If you needed any more proof that mid-2000s mall style is the new height of luxury, look no further than Emily Ratajkowski.
On September 22, the model was spotted in Italy for Milan Fashion Week wearing a long-sleeve black turtleneck with a pair of white capri pants that sat low enough on her hips to show off the favorite accessory of every Y2K It girl: Peaking just above the trousers’ gold-chain design was the thin straps of her black thong. Paris Hilton would be proud.
Emily Ratajkowski made a couple of cheeky faces for the paparazzi as she walked around the city with her Christian Dior purse tucked under one arm, topping off the look with classic black sunnies and strappy black sandals. She let her brunette hair cascade over her shoulders with a slightly off-center part and just a hint of a side bang—another trend from the mid-2000s that is making a comeback among Gen Z.
Speaking of the TikTok generation, Ratajkowski just weighed in on the Adam Levine cheating discourse that erupted on the app earlier this week after an Instagram model revealed a very damning text exchange with the Maroon 5 singer. You can read all about that here, but just know that his wife, Victoria’s Secret model Behati Prinsloo, is currently pregnant with their third child, and Levine seemed to ask the woman in question, Sumner Stroh, if he could use her first name for the baby.
Ratajkowski, who recently split from her husband of four years, urged women to focus the conversation on Levine as Stroh faces internet backlash for her part in the affair. “I think a huge problem in our culture right now is that we just say, ‘Oh, men are just monsters, they’re terrible, they’re horrible.’ We don’t hold them accountable, and then we blame other women,” the model said in her own TikTok video. “We ask women to adjust their behavior, instead of just saying men need to change their behavior. It’s sexism; it’s classic misogyny.”
She continued, “I don’t understand why we continue to blame women for men’s mistakes, especially when you’re talking about 20-something-year-old women dealing with men in positions of power who are twice their age. Also, if you’re the one in a relationship, you’re the one obligated to be loyal, so the whole other woman to blame—that’s bad, and it’s literally designed to keep women apart.”