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Grammys Fashion Review: Big Hair, Bigger Spon Con
You thought Paris Jackson hid her tattoos just for fashion? Think again!
When I was an editor at mass general interest websites, we knew that if there was one award show online followers really cared about, it was the Grammys. After that, maybe the Billboard Music Awards or MTV’s Video Music Awards. The Oscars, by comparison, sometimes didn’t even drive more than a typical Sunday night’s traffic.
This was partly a reflection of the audiences for these outlets skewing young, but also of the reality that when pop stars are in the room, the internet is in the room. Beyoncé’s Instagram following of 319 million is just 12.9 million shy of the population of the United States. Her Instagram following plus Taylor Swift’s of 280 million equals 599 million, or 151 million more than the entire population of the European Union.
Not only are pop stars the internet, they also wear the internet. Maybe that helps explain why this award show felt so much more fun than the Golden Globes. Taylor Swift wore a custom look by Schiaparelli’s Daniel Roseberry, who creates some of the most viral fashion on the runways today. Billie Eilish dug into the culture’s bag of slowly dying TikTok “cores” and performed the Barbie movie song she wrote in a copy of a Barbie look. Miley Cyrus walked the red carpet in a custom couture dress fashioned by hand from gold safety pins by Martin Margiela under creative director John Galliano, whose recent couture show still has the internet breathless. The Gucci look she changed into for the ceremony was one of the best things Sabato De Sarno has done for the label since starting as creative director last year (the handbag she carried to accept her award suggests she was paid to wear it, but more on that below). And love or hate Pharrell’s Louis Vuitton men’s designs, they are at least recognizable, and, when they appear on Beyoncé, unmissable.
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Ahead, a closer look at the most talked-about fashion from the night.
Taylor Swift
Taylor excels at fashion that doesn’t feel like Fashion. She wears the best stuff by the best designers but it’s never terribly strange or hard to understand. She could have had Schiaparelli make her a dress with a realistic-looking animal’s face on the bust or a neckline that extended upward past the top of her head. Yet she picked a plain white strapless gown with a side slit and gave it the flavor of “Like a Virgin”-era Madonna with layered necklaces, hair worn on the side, and black gloves. A lot of commenters don’t seem to like it, but in the context of what we expect from her — basically, sparky column dresses — this was a perfectly fine way to mix it up. It looked the way “edgy” would if you had Chat GPT explain it to you.
Beyoncé
I’ve long been in the tank for Beyoncé, but Jay-Z was right about her being denied an Album of the Year award. If you think of her body of work, the way she moves seamlessly through musical influences ranging from country to dance on her albums, executing gorgeously every time while creating anthems that define culture, it’s insane she’s never gotten this award. (It’s also insane that the last time a Black woman won this award was Lauryn Hill in 1999.) So maybe it makes sense that she showed up looking kind of casual about the event in Pharrell’s latest Louis Vuitton men’s line with a cowboy hat and simple makeup. For Beyoncé, who gets fancier to take photos for Instagram, this may as well be athleisure.
Miley Cyrus
The behind-the-scenes video of the house of Margiela making her red-carpet dress out of safety pins is not to be missed. It didn’t seem directly tied to the couture collection by Galliano that still has everyone sighing in contentment more than a week later. But wearing Galliano at this moment in time was a shrewd move. The only way she could have possibly maybe done better is if she had picked something from the recent and equally fantastic Marc Jacobs show. Her big hair felt exciting, too, the antidote to sad, limp, wash-and-go waves that now seem like the sweatpants of hair.
The sequined Gucci dress with the high slit that she changed into with the feather boa was also great. At first, I thought the tiny purse was meant to be charming and ladylike, kind of like how the late Queen Elizabeth would carry her little handbag everywhere. But then I saw the bag credited on the Gucci Instagram feed and realized, oh right, she probably got paid.
Dua Lipa
I love a maxi dress that fits like pajamas and I could listen to her music all day, but something was slightly off about this one for me. Maybe it had something to do with her kind of looking like a giant air filter for a household appliance.
