The Shifting Look of Pop Stars

Across pop history, there has been a deep connection between a pop star’s aesthetic and their music. In fact, there’s a truism in the music biz that at a concert, the audience reaction is about 40% based on the music, and the other 60% is based on the visual experience. Perhaps this is more salient than ever in today’s world, with the constant doom scroll of video clips and static images at our fingertips. But since the 1950s, when Elvis Presley and his wagging hips started a nationwide controversy on television, the look has been crucial. But what does the evolution of the pop star’s look—both over time, and throughout the career of a singular star—tell us about desire? About what we covet, or need, in a particular moment?

HBO’s highly anticipated series The Idol wants to play in this messy fantasy space. Plenty of high-profile entertainment has used the pop star as a canvas for big ideas—the many incarnations of A Star Is Born, the Natalie Portman vehicle Vox Lux, the recent Donald Glover series Swarm. But if the marketing is to be trusted, The Idol is aspiring to be the seediest exploration yet.

It tells the story of a rising pop star played by Lily-Rose Depp—the casting alone signals metatextual fun—and her relationship with a nightclub promoter, self-help guru, and cult leader played by Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye, whose influence on her career looks alarming, to say the least. With the foreshadowing track “Gimme More” by Britney Spears playing in the background, one of the first teasers ends with the line, “That’s sex, that’s what we’re selling.” Destined for impeccable style moments, the series was directed and cocreated by Sam Levinson, whose series Euphoria offered a particularly dreamy snapshot of contemporary style and set trends of its own: The show’s ethereal glam looks went viral almost instantly when it premiered in 2019. Even in the condensed space of a trailer, The Idol sets its sights on fashion as the perfect encapsulation of a pop star’s evolution. Whether it's on HBO or on TMZ, we have followed young artists rebranding in the ruthless music industry in real time. Natasha Newman-Thomas, the costume designer for the series, says that “everyone’s body is a billboard and can be used as a tool to further convey the message, illusion, or vibe they are trying to create. I think if [the look] speaks to people and gets the message across, it’s a success.”

Whether plastered on bedroom walls, inside school lockers, or on a social media account, we align with certain pop stars over others. They’re artists as much as they are characters—characters that experience arcs, highs, and lows while stationed at the dead center of popular culture. We, the audience, hungrily follow them and their plotlines, whether that means camping outside arenas, meticulously unpacking an album track by track, or consuming TikTok content that breaks down every magazine shoot outfit. We look to pop stars to arouse, allure, provoke, trendset, even express a particular politics.

Take Britney Spears for example. Spears’s style and aesthetic journey, from the late ’90s through the early aughts, has been echoed by more than one successful pop star, and is best summed up as the “loss of innocence.” This attention-grabbing—and cliché—phenomenon and transition was set up with her very first video, “Baby One More Time,” which featured the starlet in a cropped Catholic schoolgirl uniform. From schoolgirl attire she moved to tousled hair, bikini tops, and hot pants—and inspired her fan base’s massive growth. Her penchant for baring her stomach with low-rise bottoms and a high cropped top instigated a fashion craze that lingers today. Some of her sexier, more expressive looks have gone down in history as the most beloved getups in pop music, from the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards performance where she wrapped a live yellow snake around her jewel-encrusted bare torso to the red latex look from Spears’s “Oops I Did It Again” music video. and have undoubtedly served as tokens of empowerment for many. There is a Britney-to-poster girl pipeline that is thriving among the millennial population.

Janet Jackson is, in many ways, the blueprint for the contemporary pop star. With each album, Jackson’s look was a fresh assertion of power, a way of controlling both her creative narrative as well as her place as a woman of color succeeding in the industry. While Jackson’s first two albums sounded softer, and her girlish appearance and aesthetic reflected that—baggy jeans, oversized sweaters, brighter colors—she began to assert herself in 1986 with Control, where the look started to demand more attention and we saw Jackson debut the higher hair and strong shoulder that would ultimately become a signature. For “Rhythm Nation,” the aggression came out, and the power, with a military-inspired aesthetic. A sexier side came after, with 1993’s janet. Though varied, every era of Jackson has demanded attention, through the present, where she seems to tie it all together with a perennial power suit and a creative balance of long, feminine tulle skirts with designer sneakers.

Another facet of power and control through pop aesthetics is relatability. In a social media era, this holds special weight. Taylor Swift has gone from being country music’s girl’s girl to an open-ended emblem of empowerment for women around the world. And as the spotlight on her has grown brighter, her looks have evolved in stride, as evidenced by the swarms of Swifties in glittering, sequined gear spilling out into every city the Eras Tour hits. In the past, Swift has favored princess-like attire and a deep red lip, as seen in her pink Oscar de la Renta look for the 2014 Met Gala, where she showed a confidence and strength in her femininity reflected in her music. SZA is another important artist to mention who has a major impact on the industry and highlights relatability. Her lyrics are emotional and candid; they let the listener feel like they’re truly accessing her inner life and struggles. And her style reflects this, leaning into sportswear, strappy tops, oversized jerseys, and vintage pieces. Even when dressing up, she tends to find a route that feels streetwear-related, like at her “SNL” performance of 2017, when she wore a tracksuit dress. In more recent years, SZA has become known for her bikini tops, though she definitely knows when to turn up the glamor—for the “Good Days” video in 2021, the bikini top in question was an ornate bejeweled piece by AREA. But even revealing more of her body in this way suits her musical project.

On The Idol, we see Depp in micro bikini tops, sheer materials, body-con dresses, with panties being an important and visible element of more than one outfit, looks that eerily hold a mirror to the Instagram influencers going viral today. Costume designer Newman-Thomas says that representations of sexuality in the world of pop music are “more about creating a fantasy for the listener/viewer. Sexual fantasies just happen to be a universally relatable escape—whether people want to admit it or not.”

Tesfaye and other characters in the cast—which includes notable names like Dan Levy and Hari Nef, along with real-life musicians Jennie Kim, Troye Sivan, and Moses Sumney—sport getups that give another side of the pop star ecosystem that embodies not only sex appeal but power: money, attention, never having to wait for anything. An attitude conveyed with the language of gold jewelry, shiny textures, cat-eye sunglasses, leather, animal prints, silk scarves, and tinted aviators. The Idol offers a classic, almost conservative answer to the question, “What does a pop star look like?” They look like what we truly, deeply want.