BY MONIQUE QUINTANA

The summer of 1997 was immense for women in R&B and Hip-Hop. Their fashion was a combustion of the color spectrum, a tease of textures, and most of all, a celebration of feminine power at the turn of a century.

Mary J. Blige, Everything

SWV, Can We

Erykah Badu, Next Lifetime

Total, What About Us

Lil' Kim, Crush on You

Missy Elliot & Da Brat, Sock it 2 Me

Lil' Kim Featuring Da Brat, Left Eye, Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliot, and Angie Martinez, Not Tonight (Remix)

Missy Elliot, The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)

Monique Quintana is the beauty and fashion editor of Luna Luna and blogs at Razorhouse. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing Fiction from CSU Fresno and her work has appeared in Huizache, Bordersenses, and Clash Media, among others. She teaches English at Fresno City College.