It’s no secret that Benito Skinner has a love for the aughts. 32 year old comedian’s sitcom overcompensate It’s full of era-specific signifiers, from its wardrobe full of striped polos and backwards hats to vintage Needle drops of bangers like Britney Spears’ “Lucky” and My Chemical Romance’s “Welcome to the Black Parade.” So it was no surprise when Skinner showed up to Teen Vogue Fest in New York this weekend looking like she came straight out of a suburban mall circa 2005 — with a contemporary designer twist, of course.
Skinner’s look came courtesy of Los Angeles label ERL, whose designer Eli Russell Linetz specializes in infusing a particular Cali-soaked strain of millennial nostalgia. Linetz regularly mines the aesthetics of surf-bro mall brands like Abercrombie & Fitch and Hollister, filtering them through a sharper, more fashion-minded lens (with a price tag to match).
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Skinner’s fitted, crest-embroidered polo looked like it came from a prep school uniform or the pro shop of an old country club. Meanwhile, his sun-faded chino shorts hit right at the knee with the loose proportions of the oversized Abercrombie cargo that every high schooler in the mid-2000s owned. With his freshly bleached hair, Skinner was a dead ringer for the jock bully with the secret heart of gold in every teen comedy. However, a few subtle styling moves kept her outfit from going into full-on costume territory. A thin leather belt and polished tassel loafers – two of menswear’s current obsessions – pulled the look firmly into the present.
Linetz has turned a generation’s mall memories into legitimate fashion references, remixing familiar signifiers into something that feels recognizable and thoroughly contemporary. And as proven here, Skinner is probably the perfect poster boy for this look. It’s a shame he left the puka shells at home.
