Lily Allen’s ‘revenge’, Harry Styles’ Dorothy and Debbie Harry’s T-shirt – 20 onstage dresses ranked! | Fashion
20. PJ Harvey
“Dressed like a fabulously turned-out carrion crow,” is how our reviewer described the gothic, avian-like get-up PJ Harvey wore to carry out her journalistic and theatrical ninth album, The Hope Six Demolition Project, in Brixton, south London, in 2016. The gown was the work of Harvey’s longtime good friend, the Belgian designer Ann Demeulemeester, and epitomises the extra dramatic stage appears – melodramatic however pared-back – that Harvey turned to for her later, darker albums. As she said of the clothes: “For me, it’s about the ability to meet the world. And it is a second skin, isn’t it? It’s protection, as well. It’s a very big part of clothing, the feeling of protection, particularly in Ann’s clothes.” Who would have thought that somebody who earlier of their profession took to the stage in Spice Girls co-ords and hot-pink catsuits would wind up in such severe Belgian high-fashion? Ellie Violet Bramley
19. Lily Allen
(*20*)
It’s been known as the final word revenge gown; on stage in Chicago earlier this 12 months, performing a observe known as 4Chan Stan from her breakup album West End Girl, Lily Allen wore a gown printed with enlarged pictures of receipts, which some followers have linked to an an alleged affair on the a part of her ex-husband. “Never been Bergdorf’s / But you took someone shopping there on May 24 / You bought her a handbag / It wasn’t cheap / I was in London / Probably asleep,” she sang, as she unfurled herself from the gown displaying bank card transactions and texts. It’s a bit of pop efficiency artwork, created with the assistance of co-creative director Anna Fleische and stylist Mel Ottenberg, from a pop star who made a reputation for herself within the mid-2000s performing in additional seemingly cobbled-together ensembles of gold hoops, Nike high-tops and prom-style dresses. EVB
18. Harry Styles
Harry Styles has been a decided subverter of gender stereotypes over time however his precise gown sporting has been vastly exaggerated. Aside from a Vogue shoot, that is the one time the popstar has worn one to carry out. Still, he went all in for “Harryween” at Madison Square Garden again in 2021, dressing up as “Dorothy” in a bespoke blue and white gingham gown by Gucci, marking (or maybe peaking?) his long-term collaboration with the model, accessorised with pink ruby slippers and a stuffed Wizard of Oz Toto. Proof that the person appears nearly as good in gingham as he does in his fancy chore jackets from SS Daley, this was lighthearted Harry giving his fanbase what they need (compared along with his aloof little number at the most recent Brit awards). The followers and the papers devoured it up, naturally. Morwenna Ferrier
17. Joni Mitchell
Although she couldn’t have recognized it, this marigold-orange gown with turquoise jewelry was the proper search for her 1970 Isle of Wight festival performance, since described by Mitchell as “a bit of a disaster”. A rowdy, riled-up crowd wasn’t giving her the respect she deserved and, as a substitute of being cowed, she known as them out – “You’re acting like tourists, man. Give us some respect!” It gained them over. This was Mitchell, 26 on the time, giving nearly as good as she received. A little bit of a departure from the extra boho, floaty aesthetic for which she is finest recognized, however which doesn’t fairly match the real-life “fancy French cologne” and “clean white linen” beloved of the singer. Mitchell doesn’t want a gown to make her stand out, however that day, in entrance of a lairy crowd, her pared-down however vivid gown might have helped. EVB
16. Geri Horner (Halliwell)
The union jack has taken on very totally different associations in 2026. But 1997 was a special time. Worn by Horner a 12 months after the Spice Girls’ debut album got here out, when popular culture and politics had culminated in optimistic Blair-mania, the flag swiftly turned shorthand for a camper facet of Britpop that bordered on horny (to not point out a go-to Halloween costume for many years that adopted). Horner later auctioned it off to the The Hard Rock Cafe, which paid a record-breaking £41,000 for it, and the type was later resurrected within the 2007 Spice Girls comeback tour by Roberto Cavalli. Never thoughts that the gown is slightly black Gucci quantity, designed by Tom Ford, with a tea towel sewn on the entrance. MF
15. Björk
With a appear like a thought-provoking fever dream, it’s not possible to select one of the best of the Icelandic popstar’s costumes, given the maelstrom of sensational, typically ornate, all the time putting costumes that she has worn to carry out over the previous 30 plus years (she has, in actual fact, labored earlier than together with her good friend, the designer Iris van Herpen). But this gown, worn to carry out on the Athens Olympics in 2004, wins for sheer scale. Its 210 metres of material expanded out throughout the stadium ground. She said backstage at the show: “I represent the ocean and the idea is that my dress floods the stadium.” Notable mentions additionally for the clam shell helmet she wore in 2011 to carry out at Bestival and the otherwordly work of Japanese designer Noir Kei Ninomiya she wore to Coachella in 2023. No one does it fairly like Björk. EVB
