At the Grammy’s, there are always award winners and losers. But not all the praise from the night is based on music ability alone. These stars know their music, but when it comes to fashion, the title of “artist” doesn’t always carry over.
Every year there are the fashion risk takers, the timeless classics, the disasters and the quintessential category reserved only for people like Prince and Madonna. Wearing Givenchy, Madonna was, as per usual, flamboyant in choice. Fishnet stockings, thigh-high leather boots and leather gloves on her biceps served as accessories. With a black lace, corseted waist that made her look like she was wearing an apron, her outfit seemed to be the love child of a matador and a French maid.
Yet her hat, despite the lace covering her forehead, had a similar style to that of a castorena. Prince, on the other hand, was wearing a shiny tangerine tunic and pants that circumscribed to his body as he waltzed on the stage with poise like that of actual royalty. Though this can be seen as a fashion risk, Prince’s fashion, like his music, is generally timeless and impenetrable to criticisms.
Speaking of royalty, Iggy Azalea’s hairdo rested on her head with the appearance of a crown, creating the focal point of her look. With modest make up and no accessories, the Australian singer’s royal blue dress complimented the curves of her body with conservative cut outs and a small train. But all seemed to bring more attention to her hair.
Making a hair statement herself was the newly emerging artist, Sia. The star, known for covering her face, wore her trademark platinum wig that encompassed everything, leaving only red lipstick to form her identity. Her outfit choice was black pants and a black poncho, though the outfit probably didn’t get noticed by many.
The other fashion risks of the night were Charli XCX and Rihanna. Charli XCX is known for her eccentric fashion styles, so it is arguable whether her white tuxedo getup was a risk or whether it was stolen from an 1980’s prom album. Her look featured a hot pink bow tie with matching heels, a white ruffled undershirt and a light pink furry wrap.
Rihanna was perhaps the biggest surprise of the night with her very ruffled and pink Giambattista Valli gown. The R&B singer has proven over the years that she is not afraid of color, sporting a mustard gown in 2014 and a bold red one the year before. With hair in a bun and simple diamond earrings to complete the look, Rihanna may have simply been trying to add to her fashion spectrum with this choice.
Some of the classic beauties of the night featured Beyoncé, Nicki Minaj and Taylor Swift. Beyonce’s dress was open around the bottom of her sternum, but the star carried it off with the class and elegance she is known for exuding in almost anything. The dress itself was black and sheer with sequins and floral designs subtly throughout.
A Tom Ford dress was modeled on the infamously voluptuous frame of Nicki Minaj, featuring a neck line that plunged to her mid waist, where the dress became sequined and eventually tailored off into floor-touching fringe. Swift’s blonde hair was nicely offset by her teal dress, with a floor-length frock framing the mini skirt in the front. The cut outs at the top added dimension to her look along with the different layers of the dress. The pop star also wore matching earrings and popped the look with magenta heels.
For stars that consider meat and drug paraphernalia to serve as fashion statements, Lady Gaga and Miley Cyrus looked shockingly modest at the Grammy’s. Gaga styled a beaded Brandon Maxwell gown with a plunging neck line and a very high slit coming to the upper thigh. The metallic dress formed a scalloped design sequence which Lady Gaga completed with a long emerald necklace. And despite the many cut outs on her simple black dress, Cyrus, with little make-up and her short hair slicked back, daringly, looked sophisticated.
Keeping it immodest enough for both Miley and Lady Gaga was Kim Kardashian, alongside husband Kanye West. She was in a beige, beaded Jean Paul Gaultier gown, that weighed about 100 pounds, Kardashian said in an interview with People magazine. The wrists, pockets and shoulders appeared as raised structures off of the dress with the extra detail, so much so that one of the pockets ended up falling off. The dress overall left less than a foot of her torso covered, leaving very little to the imagination.
Erica Garnett can be reached at [email protected].
