As Doechii heads into the 2025 Grammys with four nominations and plenty of buzz, her striking ensembles have prompted fans to incorporate the rapper’s looks into their own wardrobes. Photo: The New York Times
It wasn’t long after Natasha Shrestha, a seventh-grade history teacher in New York City, saw the cover for Doechii’s latest mixtape that she decided to claim a piece of the Florida rapper’s aesthetic for herself.
Shrestha got her nails done in an elaborate tribute to the cover art of the new album, Alligator Bites Never Heal, including three fingertips’ worth of tartan and an eerily convincing re-creation of albino alligator skin.
Doechii, whose real name is Jaylah Hickmon, has emerged as a rapper to watch and is heading into the 2025 Grammy Awards with four nominations, including for best new artiste and best rap album.
The album is heavily influenced by 1990s hip-hop and explores her journey as she navigates the complications of celebrity, self-love and identity.
But with recent performances on The Late Show and at NPR’s Tiny Desk, Doechii, 26, caught even more attention for her personal style.
Her striking ensembles have prompted fans to incorporate the rapper’s looks into their own wardrobes.
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Whether it’s her “swamp princess” aesthetic or her visible face tape, the rapper’s approach to fashion – reflecting her album’s themes and her commitment to expressing herself authentically – is resonating with people (the word “doechii” has been trending online, and searches for “doechii merch” saw a spike recently, according to Google Trends).
This picture shows Doechii at a fashion week party in New York this year. Photo: The New York TimesTo encourage fan participation, Doechii even released a handy style guide for her tour this fall.
When Shrestha went to Finesse Your Claws, a nail studio in Brooklyn with a flair for dramatic designs, the owner, Melissa Samuel, knew immediately that she wanted to include a textured nail to represent alligator skin on her client’s hands, Samuel said.
She also incorporated gem-encrusted orbs and tartan, in a nod to Vivienne Westwood, the British brand that created the look Doechii wears on the album cover; horizontal stripes on white nails, to match Doechii’s socks; and darker, burgundy paint, to evoke her shoes.
“She’s very feminine, but she incorporates those very androgynous elements, and that’s very fun to play with, I must say,” Samuel said of Doechii.
“A lot of people dress well, but when you can create a whole movement based on your visual art – when people draw inspiration from that – that’s different.”
Shrestha certainly counts herself among the inspired. The album has affected her personal style.
According to Shrestha, it gets her to think more about what she likes to dress up as – as opposed to what do people think she will like.
Sam Woolf, the rapper’s stylist of nearly two years, says that when Doechii is at a dress fitting, she likes to observe herself and ask a series of questions: “Who is this girl? Where is she going? What is she doing?”
“She’s all about telling a story,” Woolf said in an interview.
Sometimes, that means she’s a swamp girl who wears trucker hats, cropped tops, gator-textured boots and cargo shorts. Other times, she’s a studious girl rocking striped polo shirts, sweater vests and pencil skirts.
Either way, she’s unapologetic.
For her performance on The Late Show this month, Doechii wore a Gucci ensemble with visible face tape and interlaced braids that tethered her to her two backup dancers, who were wearing matching outfits and cornrows.
She wrote on Instagram that this was her way of highlighting her “connection to black women through hip-hop”.
Doechii took a similar approach in her Tiny Desk concert, wearing an oversize white jacket, pants, a collared shirt and a tie, all by designer Willy Chavarria, while her band wore variations of the preppy look.
“She didn’t want it to feel like a crazy costume,” Woolf said. “We both wanted it to feel natural and cool and street, but preppy.”
The face tape, in particular, has had the internet in a frenzy. A longtime staple of the drag toolbox, it can lift and shape facial features when applied to the hairline.
While face tape is usually hidden beneath a wig, Doechii leaves hers exposed over her braids – which caused some to wonder whether she realised that it was visible.
She was aware, she assured her followers on TikTok, and offered a blunt, and unprintable, explanation.
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Woolf offered a lengthier one: “She likes exposing something that’s meant to be hidden. She just thinks outside the box, and she likes being vulnerable, and she likes showing things that you’re not meant to show.”
Doechii’s affinity for world building is what’s kept Nunyala Sogbo, a 24-year-old poet and writer living in Brooklyn, listening since she discovered her music in 2020.
When the artiste was “in her swamp-core era” – dressing in short skirts, blond wigs and ripped tights – Sogbo was as well, mixing those elements with her own style.
Now that Doechii is opting for a more preppy look, Sogbo has followed suit, especially after graduating from college and joining the workforce.
She met Doechii in person in 2020, before the rapper had been signed to a label, while riding the subway home after attending a group show where she was on the bill.
Sogbo remembered Doechii saying that she liked her style, and encouraging her to put herself out there, style-wise.
Four years later, the rapper is still delivering that message – but on prime-time television. – ©2024 The New York Times Company
