Oliver Tree, JNCO Jeans, and Me

Oliver TreePhoto: Courtesy of the artist

Oliver Tree: 1
Me: 0

After more than a month of inner struggle, I hereby admit defeat and cave to my obsession with Oliver Tree and his JNCO jeans. I was introduced to the singer-stuntman, who likes to describe himself as a “living meme,” by my 11-year-old son.

He’s a uniform dresser, Mr. Tree. His trademark look consists of a bowl cut, red sunglasses, a vintage pink and purple stolen-from-mom Montbell ski jacket, and rave jeans with a lush volume, almost like a Victorian skirt. It’s obvious that Tree is deliberately playing with a pretty/ugly construct, but I’m not so interested in that. I can’t take my eyes off those JNCO jeans. They look so right, they sing to my skater dreams. The way Diana Vreeland felt about surfing, I feel about skateboarding.

Maison Margiela, fall 2000 ready-to-wear and “la mode du XXL”

Photo: Condé Nast Archive

I thought I had found a fix when Byronesque, a vintage retail site, offered a roomy pair of black denim jeans from Martin Margiela’s fall 2000 season, a favorite collection of mine, but my attempt at transference failed. Like the catchy refrains from songs “When I’m Down” and “Alien Boy,” I can’t get those jeans out of my head.

JNCO, a cult California brand whose ultra-wide-leg jeans were inspired, it’s said, by East L.A. Latino style, wasn’t a part of my New England ’90s. But with sales reportedly nearing $200 million by 1998, the label sure was reaching a lot of other people. So much so that JNCO’s “phat pants” remain a symbol of the 1990s. Fashion can’t seem to shake the decade, and in days like these it’s easy to understand why. Nostalgia, a recent New York Times article explained, is often used as a coping mechanism in stressful periods. “Our brains often take us to places that we subconsciously designate as ‘safe,’ like past memories of a joyful vacation or happy childhood moments that made us feel loved.”

Oliver TreePhoto: Ryan Farber / Courtesy of Oliver Tree

Tree, who is 27, but looks a decade younger, sports the same haircut he’s had since he was a toddler, and claims his JNCOs are the ones he always wanted to have as a kid. His wish fulfillment becomes ours, to a point. The jeans suggest a sort of smiley-face, rave-type of escapism. Similarly, Tree’s newly released album is a sonic playground in which he plays with genres (pop, rock, rap) and toys with references (Eminen, Wheatus), then packages them for digital consumption. Tree seems always poised for an Instagram moment. His uniform is a costume, comedy is his mask, and his tendency to flip the bird seems more petulant than potent.

Oliver Tree, 2020.Photo: Don Arnold / WireImage

Tree is a prankster whose message promotes acceptance of difference and having a positive self image. Ugly Is Beautiful is the title of his new album.

Tree is also a mirror of our time, not least because he’s often battered and bruised. To his credit, the artist, who was a competitive scooterist, does his own stunts, meaning he literally takes the fall for his actions. Physically, at least, he puts himself on the line. Now that his album is released, Tree is saying that he’ll stop performing music under his name. Is it a prank? Will he return with an alias? Or does Tree just really, really want to change his clothes? If so, I can suggest a new home for those JNCOs.