Back in 2017, a plucky young singer named Billie Eilish burst onto the scene, equipped with haunting vocals, sharp lyrics, and a totally incongruous personal style. Eilish’s streetwear-influenced fashion sense is marked by her love of neon hues, oversized silhouettes, monograms, and graffiti—a far cry from her heart-wrenching ballads and soft singing voice.
But it’s that dissonance that makes Billie Eilish, well, Billie Eilish. Over the last several years, as she’s grown from sweet teen to self-assured adult, the singer has undergone quite a style evolution. While she infused her look with a youthful energy—repping cartoon characters including Jessica Rabbit, the Powerpuff Girls, and Sailor Moon—she also shows off her more grown-up side, albeit, on her terms. See the Commes Des Garçons tee she wore with an extra long blue necktie, or the one she paired with a black tee and basketball shorts.
Eilish has been candid about her relationship with her body, and how that’s informed her clothing choices. “I only started wearing baggy clothes because of my body,” she told Vanity Fair in 2021. While she still tends to stick to her de rigueur look, she does occasionally lean into the feminine, whether that means wearing a frilly Simone Rocha dress to host SNL, channeling her inner Marilyn at the Met Gala, or wearing a ladylike tweed skirt to the Oscars.
Still, Eilish has faced criticism for experimenting with her femininity through fashion. “I spent the first 5 years of my career getting absolutely OBLITERATED by you fools for being boy ish and dressing how i did & constantly being told I’d be hotter if I acted like a woman,” she wrote in a 2023 Instagram story. “And now when I feel comfortable enough to wear anything remotely feminine or fitting, i CHANGED and am a sellout.”
Despite the trolls, Eilish is more herself than ever. She’s done promotion for her latest album, Hit Me Hard and Soft, in long, baggy shorts and wire-rimmed glasses, and has hit the stage in sports jerseys and knee-pads. She looks just as at home in streetwear from Left Hand LA and ERL as she does in a Gucci monogrammed suit or a Willy Chavarria skirt. No matter what she’s wearing, we can always count on her to do it her way.
In honor of Billie Eilish’s November 2024 cover of Vogue, take a look back at the singer’s style evolution, from 2017 til now.
