turn around to admire the Siamese cat emblazoned on the back. Forget Juicy Couture. You’re a Baby Phat girl.
It’s hard to describe the chokehold Kimora Lee Simmons’ globally-rocked Baby Phat line had on us in the aughts. Created as an offshoot of her then husband Def Jam founder and all-around mogul Russell Simmons’ Phat Farm line, Baby Phat became a moment-defining crossroads between fashion and culture. While the line may have been born out of urban streetwear, it went on to epitomize the type of luxury we lived for in the aughts. With its roots planted firmly in hip hop and inspired by the genre’s biggest artists of the day, Baby Phat was nouveau riche in the best way. It was denim as formalwear. It was blinged out. It was body positive and inclusive. Tracksuits, denim, swimwear, shoes, even a special-edition Motorola cell phone — supermodel Simmons had us all working it in our Baby Phat.
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And that included some of the hottest artists of the day too — from Alicia Keys and Lil Kim to Paris Hilton and Aaliyah herself, the reigning queens of the pop culture scene were often photographed in pieces from the iconic line.
Now, PUMA is bringing the Phat back with a new collab that has us ready to show off our fabulosity (IYKYK).
Buy PUMA x Baby Phat Mayze Sandal $75
Inspired by the fast-paced neon under-glow of the aughties street scene, the new apparel and footwear collection draws in iconic silhouettes with a feminine twist, imbued with all the confidence and power of the early-2000s It Girl.
Buy PUMA x Baby Phat Mayze Sneakers $110
It wouldn’t be PUMA without shoes that are equal parts style and staple. Enter the Mayze Sandal, a fuzzy platform sandal with a sneaker-style sole and with pops of pink and patterned details in its design. And for the sneakerheads there’s the PUMA Mayze, a classic white all-leather upper with bight pops of pink and signature branded charms. Of course, both pairs are emblazoned with the PUMA and Baby Phat logos for double the chic street cred.
On the apparel side a very now bralette gets an ’00s makeover in baby pink; a matching pair of bike tights shows off a gold Baby Phat logo on the hip and a PUMA label on the booty; and the babydoll tee makes a triumphant return by way of the Fierce Fitted Tee in pink. with an allover PUMA x Baby Phat logo design and the telltale Siamese cat taking center stage.
Buy PUMA x Baby Phat Fierce Fitted Tee $35
The then-meets-now of it all promises to appeal to a wide array of women across various age groups. Those of us who were lucky enough to thrive in the time of Baby Phat will rejoice at the return of a legendary part of our fashion history, while Gen Z will surely be drawn in by the streetstyle designs that are just as of the moment as they are a throwback.
Nowhere is this juxtaposition more apparent than in the line’s campaign, which stars Simmons alongside daughters Ming Lee Simmons, 22, and Aoki Lee Simmons, 21, who toddled the runways of their mom’s fashion shows as children. “Start your engines,” Kimora wrote in an Instagram post teasing the collection: “We can’t wait for you to see it!”
Retailing from $25 to $110, the collection is now available on PUMA.com (as well as FootLocker.com, ChampsSports.com and select Foot Locker and Champs Sports stores).
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