NBC
When you consider the amount of fame Will Smith has managed to amass over the course of three decades where he’s never really strayed far from the spotlight, I can’t imagine ever finding myself in a conversation with someone who asks, “Wait, who?” if I happened to bring up his name.
When you consider all the things he’s done en route to achieving global superstardom, you have plenty of options to pick from to try to jog their memory but you’re not going to make much progress if you opt to go with “You know, the rapper” before bringing up literally any of the movie or television shows he’s appeared in (with the possible exception of Seven Pounds).
“Gettin’ Jiggy wit It” still slaps as hard as it did when it first dropped the same year he appeared in Men In Black, one of the many blockbusters that have overshadowed Big Willie’s musical stylings to a point where they’ve almost become a footnote in a career that wouldn’t exist without them, as the squeaky-clean tracks he started pumping out with the help of DJ Jazzy Jeff in Philadelphia in the 1980s eventually led to him playing a fictionalized version of himself in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
Thursday marks the 30th anniversary of a series that helped catapult its star into the mainstream and it’s an interesting show to look back at, because while it’s aged incredibly well, it’s also a time capsule of the early 1990s thanks in no small part to the various outfits Smith and his co-stars donned over the course of 148 episodes that personified an aesthetic that’s seen a resurgence as a generation of people hopelessly hooked on nostalgia has begun to turn to retro fashion to get their fix.
If you’re one of those people, I’m happy to announce a new connect has arrived that’s slinging some pure, uncut product that’ll trigger all of the pleasure centers you associate with that era, as an online store stocked with clothing inspired by The Fresh Prince recently opened up shop to celebrate the debut of the series, and well, I’ll just let you take a look for yourself, as words can only do so much to convey feelings that can only really be described with an endless line of fire emojis.
Fresh Prince Store
Fresh Prince Store
Fresh Prince Store
Fresh Prince Store
Unfortunately, the store doesn’t feature a reversible jacket you can turn inside out when you’re in the mood to wear something emblazoned with a pattern typically reserved for sofas covered in plastic in a living room that contains multiple bowls of hard candy.
NBC
With that said, it’s hard to top what may be the best statement piece I’ve ever seen during my time on the planet, so if you can’t track one of those down, at least you have some other options to fall back on.