Katie Holmes was a teen star in the late ’90s, early aughts when she played the girl-next-door Joey Potter on Dawson’s Creek. Then a bunch of time passed, and Holmes became another beloved archetype: woman about town who looks self-possessed in her cool clothes. And over the weekend, on the iHeartRadio Jingle Ball red carpet, the first type showed up in the second type’s world. Holmes wore the aughts’ signature look of a dress over jeans, and, well, there was a big response mostly along the lines of disbelief, denial, anger, etc.
Holmes’s talented stylist, Brie Welch, who worked with her on the look for the event, has explained the thinking behind the outfit. Speaking to The New York Times over email, Welch said, “We decided the rich color and subtle bustier effect detailing of the top was elegant and would be fun if paired with jeans, creating a more youthful feel for Jingle Ball and the atmosphere there.”
A little too “youthful” for some, perhaps. Fans of Holmes and especially Holmes’s cool street style in recent years looked upon the dress over jeans and did not see a cute casual look, appropriate for a fun, celebratory setting. They saw aughts Disney stars on the red carpet. They saw regression. They saw a cycle that took a turn around the circle, and this time, instead of being ahead of it, it’s biting them in the ass. And that’s the power fashion has to make us feel.
What saved the look from total pastiche was the shoes. Those tennis shoes were not pointed-toe heels, nor were they round-toe flats. They were sneakers, and that felt somewhat new and fresh. Holmes apparently chose them. Here’s Welch again: “On the day of (and because Katie has her own effortless style that should be appreciated here), she said she wanted to wear sneakers, because it was a concert and obviously there would be a lot of dancing to Dua Lipa (and nothing is more comfortable!).”
Welch also reiterated on her Instagram Stories that it’s a top, not a dress.