Maybe it started with Jane Birkin on the beach at Cannes in 1969, wearing a white crocheted crop top and white jeans. Or maybe it was at Woodstock the same year, with those hippies in their colorful vests and tangles of beads. To be sure, Kate Hudson as Penny Lane, in that shearling-collar coat and those peasant blouses in 2000’s Almost Famous, which was set in the ’70s rock world, brought it all back into focus.
Boho fashion, in the contemporary sense, has murky origins. It only vaguely references the nomadic lifestyle of the Romani people for whom the French word bohemién was coined. (And that itself was a misattribution, because the Romani people did not originate from the Bohemia region in the Czech Republic.) It has taken on a you-know-it-when-you-see-it quality and usually includes some of the following elements: flowy, frilly layers; fringe; floral and paisley prints; abundant layered jewelry; and over-the-knee boots.
From Penny Lane in theaters, boho made its way to the small screen—with Blake Lively’s Serena van der Woodsen on Gossip Girl and Mischa Barton’s Marissa Cooper on The O.C.—and the street, where celebrity style was starting to become a phenomenon documented in real time by a new media format called blogs. The early-to-mid-’00s era—arguably the most important in terms of boho’s mass appeal—was also ruled by Nicole Richie in her oversize sunglasses and scarf headbands, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen in turquoise and broderie anglaise, and the unforgettable Kate Moss at Glastonbury and, well … everywhere.
Now, here we are again, thanks to Chemena Kamali’s vibe-shifting debut as creative director of Chloé, where her interpretation of the storied label for Fall 2024 was exploding in sheer ruffled layers. To understand the phenomenon then and now, we went straight to the sources: the designers, stylists, and stars who helped shape our understanding of “boho chic” in the 2000s.
Anna Sui, designer: [Way before the 2000s,] Yves Saint Laurent was inspired by the hippies and Portobello Road and how everyone was dressing in London. Everyone was going to Portobello and buying the old velvet pieces or old parts of costumes. And I think that was just such a great revolution as far as how to dress.
Rachel Zoe, stylist: I think the catalyst at that time [in the early ’00s] was Phoebe Philo at Chloé. But I would say Stella McCartney is the queen of cool-girl boho chic. I remember going into her store in L.A. and pulling every day for my clients then. Isabel Marant was huge too, and Tom Ford at Gucci. To me, Tom Ford was, like, sexy bohemian glamour.
Tracy Feith, designer: There was just a moment [in the early 2000s] where I think there was a backlash to all the hardness of the ’90s fashion movements. Similar to what is happening now, people don’t want stiff or utilitarian. I think people want things that don’t look like everyone else, and people want soft.
Eric Daman, stylist, costume designer for Gossip Girl: For me, the first real explosion of boho back then was Jennifer Lopez at the Grammys in that Versace dress. That just kind of felt like an early catalyst and the precursor of what was to come.
Kate Hudson, actor: The early ’00s were pre–social media, and it was right at the boom of the paparazzi blogs. It was an accessible world you could be involved in, versus just looking at a magazine. I think at that moment, boho was a vibe, but I don’t think it had anything to do with Almost Famous. When you look at all of those pictures from that time, they look bohemian because people weren’t styled for the street the way they are now. There weren’t stylists for that or Pinterest boards to think, like, “Oh, does this look good with this?” You were really just getting a sense of people’s real personal style, and I think that’s why it felt bohemian.
Alexandra Welker, stylist, costume designer for season one of The O.C.: I can’t think of boho-chic style without thinking of Sienna Miller. She was so completely that girl. I loved all of those references she played with: All the fringe! And the handkerchief hems! And the silky, floaty fabrics! I’m a rock ’n’ roll girl at heart, even though I kind of came of age in a punk-rock era. But I love that just classic rock ’n’ roll look. Janis Joplin, Stevie Nicks, and of course Florence Welch of Florence + The Machine.
