Back in the '90s, the lean, melanated baldie from the Bronx gave fashion houses access to minority cultures around the globe, often the only Black model in casting rooms full of blond, blue-eyed boys. "They would look at me like I was crazy," remembers Beckford of his fair-skinned peers. "Like, 'Didn't you get the memo? Did your agent mess up and send you to the wrong casting?'"
Nobody will know you didn't splurge. We may receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article. If putting together uptown-girl looks on a budget feels like an art form, consider this list your cheat sheet. Scroll on to shop everything from everyday basics and loungewear, to 'fits worthy of dressy occasions. In luxe textures and silhouettes that look sprung from the runways, each of these pieces totally read as a splurge - even though they're actually so cheap.
In the clothing realm, the '90s influence is felt in the return of denim, slip dresses, and,most recently, spicy workwear or "corp sleaze" in TikTok-speak. Silky button-downs, cigarette pants, and even neckties are among the aesthetic's go-tos.In bag form, however, the decade's officewear ethos is encapsulated in boxy, utilitarian totes. And no understated bag was as revered then as Kate Spade's Sam, the first-ever carryall that the label introduced.
