It may have been over 20 years (how?) since Friends wrapped, but the late ’90s, early ’00s world it captured continues to seep into the current culture. Aspirational Manhattan apartments and $2 cappuccinos aside, the show cemented Jennifer Aniston as the poster girl of the era, serving us slip dresses and spaghetti straps both on and off the screen, long before Zoë Kravitz or Hailey Bieber could even hope to spell Loewe.
Two decades on, Jennifer Aniston is back on the red carpet and reminding us that, sometimes, the best reference is…yourself. At the New York premiere of the latest season of The Morning Show last night (September 9), she wore a strapless black Rick Owens dress, one that was perfectly aligned with her red carpet wardrobe in the the era of floppy disks and butterfly clips.
While Rick Owens wasn’t in her ’90s rotation (she has always been more girl-next-door than gothic), the silhouette was textbook Jennifer. Back in the ’90s, the black bandeau dress was something of a Jen An red-carpet signature, worn for countless premieres, ceremonies, and events. It’s a look that’s found life over and over again with the modern it girls, from Bella and Gigi, to Hailey, Kaia, and Emily.
Even on the contemporary awards season circuit, you’ll never catch Jen in anything other than a sleek one-and-done dress and shapely silhouettes. For last year’s Emmys, she opted for a nude-and-pearl embellished column dress by Oscar de la Renta. At a Rare Beauty event with Selena Gomez earlier in the year, Aniston donned a suit with a cut-out, navel-exposing top underneath for a look that was both classic with a hint of edge.
The trend cycle spins on, but Jen is proof that it’s true what they say: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Now all we need is the revival of those red parachute pants.
