Bust out your best Carlton dance moves! The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air debuted 25 years ago on Sept. 10, 1990, kicking off Will Smith’s huge career, entertaining Us with endless Carlton Banks jokes, and creating a catchy theme song that’s still popular. In honor of the big day, Lyst and artist and graphic designer Leland Foster envisioned what the characters would look like if the program was still on the air.
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air ran for six seasons, ending in 1996, and starred Smith (Will), Alfonso Ribeiro (Carlton), Tatyana Ali (Ashley Banks), Karyn Parsons (Hilary Banks), Joseph Marcell (Geoffrey Butler), Janet Hubert and later Daphne Reid (Vivian Banks), and the late James Avery (Philip Banks).
Foster’s colorful artwork imagines that Will and the rest of his cousins haven’t changed all that much — except for Ashley, of course. According to the artist, Will’s gorgeous and innocent younger cousin now rocks a short ‘do, bold black glasses, and a septum piercing. Instead of her Walkman, however, she now lays down her music tracks on her iPhone.
Carlton and Hilary, meanwhile, have followed through with their career ambitions. Carlton still rocks a bow tie and colorful pants, and is now up-to-date with new technology products such as Google Glass and the Apple Watch. Hilary, well, her dream of shopping for work seems to have come true, according to Foster’s art. It appears she now lives in Italy and wears Moschino outfits and crop tops daily.
Even Uncle Phil and Geoffrey appear to be more hip these days. The patriarch of the family upgraded his morning newspaper to an iPad. Plus, no more fat jokes, Will! Uncle Phil has totally slimmed down. Geoffrey still works for the Banks family, but now uses headphones to tune everyone out instead of just dropping zingers in the kitchen.
“I love to research vibrant characters and come up with a thought-provoking new spin on their signature style,” Foster said in a statement. “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was so stylish, and so of-its-time as a classic ‘90s show. The challenge was to make the Banks family relevant and recognizable, while keeping all the energy of these six very different personalities.”