8 Times Devon Aoki’s Noughties Style Paved The Way For Depop

“I was scouted at a Rancid concert in New York [in 1995], and ended up shooting a story for Interview magazine in exchange for backstage passes,” Devon Aoki told British Vogue back in 2017. Just a few months after that fortuitous night out, she switched her hometown of California for London (where she lived for nearly 10 years). As the millennium approached, Aoki had graduated from an unknown high schooler to the fashion world’s most in-demand face.

“My breakout modelling job was with Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel in 1998,” she remembers. “They were about to send me away (I’d shown up with my school backpack), but he saw something in me that others didn’t. I am forever grateful to him.”

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A series of legendary catwalk appearances unfolded. At Chanel, if the Jetsons mood of her Couture AW00 look is anything to go by, Lagerfeld and Aoki were a match made in Pinterest heaven. More epic moments followed — at Comme des Garçons, Paco Rabanne and Jeremy Scott, Aoki made high-drama fashion relevant to the younger audience that came with the burgeoning internet age thanks to her intuitive personal style, which was attracting a cult following off the runway.

Yes, we’re talking specifically about the ultra-low-slung pants and graphic tank tops, a precursor to cyber-pop style. Back then, this was the Californian counterpoint to the earthiness that had ruled ’90s youth culture in Europe. Today, they are the foundation of an on-point Depop wardrobe.

Even casting aside the rose-tinted lens of a pre-social-media world, Aoki’s reputation as the cool girl’s favourite cool girl never disappoints. “In those early London days, Kate Moss and I made a music video for Primal Scream’s track, Kowalski, playing a car-heist duo. You could say it was a warm-up for my role as Suki in 2 Fast 2 Furious,” Aoki deadpanned.

If you haven’t seen it, we advise clicking here immediately.

Here, Devon Aoki’s greatest ’90s to noughties runway moments. You’re welcome.