The unlikely return of the Y2K tiny vest Where did the boom in vests seen last season come from

Anyone who went through adolescence in 2006 remembers that in September of that year, the album FutureSex/LoveSounds by Justin Timberlake was released. From September of that year until around March 2008, when 4 Minutes was released, Timberlake and his look captured the imagination of a generation of teenagers with an iron grip: three-piece suits; semi-formal combos of shirts and sneakers; ties, fedoras, and especially vests. The stylist responsible for Timberlake's transformation was, at the time, former Elle director Joe Zee, responsible for the looks of Johnny Depp and Lenny Kravitz, who at the time were also adopting a semi-formal, vaguely Al Capone-inspired look. "The ties and tight suits come from Dior Homme, Saint Laurent - which Timberlake often wears - and Gucci, so we mixed jeans or skinny pants and added vintage vests, fedoras, and all these things. In the end, he's a stylish guy who knows how to give his personal touch," Zee once told the LA Times. But every celebrity is remembered for something, and the suit vest was the accessory that stayed etched in everyone's minds – along with the fedora and the loosened tie worn like a necklace. As noted by Dee, vests were not always part of the "branded" looks, and their presence was both a brief infatuation the entertainment industry had with the '20s/'30s (it was also the era of Christina Aguilera's Back to Basics and Jay-Z's American Gangster, as well as movies like Chicago and The Aviator, for example) and an attempt at an unconscious mediation between '90s hip-hop style and the eclectic Indie Sleaze wardrobe of the time.

Today, fortunately, the vest seems to have returned in a more disciplined and effective form: worn alone or over a monochrome layer by Loewe and Ann Demeulemeester; reintegrated into more complete outfits by Magliano, Armani, and also Enfants Riches Déprimés, but above all, and even better, transformed into a guêpière dress by Moschino, into outerwear by Sacai, and even into a trompe-l'œil print by Balmain. The best, however, in their simplicity, remain Bella Hadid and Jennifer Lawrence, who wear it as Kate Moss did many years ago. The only rule to always remember, however, is to avoid the pinstripe version, unless you want to look like an old West banker.