Fashion, comfort and the return of maximalism: Juicy Couture is back

Get ready for the return of velour tracksuits as a new generation discovers the cult label, writes Paul McLauchlan

The rear view: the now-iconic 'Juicy Couture' rhinestones on the brand's signature velour tracksuit bottoms

In a not-so-shocking turn of events, Juicy Couture is back. The American brand known for its ironic take on accessible luxury with velour tracksuits emblazoned with ‘Juicy’ in rhinestones and Gothic script on the butt is charged and ready to capture the heart of the next generation and reignite the passion of its early supporters.

With millions across the globe sheltering in place, women have turned their backs on handbags and stilettos in favour of a wardrobe that is more accommodating of their lifestyles. Sales of activewear have skyrocketed since the pandemic first forced people inside in March 2020. Juicy Couture’s return is poised somewhere between fashion, nostalgia, and comfort.

“When you think ‘velour’ you immediately think Juicy,” said Amy Gibson, design director at Juicy Couture, “I believe that everyone has some sort of affiliation with the brand, whether it be (publicly) positive or negative,” said Gibson.

Juicy Couture's new collection: the return of a noughties fashion staple

In the early aughts you couldn’t blink without seeing an image of Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, or Britney Spears, tabloid obsessions, in an airport terminal, shopping mall, or sidewalk, dressed in monochrome velour tracksuits. The brand appealed to a generation who weren’t yet ready to splash on designers but wanted something more elevated than the high street. The name became synonymous with casual luxury.

From Madonna to Kim Kardashian, the brand started out with just $200 and became a global juggernaut with upwards of $600 million in sales.

Eventually, the brand fell victim to the financial crisis as minimalism won over shoppers in a move towards ‘stealth wealth’. 

Maximalism was vulgar yet it was irreplaceable in Juicy’s philosophy. After a few false starts in the teens — a collaboration with fashion brand Vetements in 2016; an attempt at the mid-market in 2017; a runway collection in 2018 — the brand is hoping to generate passion for its heritage amidst a global pandemic.

“To reinvent and relaunch such an iconic brand back into the modern market was an extremely exciting prospect and I saw its strong potential as it seemed every other brand was riffing off the original Juicy DNA but Juicy themselves,” said Gibson.

While Juicy Couture’s prosperity waned in the 2010s, its connotations with velour never did. As Gibson said, velour is instantly recognisable as a Juicy signature. A fabric inextricably linked with comfort, there would appear no time like the present to revive it.

Gibson, who was hired in March 2019, comes with the experience of building IVY PARK, Beyoncé’s highly-successful casual sportswear line. She grew up in the 1990s making her connection to the brand deeply personal. The tracksuit and a pair of Ugg boots, she said, were the uniform of her friend group.

(It also comes as no surprise that Ugg is experiencing a similar resurgence in the last few years as it looks to position itself in the high-fashion conversation, looking to capitalise on the value it had in ten or so years ago by introducing it to a new audience.)

“I wanted to reinvent Juicy to the more inclusive, forward-thinking, and empowered customer of today. We’re living in a moment where women have never been as strong. Our culture has moved towards newer values — independence, ambition, and strength.”

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She believes the new direction of Juicy Couture will allow customers to embody that. The campaign to support the launch — photographed by Aidan Zamiri, a young photographer with a penchant for electric sensuality and bold hues — is modelled by a cohort of models many of them women of colour, rising stars in music, modelling, and business, who channel unabashed confidence and sex appeal in iterations of loungewear.

“I think this nostalgia for a time that is seen as wild and hedonistic is completely reasonable and maybe even necessary for young people right now,” said Molly Parsons, an Irish fashion assistant based in London.

The models in the campaign are dressed in the latest collection, available now, spanning asymmetric velour mini dresses emblazoned with the logo to tie-dye tracksuits and spangled accessories, oversized t-shirts, bodycon dresses, and towelling track tops, capturing the unapologetic glamour, almost venturing into gaudy territory though never unknowingly, that the brand is synonymous with. There’s something quite naff but equally alluring about the vision, unwilling to behave according to convention, but operating instead with a defiant spirit.

