Juicy Couture is back as Kim Kardashian laps up the luxe tracksuits - but who could forget the iconi

“LOOK how fashionable and glamorous I am” – that’s how I felt loitering outside the Co-op, hoping a boy would glance my way, with the rest of my teenage friends.

It was 2004 and I was aged 13. I was proudly following in the footsteps of Paris Hilton, Britney and JLo who had made Juicy Couture loungewear extremely desirable.

Almost 20 years later, Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton have stepped out in Kim’s new SKIMS velour range, while pop star Dua Lipa, supermodel Irina Shayk and actress Michelle Keegan have showcased the trend too. Sofia Richie is modelling for a new Juicy Couture x Kappa campaign — in deliciously nostalgic sugary shades.

Meanwhile, searches for “velour tracksuits” have risen by 54 per cent since September. There’s no denying it, the velour two-piece is back.

Juicy was founded in the early Nineties by two friends in California, and in 1997 “Couture” was added — a cheeky nod to the fact that there was nothing “high fashion” about tracksuits.

Juicy Couture was born — the signature diamanté “Juicy” logo slapped across the bum — and in 2001 a two-piece was custom-made for Madonna.

The brand attracted a legion of famous fans and instantly became part of pop culture.

Growing up in Essex, nabbing an imitation velour tracksuit from the local marketplace was almost a rite of passage as a teenager.

The football WAGs — Coleen Rooney, Alex Gerrard, Helen Flanagan and yes, even Victoria Beckham — had them. We wanted them too.

My uncle Dave had a stall that sold them, alongside knock-off Burberry socks and Playboy phone cases (I bagged these too).

My parents couldn’t understand why my friends and I wanted to click pornographic, rhinestone bunny cases on to our Nokias, but we couldn’t get enough of them. The A-list lifestyle and glossy designer brands, which had previously been so far from reach, were suddenly within touching distance for the average woman. Even if we couldn’t afford the £10,000 dress that our favourite starlets donned on the red carpet, we could at least imitate them on their days off.

Wearing velour trackies was a status symbol, and you could pick up a Juicy tracksuit top AND bottoms for just over £100 — not cheap but, then again, not totally unattainable either.

For almost a decade, those soft and cosy tracksuits were so unbelievably craved — until, quite suddenly — they really weren’t.

By the time 2010 rolled around, we suddenly became embarrassed at our former love of something so tacky. God, what were we thinking?!

They, along with Ugg boots, were banished to the back of the wardrobe or donated to charity.

One 2004 pink Juicy tracksuit was left gathering dust in London’s Victoria and Albert museum. We had advanced on to spray-on skinny jeans and Kate Moss-style indie blazers.

But similarly, as also demonstrated by the recent reboot of MTV’s Cribs, with the passage of time we start to hanker after the music, shows, and indeed, fashions, that we grew up loving.

It’s true when they say absence makes the heart grow fonder... and we millennials are an unbelievably nostalgic generation.

Now lockdown has everyone lounging at home more and reminiscing on simpler times, what could be a more obvious symbol of fun than a pink, snuggly tracksuit? It is one of those rare fashion items that both a five-year-old child and 25-year-old global superstar Dua Lipa can pull off with the same aplomb.

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And given that this year has been spectacularly difficult for all of us, a shot of Juicy Couture is, quite frankly, a welcome spot of light relief.

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