14. Rosalía
Operatic, balletic and classical – all of the issues Timothée Chalamet takes umbrage with – however with a grungey, Berghain-inflected twist, Rosalía’s music is so hovering and dramatic that she most likely doesn’t want the assistance of costumes. But she’s getting it anyway; this design, worn to carry out on the Brits in Manchester earlier this 12 months, is a {custom} design by Andreas Kronthaler for Vivienne Westwood. It’s simply certainly one of an orchestra’s value of high-drama appears that Rosalía has been sporting to ship the high-notes and thrilling strings of her (offered out in London) Lux tour. If anybody has any tickets to promote, please let me know. EVB
13. Grace Slick
Jefferson Airplane’s Grace Slick was a fan of a kaftan and a Jesus sandal. But it was right here, headlining Woodstock in 1969 in a white fringed tunic-dress worn over flares, that she cemented her function because the archetypal, dusky-eyed hippy pin-up able to additionally belting out some fairly highly effective social anthems. The color alternative was deliberate, in distinction to the tie-dye that surrounded her. Note the snail-shell buttons, outdoorsy, bizarre, at one with nature. On that, 1969 was a really muddy 12 months. “I assumed, ‘August – it will be hot and dry on the East Coast”, said Slick, according to her biography. “I suppose I could have been funky and walked around in the mud and played with it on me, but I was kind of being prissy.” MF
12. Diana Ross
Never knowingly under-sparkled, Diana Ross set the bar for many of today’s popstars, and not by probability. This design, and many Ross wore over time, is by that well-known designer of diva style, Bob Mackie. Ross wore this Mackie gown in 1976 for a efficiency on The Midnight Special. Although dramatic by most individuals’s requirements, it’s certainly one of her extra demure appears – notably once you put it alongside the colossal gown, full with 18fT practice, she wore to the Met Gala in 2025. EVB
11. Amy Winehouse
The late singer was so wedded to her hitched-up Betsey Johnson skirts and Dolce & Gabbana mini dresses that, together with the ragged beehive and Rimmel eyeliner, she was virtually convincing as a 60s popstar reborn within the indie sleaze period. But it was this acid-print halter gown, designed by her good friend and longtime stylist, Naomi Parry, and worn for her ultimate live performance in Belgrade in 2011 that finest married her two worlds. Parry, who’s within the information over a court case with Winehouse’s father, is claimed to have designed an entire assortment for what would have been her summer season tour the identical 12 months. MF
10. Madonna
More of a catsuit or conical bra wearer on stage, Madonna solely not often appears to step out in a showstopping gown. But, on the 1987 Who’s That Girl world tour she did. Earlier within the present she really wore a maximalist Dame Edna Everage-inspired gown to sing Material Girl. But it was this flamenco-inspired gown, full with corsetry and flouncethat she wore to sing La Isla Bonita, that gave the sort of theatricality that Madonna is finest recognized for. It’s no Jean Paul Gaultier bra – that invention wouldn’t seem till her 1990 Blond Ambition tour – however it gave a flavour of the sartorial drama to return. EVB
9. Taylor Swift
Apologies to the thousands and thousands I’ll offend however it’s onerous to like Taylor Swift’s hoof-shaped boots and shiny tights, notably given her large tour wardrobe – 44 songs, 10 eras, the whole lot from Versace to Roberto Cavalli – arguably doubles up as a commentary on the strain for contemporary pop stars to reinvent themselves within the fashionable age! But Swift’s powder-blue split-shoulder embellished Alberta Ferretti gown, worn for the Folklore phase, is showstopping, elegant and proper facet of ethereal for the largest pop star on the earth. And far more arresting than the leotards. She appears good in blue and a pink lip, and the J Mendel custom-made robe she wore for the Into the Woods video is chicer, however it’s not a stage gown so right here we’re. MF
8. MIA
MIA went into labour within hours of this performance on the Grammys in 2009. Always unapologetically herself, this gown, which was a creation by British designer Henry Holland, encapsulated that. Now, popstars performing whereas very visibly pregnant is not any huge deal – Rihanna after all used her 2023 Superbowl halftime efficiency to disclose, with slightly assist from a Loewe catsuit, that she was pregnant. But MIA was a frontrunner, and as with the whole lot girls do this bucks any sort of established order, she encountered the wrath of the web: bloggers known as her a “skanky ho who couldn’t wait to get her baby about before getting back in the game!”. EVB
7. Josephine Baker
