The Juicy Couture tracksuit was a look that essentially defined the early 2000s, and without question, the celeb leading the velour-covered charge at the time was Paris Hilton. Now she’s discussing how the two-piece wonder came to be her uniform in a video with Vogue released on Wednesday, December 18.
“Let’s talk about the Juicy Couture tracksuit,” she says at the start of the video wearing a light pink version as she sits in a chair with her dog on her lap.
She kicks things off by explaining the essence of the early 2000’s fashion, claiming it was all about labels, monograms and just having fun. “I think it was just all about being super extra.”
It was a friend of hers who was representing the brand at the time, Lara Shriftman, who introduced Hilton to the ensemble when she sent a box of Juicy pieces to Hilton and her sister, Nicky. The reality star was instantly obsessed and asked for every color available. “I have an entire closet that’s only Juicy Couture.”
However, it wasn’t until she did the reality show The Simple Life with Nicole Richie that the hotel heiress made the designer tracksuit a pop-culture phenomenon. “Juicy is something that we wore almost every single day because we were always having to do these jobs,” she says. “You know we didn’t just, like, want to be in overalls or jeans. We wanted to be comfortable and cute.”
Then once the show aired, Juicy Couture could be seen everywhere, from tabloid magazines to MTV music videos to your local mall. Some A-listers who jumped on board with trend included Jennifer Lopez, Britney Spears, Blake Lively, Jessica Simpson, Beyonce and the list goes on!
“Basically everyone was rocking Juicy.” After all, as she puts it, the brand made the tracksuit something that was cool and aspirational instead of sporty and athletic.
“I never stopped wearing it and I never will. Because I’m a Juicy girl for life.”
