Great Outfits in Fashion History: Jennifer Lopez as a Chic Cowboy at the 1998 VMAs

The look was in a very of-the-moment shade of creamy butter.

Mark Wahlberg and Jennifer Lopez at the MTV Music Video Awards in 1998.

There are perfectly good celebrity style moments, and then there are the looks that really stick with you, the ones you try desperately to recreate at home. In ‘Great Outfits in Fashion History,’ Fashionista editors are revisiting their all-time favorite lewks.

The MTV Music Video Awards have had their fair share of memorable moments in their 37-year run. This year’s ceremony, which is taking place on Aug. 30, will also be memorable as it will mark the first event to take place in New York City since the Covid-19 outbreak. However, the soon-approaching celebration will not have an audience or a red carpet, so it seems fitting to revisit one of the best looks worn by a special guest in the late ’90s.

The esteemed attendee was none other than Jennifer Lopez, and the year was 1998. At this point, she had proven herself to be quite the performer, though she had to yet to become a fashion fixture. Her big moment of sartorial fame came two years later at the Grammy Awards, when she wore that iconic green Versace chiffon dress. But her chic cowboy get-up for the VMAs was a great indictor that more unforgettable outfits were to follow.

Not only did Lopez wear a cowboy hat, but the entire look was in a very of-the-moment shade of creamy butter. The neutral yellow covers her low-waist pants — which did an impeccable job of showing off her toned midsection — as well as her wireless cotton bra and her oversized long-line trench coat. Without a timestamp, this look — minus the hat — could have been plucked from the Fall 2020 Jacquemus collection. There’s an unexpected sexiness to the minimalist silhouettes and muted color palette that supermodels and influencers would try to recreate in a flash.

Ahead, shop pieces that will help you become a horse-riding stick of butter.