Seen by some as the first global pop star, the Franco-American might need been finest recognized for the banana skirt she wore to carry out the Danse Sauvage in 1926. But her onstage appears, which have echoed down the many years and impressed the likes of Rihanna, Beyoncé and Aretha Franklin, went properly past the potassium-rich fruit. This flamingo-pink robe epitomises her most flamboyant onstage type and was one of many final costumes she wore, to carry out at a fiftieth anniversary live performance in Paris in 1975 on the age of 68. She died a couple of weeks later. Baker’s type might need been spectacular, however it belied a expertise for stealth; the singer was a wartime a spy for the French resistance. Later turning her skills to activism in the US civil rights motion; she wore Dior suits to march shoulder-to-shoulder with Martin Luther King. EVB
6. Tina Turner
Just so disco and on-the-nose of what you may want a popstar to put on, it’s little surprise that this flaming gown was worn not solely by Tina Turner but in addition Cher and, later, Beyoncé in a tribute to Turner. The over-the-hip-bone slits are a contact of cut-genius from Mackie, who reportedly said his cardinal rule of dressing the River Deep, Mountain High singer was “you couldn’t cover anything up”. He later stated: “It was kind of a cavewoman dress. It didn’t just hang there like an old Halloween costume. She worked it. Tina had the best body, with the longest legs, and she used it all. When she was on stage she became rock’n’roll.” From on-stage within the 70s with Turner, the place it was initially worn with a cape made from orange turkey feathers, to the V&A in South Kensington, the dress went on display as part of a 2023 blockbuster exhibition called Diva. EVB
5. Debbie Harry
Debbie Harry has been photographed sporting many cool issues in her time, together with a black gown coated with 3,000 blunt razor blades to the Q awards and a zebra print gown that was really a pillowcase discovered by her landlord within the bin for Creem journal. But it’s the plain white T-shirt, worn right here in 1979 as a gown as if she’d simply discovered it on her boyfriend’s toilet ground, that matched her low-key bubblegum model of punk. Harry beloved T-shirts, famously the Doctor X one. And with these cheekbones and that pores and skin, why trouble with anything? MF
4. Beyoncé
From a Mugler bee costume to cowboy hats and chaps, Beyoncé’s again catalogue is a wealthy tapestry of unbelievable onstage appears. But it was a creation by former Roberto Cavalli artistic director, Peter Dundas, which reportedly took 50 people a week to embroider, that arguably takes the crown. Influenced by the golden work of Gustav Klimt, the gown had not solely Bey’s personal face on it, but in addition references the Yoruba goddess Oshun (related to love, sexuality and fertility; Bey was pregnant with twins Sir and Rumi on the time), in addition to lyrics from her tune Love Drought. It was topped off with a really on-brand halo. EVB
3. Cher
“She had anywhere from 15 to 30 outfits in one show, so after a while, you forget you even did it”. Cher met Bob Mackie, in 1967 when she appeared on The Carol Burnett Show. Mackie was the costume designer, and the pair went on to collaborate for many years; certainly, it was Mackie who took Cher out of the crochet and flares and into the ab-baring bare dresses and phantasm rhinestone robes. The finest ones – essentially the most enjoyable and horny – appeared on the Cher present, her solo selection gig after her divorce from Sonny Bono. At the beginning of every set, Cher would emerge from some form of cover-up or coat and, with an insouciant little clap, stroll down the stage to carry out. And there’s something fairly profound now about watching a girl in her 20s, newly single, rising from a cocoon right into a butterfly gown in the beginning of what could be an unbelievable solo profession. MF
2. Rihanna
Rihanna has by no means been a giant gown wearer on stage, so it’s a pity that she saved her finest one for the hellscape that may be a Victoria’s Secret present. Still, on stage in New York and flanked by angels twice her top, what a glance it was. A black custom-made Vivienne Westwood robe – you might recognise the white model of this as some of the in style wedding ceremony dresses in the marketplace – lace gloves, thigh-high Gucci boots, pearl choker, Chanel sun shades and the model’s requisite mall-lingerie peeking out beneath. Top tier stuff, not least as a result of that is 2012, an easier time when celebrities weren’t all the time contractually obliged to put on a head-to-toe look by one style home – which is commonly the case now. MF
1. Grace Jones
If anybody is aware of how one can gown for the stage – to not point out in life – it’s Grace Jones. She and Keith Haring had been working collectively for a couple of years already when he created this look – big-top in scale – initially for the singer’s I’m Not Perfect (But I’m Perfect For You) music video, then later for a 1987 New Year’s Eve efficiency on the Roseland Ballroom in New York. (As with a lot of the seismic artistic partnerships of the period, they’d been launched by Andy Warhol.) At 60ft excessive, it was much less of a gown and extra of an extravaganza; Haring, by amusing distinction, attended in a pair of blue denims and crew-neck tee. Jones, who was a muse for good motive to a number of of the Twentieth-century’s biggest-name designers, has revisited the look since. She wore a reproduction to shut her version of London’s Meltdown pageant in 2022 and it nonetheless felt forward of its time. EVB
