How Music Artists Have Toned Down Over the Decade

By Preston Wong

Edited by Gabi Garozzo

It is no secret that people change their style. Especially throughout a decade, a person’s style can change drastically. Music artists are no rookies to having major style evolution. Throughout their careers this decade, artists have started out with their outrageous wardrobes and toned it down to their current styles. It is no surprise that artists wanted to make stand-out first impressions with their outrageous fashion choices since many of their solo music careers started at the beginning of the decade. However, these artists were able to refine, improve and even completely change their “brand.”

Nicki Minaj’s rapping career dates back to 2004. Nevertheless, she didn’t go mainstream until 2010 when she started releasing her singles “Massive Attack,” “Your Love,” and “Check it Out,” as well as being featured on Ludacris’ “My Chick Bad” and Kanye West’s “Monster.” With the release of her debut album “Pink Friday,” fans started noting her colorful and crazy fashion. She was known for having her alter egos such as “Harajuku Barbie” and “Roman,” which are where some of her fashion inspiration comes from. A huge part of her style during this era would be her rainbow wigs. She told HypeHair Magazine: “Colour makes me happy. It really excites me. I am a very visual person and when I look in the mirror, and I see green or I see pink, it does something to my attitude. It makes me feel positive.” With her wild fashion sense, her red carpet outfits unsurprisingly shock the media as soon as she steps onto the carpet. Some of her most well known red carpet outfits include the Manish Arora ribcage dress she wore to the 2010 American Music Awards and her interesting mix and match outfit she wore to the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards, as she accepted the award for Best Hip Hop Video. During the 2011 Grammys, Minaj wore a head to toe leopard print outfit which included a crazy “Bride of Frankenstein” inspired wig. At the following year’s ceremony, she topped that outfit by wearing a religious-inspired Versace Robe and even brought a pope, which caused a lot of controversy among the Catholic community. She continued to experiment with her style until 2013 when she became a judge on American Idol and attended the Met Gala, where she wore a navy blue Tom Ford gown. With the release of the album “The Pinkprint” onwards, her style has become more sleek and sexy instead of colorful and wacky.

Lady Gaga is another prime example of major style evolution throughout this decade. Her mainstream career started in 2008, and she quickly became known for her expressive artistry and wild wardrobe. However, at the start of the decade, Lady Gaga continued to experiment even further with her fashion.

She started the decade with her 2010 Grammys outfits: Armani Prive glittery outfits, including big headpieces and a urine colored wig. That night, she accepted two awards, Best Electronic/Dance Album (for The Fame) and Best Dance Recording (“Poker Face”). Her “Telephone” music video with Beyonce also included outrageous looks, like the infamous cigarette sunglasses and caution tape outfit. All her award show looks have been very iconic, but none have ever topped Gaga’s outfits at the 2010 MTV VMAs. She started out the night with two Alexander Mcqueen gowns, yet the shock came when she accepted the “Video of the Year” award for “Bad Romance.” Gaga wore a head to toe outfit made of raw meat, which was dubbed “The Meat Dress.” Raw meat adorned even her headpiece, shoes, and clutch. Her bold fashion statement caused outrage with PETA and other animal activists.

She continued her crazy fashion sense throughout 2011 and 2012 where her “Born This Way” era had her wearing more Christian and Punk inspired fashion, as well as a blue wig. This era had many iconic looks as well such as her skeleton suit in the “Born This Way” music video, the mermaid look, and her male alter ego “Jo Calderone” in the “You and I” music video. Her “Artpop” era also had its wild wardrobe, where she wore outfits that were more inspired by pop culture and art. However, she started to tone down her style in 2015 when she released a jazz album in collaboration with Tony Bennett. During the 2015 Academy Awards, she performed a tribute to “The Sound of Music” in an elegant Alaia Gown which was a drastic contrast to her past award show outfits. Around the same time, she started doing other ventures, such as acting in the TV show “American Horror Story.” Her “Joanne” era began in 2016 where she was most known for wearing a millennial pink suit with a matching wide-brim hat. In 2018, Lady Gaga played the lead role of Ally Maine in the movie “A Star is Born.” The movie featured Gaga wearing her natural brunette hair.

Her looks for the 2018 Venice Film Festival, 2019 Golden Globes, 2019 Grammys and 2019 Academy Awards all showed her classy, elegant side. However, that does not mean that Gaga had ditched her creative and unique flair. The looks for her 2019 Met Gala outfit, a notable compilation of a grand pink ball gown and sleek black dress, and her Las Vegas Residency “Enigma” all show elements of her old outrageous style.

Nicki Minaj and Lady Gaga are only two examples of music artists who went through a major style change this decade. Other examples include Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus, and Rihanna. Although these artists have toned down their outrageous wardrobes, their styles will most likely change yet again. A person’s personal style is always evolving and changing. Especially since we have another decade ahead of us, that change is bound to happen.