Zoe: I mean, the Kate Moss of it all, the Sienna of it all. I think that was the sort of London It girl group. But Kate Hudson was literally my bohemian soulmate sister and still is. On and off the carpet, I think Kate—in the most genuine, authentic way—is who she is. I always say she’ll forever be Penny Lane.
Hudson: Honestly, I think it was Kate Moss. When I was growing up, she was always my style icon. I was always and still am a much more flamboyant dresser than Penny Lane. I love sequins and accessories. I mean, please, I could have three bags on and be happy. I remember I’d just gotten off a plane, and my mom looked at me and she said, “I’m just wondering if you could put any more jewelry on your body?” And I looked at myself and was like, “Oh my God, I look nuts.”
Daman: Sienna Miller and Kate Moss at Glastonbury—those images were very strong in terms of styling. That look took logomania—the Juicy and Von Dutch we were seeing from Paris Hilton and the Hollywood girls—and turned it into this really amazing London-chic rocker-bohemian thing. When Kate did it, I definitely tapped into that vibe for Serena. Phillip Lim, Alexander Wang—they were all important for that look, as was Vena Cava.
Isabel Marant, designer: For me, boho is about a woman who travels and picks things up along the way, mixing and matching. She knows her tastes. Kate Moss is a great example. When she puts things together in her own way, it’s about freedom. I do feel like, at the time, I was a leader in this kind of movement. It’s how I’ve always dressed myself.
Welker: With Marissa [on The O.C.], I was always trying to support the fact that she was the ultimate insider, but she had an outsider’s perspective. And so there was this idea from the get-go with her to be a quintessential Southern California teenager but also have this kind of distinctive, sophisticated style of her own. The boho thing that was going on at the time yielded some really, really rich pieces. It’s actually funny, because in the last year, I’ve had a flurry of emails from people—mostly young women who were coming of age at the time—who were really inspired by [the boho looks from the show].
Hudson: When the whole Fashion Police thing was happening, best dressed and worst dressed, I just remember being like, “I don’t get it. This is just an expression.” You don’t have to like it, but personal expression is what makes great fashion; that’s how we get to the next great thing. I love bohemian fashion because it’s something deeply personal. It’s not just a look, it’s a way of seeing someone’s life and world.
Zoe: I think it’s a spirit. I think it’s an overall way that a woman carries herself. I think it’s beyond the clothes. I think the clothes and the jewelry and the sunglasses and the bag and all of that, that’s all just this sort of costume for the person. When I was styling Nicole [Richie] and styling Lindsay [Lohan] and styling Mischa [Barton], at the same time, I was styling Keira [Knightley], Salma Hayek Pinault, Jennifer Garner, and Eva Mendes, and some of these women were not that. At the time, I was very careful not to put anyone in boho if it wasn’t them. It’s about what feels most authentic to the person you’re dressing. The question was always, like, “Are you an Audrey Hepburn or a Brigitte Bardot?” and for me personally, it’s always Brigitte Bardot.
Daman: I think bandage dresses were also important. I do think it was about embracing your sexuality. I don’t think boho chic is all low-slung belts and peasant blouses. It’s about being, like, “Fuck it. I’m going to wear six chunky bracelets today and go out there and slay.”
Sui: I think that there’s an indulgence with the boho feeling. It’s kind of like living a fantasy, almost like playing dress-up. Now it’s time to bring back all those softer elements, after we’ve been through this whole sports look and quiet luxury and adapting menswear for womenswear. Suddenly, I think everyone is wanting a much more feminine approach to dressing. I think that we’ve been missing that lately. It all went too stark and too plain.
Marant: From what I’m observing, many people now are buying vintage. Every Instagrammer I see who is leaning into this trend is much more interesting to me than the ones who have all of those fake filters, the eyelashes, very polished. It’s very weird to me, because I think we’ve been fighting for women’s freedom and freedom of expression for so long, and I see images that are totally the reverse of what we were fighting for. They’re like—how do you say—plastic dolls? It’s not fresh. For me, boho is an attitude, a strength, and this power that comes from how you put things together.