The Year for Doechii

2024 was a huge, and transformative, year for Doechii. Though she’s been releasing music for nearly 10 years, her most recent album and coinciding looks have reignited the long-held bond between hip hop and fashion and rightfully placed her at the forefront.

Doechii in a series of shots showcasing her latest styles on her Instagram. Photo available via IG @doechii.  ©All rights belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended

Dubbing herself Swamp Princess, Doechii’s aesthetic persona is integral to how she presents herself as an artist. Swamp Princess (her Instagram bio holds that title where a person’s name might be) is in homage to her Florida roots, her ambitious personality, and her commitment to communicating her artistry through style. She claims an area–the swamp– that she says nobody else has touched and continues to craft a caliber of style that matches her musical success.

This sort of trailblazing has led Doechii to her current achievements, racking up three 2025 Grammy nominations and claiming status as the most nominated female rapper. Alligator Bites Never Heal, her latest album released in August, continues to receive critical acclaim and has listeners locked into its authenticity and grit. This new album deviates from her previous, viral pop sound and steps into a place in which Doechii’s integrity unapologetically shines: hip hop.

Right in step with her musical achievements, and what is setting her apart from the rest of the industry, is the stylistic transformation that has accompanied her sonic one. In her year of transformation, it was self-studying that propelled these artistic changes. She spent time reflecting on the persona she has put forth and set on updating it. In both a literal and creative spin, Doechii’s tour and street style reflect this studious theme while maintaining the increasingly characteristic Doechii swagger. Collared shirts, ties, sweater vests, etc. from designers like Miu Miu, Thom Browne and Vivienne Westwood help capture this idea of academia + funk rolled into one. 

Her stylist, Sam Woolf, has been working alongside Doechii since early 2023 to craft her story and achieve the preppy-streetwear combo that has come to personify her latest music. Woolf applauds Doechii’s desire and ability to create herself in a narrative through what she wears, saying how at fittings she will always be asking “Who is this girl? Where is she going? What is she doing?” 

This embrace of aesthetics is one reason, of many, why people are appreciating her right now. Some of the most successful music artists in history have such strong fashion associations that people memorialize their iconic outfits for tours and performances. This is that idea of storytelling, of becoming a character, and it adds dimension to an artist’s music. Citing Rihanna’s career as an inspiration in a conversation with JT and Interview Magazine, Doechii strives for this, and with how things are going for her lately, it seems well within her reach.

Doechii’s Alligator Bites Never Heal tour style guide shared via her Instagram. Available via IG @doechii. ©All rights belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.

Two of Doechii’s recent performances on the marketing trail of her album truly embody this flair for storytelling through production and fashion. First is her performance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert that blew up on social media, and not just for the music and self-choreography. Attention was brought to the details between her and her dancers: the matching Gucci ensembles, the gold jewelry, the visible face tape and the brilliant braided looks (done by Malcolm Marquez) that actually are connected as one through all three performers. There was meaning and artistic intention in every facet, and that is exactly what Doechii is going for in her sound and look. In her Instagram post about the performance, Doechii honors black women and hip hop: “This is blackness. This is luxury. This is history.”

Doechii (left) with her two background dancers performing on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Photographed by Scott Kowalchyk/CBS. Available via Rolling Stone. ©All rights belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.

Second was her set with NPR's Tiny Desk series. Her performance musically is again, incredible, showcasing her breathwork and working off the band around her. What adds to this is her personality and sense of theatrics, one element of which is in her outfit designed by Willy Chavarria. In keeping with the preppy theme, she wears an oversized white jacket, a collared shirt and tie, and trousers while performing her rap heavy setlist. The nature of the Tiny Desk set doesn’t allow for a choreographed performance, yet Doechii brings it to life with her energy and styled look, highlighting how her look contrasts with the sound and is as much a part of her performance as the music itself.

Watching her performances makes clear that this is what’s so compelling about Doechii’s current style: the perceived discordance it creates in relation to her music. With this, critics say Doechii’s latest fashion looks don’t match her music. Instead Doechii intends for audiences to see them as part of a whole, of Doechii as an artist. Rather than make a futile attempt to categorize her style as separate from her music, it all becomes Doechii. It is as if she herself becomes the juxtaposition between her hip hop based tracks and scholarly fits. 

As it ought to, this dissonance is playing a significant role in her stardom; it’s compelling and it challenges people to embrace her expression. You can’t fabricate the sort of personality and storytelling that Doechii has, and the fact that she continues to surprise is demonstration of this in itself. Her stepping into the integrity that hip hop brings her lends the same feeling to the persona she conveys.

Though of course she has the help of a stylist and a team around her, it feels clear that the essence of this creativity through her music and fashion comes from Doechii herself. How rare it can be in this age to find an artist like her, with such an innate sense of creative integrity, and to witness fashion and music finesse colliding. Through this year we have seen Doechii’s power to partner a new sound with a new style. Setting that precedent provides an added anticipation to her future projects, and I have a feeling she won’t disappoint.