“Both historically and currently, Juicy Couture stands for comfort and style without compromise which has been highlighted in this recent resurgence as we are seeing so many women pulling out their vintage tracksuits that have been in their wardrobes for 20 years,” said Gibson, referring to the scores of women taking to social media to share their Juicy memories and outfits.

Ellen MacDermott, the senior designer at Harper’s Bazaar magazine in New York, spent lockdown in Ireland, digging out some old Juicy Couture jewellery. She reminisced about “seeing the ‘It’ girls getting chased down by paparazzi in their candy-coloured matching tracksuits, flip-flops, and Starbucks — it was what all of my friends hoped we would be one day.”

She is smitten with the brand’s return. “There’s something about nostalgia that hits differently these days, you know, and it’s a gift from the universe that the comeback would strike us mid-pandemic. We all hopped on the tracksuit train in March 2020. Now, let’s level up!”

“In the particularly challenging year we have just had, everyone sought for comfort, whether it be in a physical form of a comfy loungewear outfit or in the emotional sense,” said Gibson, who felt for many that included remembering “Juicy Couture-emblazoned happy teenage memories”.

For many in Ireland, Juicy Couture recalls the waning breaths of the Celtic Tiger, when teenagers ravenously consumed the early days of Big Brother and Girls Aloud began to ascend.

Today’s teenagers and millennials — Tiktok-obsessed and oftentimes beholden to tremulous trends — have heightened self-awareness, mistrust of the establishment, and a potentially bleak economic future. Juicy Couture to them is a knowing wink to a bygone era of gluttony and greed but also to the joys of Timberlake and Nickelodeon.

A velour tracksuit is an act of revolt for today’s younger generation who are experiencing the brand for the first time. The symbol that defined new money and celebrity now belongs to them, no matter where they are in the social hierarchy or how many followers they have. This reclamation that coalesces humour and style, and in the throes of a public health emergency and an uncertain political climate, levity is a life-source worth preserving.

Alternately, it captures a generation beguiled by nostalgia. To the halcyon days of reality television and pop music before the political climate escalated to frequent attacks on democracy and governments tackled a raging virus. What spells escape more than a soft, bubblegum pink tracksuit?

“It’s a little bit of fun, I love a bit of kitsch, and it’s just what we need right now, especially the bright colours, tactile nature of the tracksuit, and, weirdly, a bit of glamour,” said Corina Gaffey, the Irish stylist and writer, adding that the matching tracksuit is exactly how people are wearing their loungewear nowadays.

The Juicy take on a little black dress, part of its Spring/Summer 2021 collection

To those who question the viability of velour or rhinestone-accented pants in their wardrobe, Gibson said, “They’ve clearly never spent a Sunday in one, or any day of the week for that matter!”

When asked who she would like to see wearing Juicy Couture this time round, she said, “For us, it’s more about offering an inclusivity to our brand and asking ‘well actually, who wouldn’t rock a full suit?’”

Notwithstanding the merits of frivolity and clothing as consolation, the same generation who can mint the Juicy tracksuit once more are fickle creatures prone to the latest trends. Brand loyalty is chief among the principal values of the Gen Z shopper, something that hinges on authenticity and transparency.

Gibson hopes to achieve long-lasting appeal through an inclusive approach, one that takes into account different backgrounds and ages. “Whether you want to shout rhinestones across your bum, lounge in total comfort, or invest in a must-have timeless tracksuit — a full JC suit could definitely be worn across three generations of females in a family and this is the unity we’re about.”

If Juicy Couture can continually capture the zeitgeist with honesty, originality, and creativity, peddling the next generation’s demand for garments that are built to last but, most importantly, to look good and on people that look like them, the brand could taste success once more and restore itself to its former glory.

Gibson said, “the velour speaks for itself.”