The Year In Music Style: How Fashion Went Pop, Again

On a September night in New York City, thousands of people gathered outside Madison Square Garden, most of them wearing various combinations of bright green, combat boots, miniskirts, and corsets — some with “brat” emblazoned on the back of their shirt or waistband. With their outfits, they proclaimed that they bought into a specific set of the musical world. 

Throughout 2024, this scene was repeated ad nauseam, not just for Charli xcx’s Sweat tour, but for so many other artists who had career-making shows, from Sabrina Carpenter to Chappell Roan to Olivia Rodrigo, going back to Beyoncé’s Renaissance world tour in 2023 and Taylor Swift’s Eras tour, which just concluded.  

The relationship between pop stars and fashion has always been unique: What they wear can make for a breakout moment worthy of national headlines, and it can be a tool to tell a story that stretches well beyond lyrics, an integral part of the universe-building that gets fans to not only come to a concert, but live in an artist’s world for a night. This year, though, felt like a turning point — perhaps a leveling — in the ways these artists use clothing to create a lasting impression on the public: Some pushed further into mega-stardom with their era-specific stage moments, as fashion and audiences alike bought in in bigger ways than ever.

Swift is a great example of the shift, with her nearly two-year-long, career-spanning tour featuring costumes representative of her style at the time each of her albums was released. There was the Lover Versace bodysuit, the Fearless Cavalli fringe mini, and the ethereal evermore Etro dress. In May 2024, there was a major update when The Tortured Poets Department was released: On that night, the singer stepped out onto the stage wearing a custom white Vivienne Westwood gown featuring a lyric from the song “Fortnight” written in script across the skirt.

While each album section throughout the tour came with its own set of clothing, the addition of a new one was a stark and literal example of just how quickly an outfit can push a narrative and a trend forward. On TikTok alone, there are hundreds of thousands of views on videos of people recreating the style. The tour’s biggest impact, though, may be in naming this phenomenon of using the power of fashion to create a moment. A sort of common understanding that a look corresponds to a specific moment or musical chapter is now known as an “era.”

Charli showed the power of fashioning an album and a tour perhaps better than any of her peers because, while it may seem like the singer just burst onto the scene, Brat was her sixth studio release. With an aesthetic tied to it, though, it hit like none before.

Luke Meagher, founder and editor of HauteLeMode, explains that “it allowed her to really define an image that will sit with her for those who didn’t know her before Brat Summer.” 

On stage, Charli wore black combat boots and Y2K party girl looks. Her fans followed suit: According to Lyst, searches for “bright green” surged 332% year-on-year. It wasn’t just the color that had people buying in — it was the idea of a messy style, including clubwear staples, ushered in by the singer’s onstage looks. As the Sweat tour was kicking into high gear, demand for “biker boots” hit an all-time high in July, up 54% year-on-year on Lyst; demand for “tank tops” rose 27% month-on-month, with Coperni’s embellished tank top experiencing a 12,596% increase quarter-on-quarter, according to a spokesperson for the platform. At the same time, Charli booked campaigns with brands like Acne Studios and H&M, looking to harness the viral power of Brat. 

Hanan Besovic, fashion commentator and founder of IDeserveCouture, thinks having a clear aesthetic without loyalty to a specific brand is a good move. “A lot of the pop stars have to be careful with the route they take,” he says. “Taylor Swift, for example, is playing it very smart and isn’t committed to one brand or a couture house. I believe that’s for a reason: She has such an impact that she doesn’t want to be associated with just one brand.” 

Rodrigo’s GUTS tour was perhaps more subtle in its fashion reaches, but the singer’s two-piece sets and pop-punk-adjacent onstage styling was a sort of nod to the ways she’s capturing the late teen to early 20s transition — it’s playful, yes, but there’s a confidence that comes from wearing a see-through Rabanne slip in front of millions. 

Toward the end of the year, another tour broke through the noise, with the costuming creating more buzz than maybe even expected. For her Short N’ Sweet tour, Carpenter donned a custom Victoria’s Secret set that included a crystal-embellished body suit, wrapped in a similar-style cape. While it may not have inspired direct copycats from her fans, the moment certainly moved her into a new echelon. The hyper-femme styling, which included babydoll dresses and slips, sparked the ire of moms who complained she was too sexy (despite presumably having…listened to the album) and the glee of attendees turning up to shows dressed in pink and minidresses. 

“I think her transition out of Disney starlet into her own performer with her own image was perfectly cemented through her lingerie and boudoir wardrobe on stage,” Meagher says. “It helped to showcase her expanding her narrative but bringing in vintage-inspired aesthetics that are synonymous with stars of the past, from Greta Garbo to Brigitte Bardot, and making them fresh for a younger audience not familiar with them.” 

Roan, while not on tour, still redefined herself for the world, using her stage looks to prove the type of artist she is. At Governors Ball in New York, she wore a Statue of Liberty ensemble, designed with the help of stylist Genesis Webb, and fans showed up in cowboy boots and glitter and frilly dresses and camo. Her outfits, which are interpretative of a song or a moment, act as permission for her fans to explore their whole selves, as well as the dichotomies within their style, as a “Midwest Princess” would. Similarly, Doechii wasn’t on the road, but her performance wardrobe was all about the multitudes she and her music contain (sometimes literally): Throughout 2024, she paired tightly buttoned cardigans with underwear, full suiting doubled as lingerie, and ultra mini Miu Miu skirts with layered polo shirts. 

“Chappell Roan and Doechii are two great examples of not needing to have full branded wardrobes to stand out among the crowd,” Meagher says, adding that “innovating, daring and fun pieces will keep their audiences feeling thrilled but [are] also somewhat relatable as they build their stardom.” 

After a year of major proof points that fashion and costumes can be an integral piece of the superstar puzzle, the question becomes: Is it a requirement to define an era in this way? Is it necessary to create a whole world using costuming to stay relevant? Maybe. 2024 showed that the full picture pays off and, as evidenced by the crowd shots and the money spent by hundreds of thousands of attendees worldwide, it seems to be working. 

“If a pop star is not utilizing fashion,” Besovic argues, “they’re just missing out on a completely new market.” 

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