A brief history of our favourite Y2K brand Miss Sixty

Miss Sixty was one of the most iconic brands amongst the youth of the 90s and 2000s. Serving up sexy low rise denim, micro minis and bright colours, the brand became synonymous with the cool girls of the era, with everyone from singers like Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera to fashionistas like Victoria Beckham turning out Miss Sixty looks. We love this brand so much we thought we’d take a look at some of its history and most fabulous moments, as well as show our favourite pieces from the brand we’ve sold to our lovely customers, including vintage fashion icon Bella Hadid, as well as what we have in stock at the moment.

The brand was founded by Wicky Hassan in 1991, after launching his first brand Energie in 1988. The two merged in the 90s, and along with other iconic brands such as Killah (a more punky spin off), made up an Italian fashion empire. In 1999, their first mono-brand store opened, followed by the launch of their shoe line a year later, eyewear in 2002, and children’s wear in 2004. The label was immensely popular until the unfortunate timing of Hassan’s illness, which coincided with the 2008 financial crash. This sadly lead to the decline of Miss Sixty for almost a decade (during which time it was purchased by a Chinese company), before it was relaunched in 2017. The rebrand of the company has been successful, being fronted since 2021 by none other than Bella Hadid. Announcing it on her instagram, the top supermodel said “I just signed my new contract as the face of @misssixty … I have so many vintage pieces from the brand collected over the years and can’t wait to match them with the clothes in the new collection!”. The brand seems to have taken a slightly different route to other iconic Y2k brands such as Diesel and Blumarine, who have made their latest collections heavily inspired by individual pieces from their vintage collections. Instead, they have opted for a look closer in line with today’s macro trends, with higher waisted and wider legged denim and, at times, a more mature feel than the super colourful and more funky looks of Hassan’s era.

So what is it that makes 90s and 2000s Miss Sixty just so iconic? Something that Hassan really just seemed to understand is how to make a woman feel gorgeous. “What constitutes ‘sexy’ is always changing” He said. “Sometimes it’s tight dresses, other times sexy can be transparent pieces. In our case, we have worked with the idea of sexy in the material we use — soft material which follows the shape of a woman’s body,”.   The pieces are well made in high quality materials, and cut beautifully in their factory in Italy. This also makes them great for vintage collectors, as unlike modern jeans which are often made with more lycra than denim, they won’t stretch out of shape, and remain flattering on all body types. The first style to become really popular was the curve hugging ‘Tommy’ jean. Although to our eyes today the runway doesn’t necessarily appear very body diverse, Hassan did say “I love a woman with a nice shape and curves. Sometimes, it’s difficult to find that in New York. We had problems in the casting finding the right girls,” a fairly radical statement in the toxic environment of the mid 2000s fashion world.

Another aspect of the brand that makes them so well renowned is their stunning adverts. Still trending on Pinterest today, these images were almost exclusively women posing seductively in front of plain backgrounds, emblazoned with the iconic red logo. The definition of simple but effective, these photos were aspirational and yet the uncomplicated nature of the whole image made the look feel achievable for young people. Here are a few of our faves:

Miss Sixty has had its fair share of viral moments. Firstly, any fashion girl who uses Pinterest can’t possibly have escaped the buzz that is the Fallen Angel mesh top. We love the red and black colour way, although as with many viral vintage items which are in limited supply, they now cost up to £400 online, and have been copied by fast fashion brands. We’ve also seen a denim Afghan coat by the brand everywhere this past winter. Moving into spring, Bella Hadid was spotted in two different Miss Sixty denim minis, both of which we are obsessed with. Their Dublin cargo jeans are another iconic piece that has inspired a whole trend we’re seeing at the moment – although no one pulls them off quite like Britney. If you wanted to get her whole look, People Mag reported in 2008 that “the pop star spent $650 on J Rocker Jeans, a white Carmen T-shirt, a Tirsa blue dress and a Maybelle stretch tee”…brb just manifesting this whole look.

We always love to see our customers posting pictures in items they’ve bought from Timeless, so you can imagine how excited we were when Bella posted pictures of herself wearing a pair of Miss Sixty flares we knew we’d sold to an address in NYC, followed by red crop top (also from the brand) that had been sent in the same bundle. Last October, Bella was spotted in a full outfit from Timeless at the Knicks game, wearing a sporty cami from Killah paired with a Miss Sixty camo midi skirt. This look was just so cute head to toe; we’re still obsessed. Along with jeans, another key Miss Sixty style is the cropped denim jacket. We regularly stock these at Timeless, so keep an eye out for this spring staple.

Here’s a couple of other Miss Sixty pieces we’ve sold in the past. Hot tip: keep an eye out for Y2k deadstock bikinis, because we know these, and other vintage Italian brand sets, are going to be huge this summer. Look out for our drop coming up when it gets a bit warmer.

 

One of the things we find so exciting about selling vintage is when we find a piece we’ve seen before on the runway. The stunning Miss Sixty bomber jacket below was another viral Pinterest moment, and was originally from their Fall 2006 collection. We have this jacket on sale now in khaki, and we get the feeling this one is going to be snatched up very soon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And finally, here’s a few more pieces we have for sale at the moment.We can’t believe the mini version of the camo skirt Bella bought is still available. A few of these are discounted at the moment, and there are lots more bits from the brand available on our Depop and website now! Miss Sixty is in such demand that they always fly off the shelves, so be sure to catch them before they go.

 

Shop the look:

Killah Camo Mini Deadstock logo knit top Denim zip up

Animal print jumper  Soft knit jumper Yellow Mini