Backstreet Boy AJ McLean Apologizes for Fashion Disasters, Regrets ‘One Really Bad Look’: ‘Like a Washed-Up Magician’

AJ McLean has made some questionable fashion choices in his time as a boybander. Now, he’s looking back with regret at one in particular.

In the CW documentary The ’90s Boy Band Boom, the Backstreet Boys member looks back at some of the different chances they took on style when getting ready for special events.

“You could tell when we had a stylist and when we didn’t have a stylist. You can tell when we’re left to our own demise or we had somebody helping guide us,” he says with a laugh. “I’m sorry for a lot of choices we made.”

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For McLean, the worst offender was “one really bad look” he unveiled for their first trip to the Grammys in 1999.

“The four fellas were in darker, really nice suits, and I look like a washed-up magician. I was in all white with a white top hat, the dumbest facial hair design I ever came up with,” he recalls.

In his own defense, he adds, “But all those looks are back with a vengeance.”

The Backstreet Boys aren’t the only boy band featured in the documentary with memories of bad styling. Drew Lachey and Justin Jeffre of 98 Degrees admit that they also “try to block out our fashion choices.”

“Let’s be real, they weren’t really choices,” Lachey says. “We were in such a whirlwind. You got to a photoshoot and you pretty much put on what’s there.”

The band went through a major shirtless era, though the pair says they were mostly outliers.

“Justin and I pretty much always kept shirts on, I think for the most part. Nick and Jeff, they were… yeah,” Lachey says laughing.

“If you look at the first record on the cover, we’re wearing our flannels and our jeans and that’s sort of what we’d been wearing when we first moved out to LA,” Justin explains. “We wanted to be true to ourselves but we realized we didn’t know how to dress.”

The ’90s Boy Band Boom is now streaming on the CW website.