Great Outfits in Fashion History: Tia and Tamera Mowry in the Early 2000s Cool-Girl Uniform

Made up of a one-shoulder tank top and chain belt.

Tia and Tamera Mowry at the premiere of “Josie and the Pussycats” in 2001.

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.

I spent a lot of time in quarantine with the Mowry sisters, both the present-day versions and their past adorable teen selves. Turns out, they are just as charming and funny as moms cooking with their kids on Instagram as they were on “Sister, Sister.” While doing my daily dig on social for joyful people and things, I stumbled upon a throwback post on Tamera’s feed that featured her and Tia at a “Josie and the Pussycats” premiere in 2001. Their looks — from their glossy lips to their chain belts worn over hip-hugging, boot-cut jeans — are basically lessons on what was cool in the early aughts.

Tia and Tamera loved to wear complimentary outfits on the red carpet in the early 2000s, which perhaps was because they are twins and were therefore bound by their publicists to always appear as a matching set. They also loved a one-shoulder moment — a shared style preference that was evident at the aforementioned movie premiere, where the duo wore tight one-shoulder tank tops, differentiated by color, strap thickness and bedazzling. Tamera’s thick-strap abstract-patterned purple top feels a bit more now than Tia’s spaghetti strap shirt that looks like something I would have changed into for a fireworks viewing on the Fourth of July in 2002, but both still feel like sought-after vintage gems that would wind up in Devon Lee Carlson’s current closet.

Aside from the vaccine-ready tops, the belts are really what makes these outfits memorable. Tamera sported a classic gold chunky chain link belt, while Tia continued down the sparkly sartorial path with a crystal belt. Both have convinced me to test out waist jewelry this spring. Should you be feeling inspired as well, shop a selection of chain belts and one-shoulder tanks below.