Swamp Princess: Style Experimentation and Self-Appreciation
Written by Mia Quigley
Twenty-three year-old, Tampa-born rapper and songwriter Doechii (aka “Swamp Princess”) has become the hottest new media sensation this past year. With the release of her new mixtape Alligator Bites Never Heal and strikingly unconventional style, she is dominating both the music and fashion industries.
Doechii’s music career took off in 2020 when she decided to become a fully independent artist and release her first mixtape Oh, The Places You’ll Go. Her vocal artistry and futuristic experimentation with 90s hip-hop and electronic beats quickly gained attention. In 2023, her career took off when her song “What It Is (Block Boy)” reached top 30 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was nominated for the VMA’s Song of the Summer Award. In 2024, her track “Denial is a River” went viral on TikTok, influencing even more to discover her musical talent.
In just five years, her humble beginnings turned to remarkable fame. She performed at the 2025 Grammys and accepted the title for the third female rapper to win a Grammy award for Best Rap Album. While still a musical anomaly, her voice is not the only thing that is making heads turn. Doechii’s keen sense of style developed at a young age due to her parents' love for fashion and has since taken off. Throughout the years, she has blossomed into a fashion icon with her ability to break societal expectations and conventional trends.
“My taste level was very high when I was young. I wasn't into the sh*t that everybody else was into. Not to say they weren't into cool sh*t, but my sh*t was just cooler.”
In an interview with Fashionista, Doechii explains that she likes to explore time through clothes by finding inspiration from past eras and merging them with her predictions of the future.With such a wide range of aesthetics, you’d think it would be impossible to make outfit decisions. However, for Doechii, it is a lot simpler than that. She just wears outfits based on her mood.
“Sometimes, I want to look like I'm on stage, but I'm just going to the store. Then, sometimes, when I'm on stage, I look like I'm going to the store. So, it never depends on where I'm going, but more so how I'm feeling.”
Doechii’s music is also very influential to her style, as she likes her clothes to reflect the vibe of her songs. In the past, she dressed in a very playful, ‘trashy-core’ aesthetic, which matched with her first pop mixtape. In 2023, she began working with stylist Sam Woolf, who helped transition her style into one that more accurately reflects her growth. Ever since, they’ve been a dream team in reinventing Doechii’s appearance and challenging societal norms.
"Doechii is stupid creative. She has a vision and she knows exactly what she wants—but it's always very collaborative.”
Doechii’s most recent aspiration has been redefining the trend of “office-wear” clothing. She is avidly reconnecting the cultural divide between hip-hop and luxury fashion by styling preppy clothing with bright colours and patterns, asymmetrical layering, and dramatic silhouettes.
At the 2025 Grammy Awards, she showed out in four uniquely different custom Thom Browne suited looks. All of the looks innovatively embodied the roots of femininity, hip-hop, and office wear. The outfit that stole the show was the pantsuit she wore when accepting her Grammy Award. The exaggerated-hip, high-waisted bustier pants were paired with a cropped short-sleeve blazer layered over a dress shirt and tie and pulled together with a black corset. This look reflected Doechii’s roots in theatre by using a costume-like design to tell a story.
Doechii once again captured the limelight this past week during the 2025 Milan Fashion Show. She opened the show by jumping out of an army truck and strutting down the catwalk to her track “Nissan-Altima”. Celebrating the 30th anniversary of D'Squared, she relieved her ‘trashy-core era’ and dominated the runway with a backpack full of cash, wearing denim hot pants, an ‘iconique’ train dress and a roped corset.
Doechii is more than just a music artist or a fashion inspiration; she is a maverick in today’s society. Not only has she built her fashion and music career from the ground up, she has done it with humility and authenticity. Throughout her fame, she’s carried her culture and roots along with her, hence her nickname “Swamp Princess. Most importantly, she continues to share the importance of individuality and self-expression to motivate her fans, especially young black women. In her Grammy speech, she said:
“Don’t allow anybody to project any stereotypes on you, to tell you that you can’t be here, that you’re too dark, or that you’re not smart enough, or that you’re too dramatic, or you’re too loud. You are exactly who you need to be to be right where you are, and I am a testimony right now.”
Her fearlessness, self-confidence, and creativity are truly an inspiration to all.
Edited by Hana Razvi, Safa Razvi, Olivia Daly, Sophia Buckholtz, Giselle Franco, Olivia Ruetten, Sim Khanuja, & Quinn Diedrich