Doja Cat
She wore Dilara Findikoglu, who designed the famous Girl Armour dress seen on Cardi B and Olivia Rodrigo, made from thousands of shiny silver hair clips. If you thought you couldn’t be more tired of “naked” dresses — typically, a mermaid affair with strategically placed sparkles — this was a refreshing take on the whole conceit. The media didn’t think to label it “naked,” describing it as “NSFW,” “sheer,” and just “wild.” She also wore fake tattoos, including Findikoglu’s name across her forehead, which is incredible exposure (no pun intended) for an up-and-coming designer.
Ice Spice
The fur was faux and the look was by Y2K brand Baby Phat, which was fun to see! It made sense given her upcoming album is called Y2K. The Today show recently asked her why she titled her first album Y2K, and she said because she was born on Y2K (January 1, 2000). If the Grammys hadn’t made you feel old yet, there you go.
Olivia Rodrigo
This dress is vintage Versace, from the spring 1995 collection, inspiring Teen Vogue to go with the headline, “Olivia Rodrigo's Grammys 2024 Gown Is Older Than She Is.” With respect to the good people who work on that site, they could have gone with the subhed, “She’s not even old enough to drink, but her 29-year-old dress is already thinking about Botox.”
Billie Eilish
You have to hand it to them — the people who worked on the Barbie movie do not quit! Every major pop culture event for the last year has felt like playing Barbie promo whack-a-mole. Thought Barbie mania was behind you? Think again — there’s Margot Robbie in a copy of a 40-year-old Barbie dress! Thought it was behind you a month later? Here’s a viral TikTok of Mark Ronson talking about producing the music! Etc. This film and those responsible for it seem to pop up everywhere wearing pink or singing the songs or talking about making the songs or directing a certain week’s discourse on feminism. Eilish wore a Barbie jacket on the red carpet and then performed in a replica of “Poodle Parade” Barbie from 1965. What is a Poodle Parade, exactly? Well, who knows, but Amazon is a good a source as any (and I read a lot of SEO articles about this), and it explains, “It's a beautiful day in 1965 and Barbie couldn't be happier. Her poodle just won first prize!”
Gracie Abrams
If you like her as an artist and beheld her look and thought, I don’t love this, but I feel like I should at least LIKE this, that may be because it’s Chanel.
Flava Flav
It was nice to see him, and everyone who clicked “no” in Vogue.com’s perfunctory “look, advertisers, here’s some audience engagement” poll about whether or not this is your “favorite” is wrong.
Paris Jackson
You probably saw headlines about how Paris Jackson hid her more than 80 tattoos for the Grammys. She told Entertainment Tonight, “I love my tattoos, I love my piercings, I love all the body modification stuff, art, and also sometimes I don't want it to distract from the art that is the fashion I'm wearing. And it gives the dress” — by Celine — “its own moment, you know?” It was also, a jointly posted Reel reveals, part of a clever spon-con scheme with the makeup brand Cover FX.
Celine Dion
Before the Grammys, Law Roach posted on Instagram that he was “unretired” just for the night. Though he’s been styling Zendaya since his splashy retirement announcement last year, he meant he would dress Celine Dion, who was a surprise presenter and has been keeping out of the public eye after sharing that she’d been diagnosed with stiff person syndrome. She wore Valentino and looked like a radiant Upper East Side dame.
Lenny Kravitz
If you ever doubted this man’s commitment to fashion, note the detailed credits he shared on Instagram of his look, including a watch you can’t see and “sleeves” by Rick Owens.
Mark Ronson
See: earlier Back Row post about how men are dressing like Shiv Roy now. This man does that as well as he makes music, which is to say: very well indeed!
Did you watch the Grammys? Which looks do you want to talk about?
Your breakdowns are always iconic! And I agree about Miley, her dress was the star of the night for me.
Does Taylor Swift work with a stylist? I feel like her looks are so hit or miss for me and I'm curious her process for choosing looks and styling for award shows. I loved her Golden Globes dress a lot, but didn't love her look last night.