On Rebelde, Emilia Alo (played by the beautiful and talented Giovanna Grigio) walks the halls of Elite Way School like they are her own personal runways. Every look the school’s reigning Teen Queen wears is a stunner and an homage to the unique fashions of the ’90s and early 2000s in exemplary form. 

Dust off your butterfly clips and choker necklaces and prepare to feel some serious closet envy. Rebelde star Giovanna Grigio is here to remind you that a little blast from the past will always be in style.

We’re evaluating her fashion head to toe, so let’s start at the top. Do Emilia’s bleach-blond streaks call to mind Rayanne from My So-Called Life? Or perhaps you’re feeling more of a Geri “Ginger Spice” Halliwell aesthetic from Emilia’s locks? Her thick highlights were also donned on the catwalk by Cindy Crawford and are a signature feature of the Marvel heroine Rogue, particularly as portrayed by Anna Paquin in 2000’s X-Men. Not to mention, 2020 saw a big resurgence in ‘90s “bangs,” so, as per usual, Emilia was ahead of the curve on this comeback.

Emilia wears her hair in a variety of styles on Rebelde — from down and curly to pigtails to Princess Leia-esque buns. But her hair knot style is giving us extreme nostalgia. Her buns at Jana’s party in Episode 6 evoke the likes of another Spice Girl, Mel B. (aka “Scary Spice”), who would twist her hair into buns that resembled horns. Emilia’s knots can also be traced back to the concert garb of No Doubt frontwoman, Gwen Stefani. She’s “Just a Girl” who knows her way around a curling iron.

Another of Emilia’s turn-of-the-century hairstyles is giving Thalía meets Neo in the Matrix. Emilia sports slicked-back, gelled-up wet hair as she sings a cover of Britney Spears’ “...Baby One More Time” with Sebas (Alejandro Puente) for the second round of Battle of the Bands. She’s channeling a vibe that’s both goth and grunge. The wet-hair look is coming back around the bend to be a celebrity hairstyle du jour on red carpets and runways in these ever-so-roaring ’20s.

Also in this supervillain chic fit, Emilia is wearing black leather and latex all over, not to mention the black stripe choker. Leather was a ’90s staple that never went out of style. Simply recall the Buffy the Vampire Slayer trench coat and shorter blazers and dresses that felt both classic, yet modern enough to launch the world into the 21st century. And lest we forget, even though it’s a brighter color, the sexy all-latex jumpsuit Britney Spears wore in her 2000 music video for “Oops!... I Did it Again.”

When kids went to the grocery store with their parents in the ’90s or early 2000s, all they wanted were Fruit By the Foot, Gushers and, of course, Ring Pops. And vibrant, plastic jewelry covered in resin simply goes the extra mile of making you feel like you’ve got a raspberry or green apple–flavored Ring Pop on your finger all day long. Throughout the entire season, Emilia displays her plastic, color-blocked rings with the flick of her wrist or by playing the keys on the piano. Full commitment to the candy-coated bit. 

The symbol of yin and yang was on every article of jewelry you could find in your local mall in the ’90s — rings, earrings, bracelets, the pendant on a choker necklace. Even Fran Fine (Fran Drescher) wore a yin yang mesh long sleeve top (see No. 12!) on The Nanny. Emilia regularly wears yin yang earrings all season, in Episodes 2, 3 and 7, in particular, pairing them with her uniform and workout gear. Back in the '90s, the symbol of balance was as omnipresent as the peace sign, and it came back into fashion, circa 2020, during the chaos of the pandemic to help us find some semblance of zen — which, let’s be real, we all could still use some more of on the daily.

Heart-shaped, ruffled, dainty pearl cluster and butterfly chokers, Emilia has the choker game in a, well, chokehold. She is not one to leave her neck bare. While layered necklaces with chokers as the centerpiece are all the rage in 2021, Emilia honors the classic '90s style of a statement piece front and center, albeit a more bejeweled update from the plastic tattoo variation that also doubled as anklets, bracelets and rings.

Emilia’s go-to nail color of swampy, moss green carries her through from newbie orientation to show-stopping finale. While Shaggy-style green may seem off the beaten path from Lincoln Park after Dark or Como Se Llama?, it just harks back to her penchant for all things '90s, as Urban Decay introduced the “Mildew” color in 1996. They even re-released the color as part of its “XX” holiday push back in 2016. Plus, we’d be remiss not to mention that Emilia adds different shades of green into her color palette, with her neon style bag in Episode 2. A true student of color coordination.

Speaking of bags, Emilia only totes a beaded bag around for one look in Episode 3, but her bag of baubles rolls into the millennial twists on the EWS uniform quite seamlessly. Beaded bags topped every rack at Limited Too (currently known as Justice) in the late '90s and early 2000s, and Emilia kicks it up a notch with a three-toned purple-pink-and-green sort. (Flash forward to her finale look, and you’ll see her signature colors at full throttle).

Tiny purses that barely hold a Nokia phone hark back to ye olde late '90s and early ’00s. In Episode 1, Emilia coordinates a small lavender purse to go with her all-lavender outfit when she acts as Elite Way School’s one-person student welcoming committee and then boasts a mini pink purse to complement her funky Mary Janes in Episode 2. For Episodes 3 and 4, it’s baguette going strong, in both lavender and pink. Don’t you miss the purses that would nestle right under your arm just like Emily Cooper’s favorite lunchtime bread in Emily in Paris? Le sigh...

All season long, Emilia has at least a heart, butterfly or daisy on her person, starting with when we first meet her at EWS and she has daisies lining her top and a heart-shaped choker around her neck. She repeats the motif when she wears a necklace that’s half daisies, half hearts, all plastic, with tiny rainbow gemstones in Episodes 3 and 8. (We love outfit repeaters, unlike Kate Sanders.) And aside from massive heart-shaped earrings, Emilia’s style flutters like the butterflies that adorn her earrings (Episode 5), ring (Episode 6) and choker (Episode 8). If there were any doubts that she’s a '90s girl at heart, those could all be put to rest with these accessories.

Emilia is all about the layering in her sheer, long-sleeve looks on Rebelde. From her lava lamp shades to bright orange flowers, she channels a Rugrats color scheme with flair. Emilia wears this meshy Sabrina the Teenage Witch–esque getup in all manner of styles — at Jana’s party in Episode 5 with the seams popping out of the quilted patterns, over a bodysuit (see below) in her and Sebas’ music video cover of RBD’s “Solo Quédate en Silencio” in Episode 6, and in the final showdown of Battle of the Bands, under a purple dress with blue heels that would make Carrie Bradshaw jealous.

Bodysuits have been back since the 2010s — you may remember when American Apparel’s racks were lined with bodysuits in neon colors. But wearing bodysuits with jeans was an everyday streetwear trend in the early '90s. In Rebelde, Emilia dons her formfitting white bodysuit for a rehearsal session before the final round of Battle of the Bands. But instead of jeans, she’s wearing them with sweats in a very dancer-like move.

EWS is a uniform-oriented institution, and Miss Emilia nails the schoolgirl look while still adding some '90s flair. We see her wear practically perfect, prim black Mary Janes in Episode 2, similar to those flaunted by Cher Horowitz in Clueless (1995) in white and metallic silver. But this is Rebelde, so, of course, Emilia spices up her chunky soles by updating them to a bubblegum-pink jelly sandal style that even Jana (Azul Guaita) wants a piece of.

Style Queen Giovanna Grigio is a Delia’s catalog come to life in Rebelde. Watching her character give effortless new millennium looks felt just like flipping through the pages of a magazine. The late '90s/early aughts are back in a big way, and Emilia is leading the charge (as usual).