THAT Britney and Justin look

I was approached last year to recreate some pieces for the Levi Strauss & Co. Archives museum. Among them were Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake’s iconic 2001 American Music Awards looks.

A denim holy grail. I couldn’t wait to dive in.

left: Britney and Justin in the outfits on the red carpet; right: reproductions displayed at the Levi Strauss & Co. Archives Museum in San Francisco

We’ve all seen the pictures from the 2001 American Music Awards. Brightly lit red carpet photos of the fronts of their outfits. Plenty of people have made their own costume versions, but my assignment was to make the pieces look as much like the originals as possible. So I needed to do my research.

To start, I scoured the internet for all the images I could find. I found plenty of photos from the front. A few photos from the sides. No photos of the backs of the outfits. Very few detail shots. 

two of the clearest references images I was able to find

Below is a video from that night of N*Sync accepting an award. In it, Justin briefly leans toward the microphone to say something. Those few seconds as he is turning are the only blurry images I could find of the back of his jacket. 

I had my work cut out for me. I went hunting for more information, more detailed descriptions. I read every interview I could find with people who worked on those pieces. I reached out to auction houses, former stylists, anyone who might have photos or insight other than what I could find on Google. 

I learned that the dress was purchased at auction by a private collector in 2013 for $7,199. The auction house that had last sold the dress had a helpful written description of the back, the only information I ever found about the back side of the dress. Justin's jeans and jacket were last rumored to reside in a storage unit in Florida, but that was another research dead end. The accessories are dust in the wind.

image and description of Britney's denim dress from the 2013 auction listing

Once I had gathered all this information, I started mapping out my painstaking recreations of these pieces. For the few unphotographed sections of the dress and pants, I used the rest of the garment as context clues. I created some sketches to show the general shapes and denim shade-mapping. Unless the makers hid some wacky, out-of-left-field details in a spot that never got photographed, I feel pretty confident that my version is a sister, if not a twin, of the original. 

sketches and shade map of Britney's dress

sketches and shade map of Justin's jacket

Next I needed to create patterns for each of the denim pieces. I started by draping the Britney dress. I created the first mockup using excess twill fabric to get the shapes right. Then I created a full sample out of denim to work on the overall silhouette, not yet worrying about getting the shades and wear patterns exactly right. 

first and second samples of Britney's dress

For Justin’s jacket, I started from a Vogue pattern and made some adjustments. 

For Justin’s hat, I found an existing hat to model the shape after. I blocked it with fosshape. I draped a pattern using that block. 

I made full samples of everything except Justin’s jeans. Overall I built 2 full samples of Justin’s hat, 1 sample of Justin’s jacket, 2 samples of Britney’s dress, and 2 samples of her purse - all of this before I started the final pieces. This sample work helped me make adjustments to ensure the final pieces would be as close to the originals as possible.

Next I needed to source all of the fabrics and sundries for the final builds. The color of the denim in these pieces is just as important as getting the shapes of the garments right. The fades and wear patterns sit at specific, noticeable spots on the body. Getting them wrong would be easily clocked. 

My sketches showed that I would need over a dozen authentically worn-in pairs of jeans. So I visited a Levi’s warehouse outside of Vegas to sift through some vintage garments. With the help of denim wash expert Casey Brackett, I pulled about 20 garments that fit the shade range of the original pieces. 

Some items I pulled from my own stash. I could have used brand new red and orange tabs but they wouldn’t have looked worn in like the ones on the original pieces. So I harvested them from vintage garments. I also helped to source or build non-denim accessories like Britney’s belt and jewelry and Justin’s shirt and boots.

Britney's denim clutch purse, Justin's denim hat, Britney's silver star belt

After my painstaking research and preparation, the final construction went relatively quickly. I built all of the final pieces within a few weeks in my home studio in Los Angeles. I color corrected a few spots with white chalk and indigo-shade fabric pens. Then they were ready to hand off. 

finished looks on display in San Francisco

Check out one of my favorite little details - the orange tab is upside down because of how it is placed on the right side of the pocket.

upside down orange tab

The final pieces are on display now! Go check them out at the Levi Strauss Archives Museum in San Francisco through December 18. There are so many other beautiful pieces - most of them true originals! - on display in the newly opened museum.  

Many thanks to Ray and Elena for providing me with photos of the pieces on display.