There are artists who arrive on the fashion scene quietly, easing their way into the firmament with a safe look here and a borrowed gown there. Then there is Doechii, who arrived with such declarative energy that we were all forced to take notice. Perhaps this chaotic energy is best summed up by Doechii herself: the moniker “Swamp Princess” hints at her Florida roots and the grit beneath the glamour, and yet her wardrobe is more deliberate than the persona implies. She’s clear about being drawn to preppiness; in an interview with Vogue she said she’s “really attracted to a preppy style — it makes me feel confident, and it’s hot, it’s sharp, and I feel like me.” Despite this, her interpretation rarely resembles anything you’d find in an actual classroom. Preppy for Doechii doesn’t mean scholarly or staid. Instead, she lifts the structure of suiting and subverts it with plunging necklines, cropped silhouettes, and sometimes diaphanous shapes.
With stylist Sam Woolf, she’s mastered the art of appearing as though her outfits are an effortless byproduct of her music. “Sometimes we find a look that could inspire a character,” Woolf has said, and with Doechii, that character is rarely the same twice. Together, they use clothes to sketch out a mood or a character, rather than simply honing a signature look.
Doechii arrives at the 2025 BET Awards in Los Angeles.
At February’s Fashion Week, Doechii moved through Milan and Paris as if trying on different versions of herself for size. For her already-legendary DSQUARED2 performance, she opened the show — and made her runway debut, to boot — emerging from a matte-black tank to her own song “NISSAN ALTIMA.” She wore denim hotpants so tiny they could only be glimpsed from underneath an oversized Y2K belt, a one-shoulder jersey top with a cascading hem, the words “Iconique” rightfully splashed across the front, and a decon–recon parka (also one-sleeved) with a wad of cash as a kind of fiscal epaulette. And then, she pivoted. At the Acne Studios show, she arrived draped in plaid with peep-toe shoes and micro-glasses, serving a kind of corp-core-grunge hybrid.
Her Chloé appearance was more different still. She turned up swaddled in wispy layers of chiffon in a dress direct from the runway and decked out in seashell jewellery and… barefoot, every inch the Chloé boho girl. By nightfall, she’d switched again. At Schiaparelli, she poured herself into a cinched corset gown that ramped up her dramatic hourglass silhouette, a showgirl blow-dry and gleaming gold jewellery crowning the look. It all could so easily have looked totally random, or hinted at a star unsure of her own style, but on Doechii, the result was a masterclass in intentional unexpectedness.
Doechii at Fashion Week Autumn/Winter 2025
Her red carpet choices this year also confirm that every wardrobe choice speaks to a bigger meaning. At the Grammys, Thom Browne’s pinstripes and exaggerated hips gave her an authoritative, androgynous edge; the oversized tie added a dash of the irreverent. It was preppy — perhaps her nearest thing to a signature — but subverted.
The Met Gala theme — “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” — led to a Louis Vuitton look that was rooted in Black dandyism. The jacket, Bermuda shorts, and silk accents read as research-led rather than purely aesthetic. And, although the look referenced historical figures like Julius Soubise, the interpretation felt cooly modern rather than costume-heavy, which is no mean feat for a Met Gala outfit.
Doechii on the red carpet
What’s most compelling about Doechii’s style isn’t the glamour or the shock value; it’s the feeling she gives off of documenting something. The switch-ups in hair and make-up, the occasional use of face tape: each phase seems to mark where she is personally as much as professionally. The only consistency is curiosity.
In 2025, Doechii isn’t positioning herself as a fashion icon, although to be sure, she is iconic — or rather, iconique. She’s doing something even more interesting: using style to work out who she is becoming, and letting us all observe the edits.
