The Changing Looks Of Billie Eilish
In just a few short years, Billie Eilish went from being an unknown teen creating tunes in her bedroom with her brother, Finneas O'Connell, to a bona fide music industry star. She's already taken home her fair share of top industry honors, like her multiple Grammy Awards, and earned enviable gigs, such as becoming the "the youngest person to write and record a [James Bond movie] theme song," according to Rolling Stone. On top of all that, Eilish has also become a style icon. "An obsession with Billie Eilish and her style is practically required if you identify as Generation Z," Glamour notes, while pointing out that the singer-songwriter "is recognizable not only for her signature sound but also for her signature style."
In fact, Elle explained that Eilish's aesthetic choices are so buzz-worthy that "her style ... is subject to memes." But why? Well, the "You Should See Me in a Crown" singer (who could certainly pull off a crown, if that's what she was into) is "known for wearing anything she wants," and "follow[s] her own style rules," as Insider puts it. That self-satisfying tendency towards fashion has resulted in red carpet appearances and onstage looks that truly set her apart from other pop stars.
Let's check out the intriguing, captivating, and ever-changing looks of Billie Eilish.
Little Billie Eilish was adorable and free to be herself
Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O'Connell (which is obviously an epic name) was born in Los Angeles, Calif. on Dec. 18, 2001, according to the BBC. While she's now known as the instantly recognizable Billie Eilish, a striking teenager and stunning young woman, it turns out that she's always been a real-life camera-worthy character.
How do we know what she was once like? The star has shared a few baby pics on Instagram — like the one of herself and her big bro, Finneas — and goodness gracious, what a cutie. A sweet smile, round cheeks, and eyes that were just as lovely then as they are now, Eilish was certainly a beautiful child. That remained true throughout her younger years, which fans can also see via her IG account, where she's posted glimpses of herself as she got older and was home schooled, meaning that she was free to explore both her creative talents. For instance, the BBC notes that at 4 years old, Eilish wrote "her very first song about falling into a 'black hole,'" and later joined the Los Angeles Children's Chorus at age 8, when she started competing in talent shows.
At the same time, the girl who was destined to be a star was obviously also free to explore her fashion-related preferences — such as a New York Yankees cap, puppy shirt, and shiny pants — which led to a remarkable style transformation for this fascinating famous figure.
Early adolescent Billie Eilish is barely recognizable now
Billie Eilish was still a teenager when she found fame, but when you take a look at how her style has evolved over the years, you'll notice that she's gone through a massive metamorphosis during her time in the spotlight. That includes the way that she's changed from the young teenager that she was to the mature teenager that she became. However, that doesn't mean that she wasn't always ... well ... totally Billie Eilish-ish.
You'll get an idea of what that means when you take a look at one particular photo that the star shared on Instagram back in July 2019. In the throwback image, fans got a look at Eilish when she was an early teenager. Standing in her bedroom — with walls covered in Justin Bieber posters, which makes sense since she was a huge Bieber fan (to the point where her mom nearly sent her to therapy over her obsession with the fellow singer) — Eilish can be seen wearing a glitter-covered, rainbow-colored dress with thick red straps tied up behind her neck. While she's either not wearing makeup or is wearing very little, she did accent her look with what appears to be a big, red bow in her light brown hair.
Although this is a far cry from the kind of refined (if arguably eccentric) ensembles Eilish wears nowadays, as her style choices have evolved as she's gotten older, she was clearly willing to wear flashy outfits even then.
Billie Eilish stepped into the spotlight with a simple and understated style
When Billie Eilish first hit the big-time music scene, her style was a lot (like A LOT) more understated than the kind of flashy fashion that she's become known for embracing. Granted, the singer initially found fame at an age when most teenagers are still experimenting with their look in high school instead of on the red carpet at major industry events in front of countless cameras that share their photos with media outlets all over the world.
Case in point: The time that an adolescent Eilish attended the Teen Vogue Young Hollywood party on Sept. 23, 2016, in Malibu. The "My Future" singer showed up and posed for cameras wearing a "sage-green T-shirt dress, white sneakers, and a camo baseball cap layered over her pigtail braids," Style Bistro notes. She also opted for bare legs and seemed to have short nails with a simple bracelet, necklace, and large (even over-sized, depending on your preference) hoop earrings as her only other accessories.
However, despite the fact that this is quite a bit different from Eilish's later looks in the following years, she was already posing with her now-signature solemn expression, which includes a seemingly unimpressed stare and perfectly pouty lips. While that may be a look that's in any adolescent's arsenal (especially if they tend to be on the emo side), Eilish made it a part of her blossoming brand.
Billie Eilish moved on to puffy, big, and baggy clothes
From Billie Eilish's "oversized matching tees and shorts to massive parkas and sweats, the baggy look that the singer often rocks has become part of her aesthetic," Bustle once pointed out. Indeed, it's hard to imagine Eilish in anything other than the massive outfits that she seems keen on wearing.
The young and stylish star explained why she prefers to wear baggy clothes during an ad for Calvin Klein, according to Teen Vogue, revealing that it's not just because she likes the way it makes her look, but because she's motivated by how others perceive and react to her. "Nobody can have an opinion because they haven't seen what's underneath," Eilish said, referring to the result of her too-big clothing. "Nobody can be like, 'she's slim-thick,' 'she's not slim-thick,' 'she's got a flat ass,' 'she's got a fat ass.' No one can say any of that because they don't know."
NME noted that the singer's statement ignited a bit of a debate, with some "fans supporting Eilish's reasons behind her fashion decisions" while others were "pointing out that people shouldn't be made to feel they have to hide their bodies in order to not be harassed or called names."
Whatever fans and critics thought of Eilish's reasoning, in September 2019, the star revealed that it was a look that she was thinking about ditching when she turned 18, according to Bustle. But wait, more on that later!
Then came Billie Eilish's constantly changing hair color
Along with Billie Eilish's big, baggy clothes, the style-savvy singer has become known for her ever-changing hair color. She's tried out everything from a lovely light lavender shade to dark black strands with the (admittedly shocking and undoubtedly attention-grabbing) addition of neon "highlighter green" roots. "From dark tints to pastels, Billie can effortlessly pull off any hair color and she's not afraid to either," according to Seventeen. That's perhaps why Cosmopolitan had tallied 13 different colors that Eilish had tried out as of December 2019, including "platinum white," "platinum silver," "smokey gray," "sea-foam green," "bright blue," "turquoise blue ombré," and "faded denim blue," just to name a few.
But let's go back a step, because there's a good chance you're saying, "Hold on, wait a minute! Highlighter green roots?!" Yes, Seventeen also noted in September 2019 that Eilish had "dyed her roots highlighter green, which prompted some to wonder whether she was inspired by the character Jolynes from the manga series, Jojo's Bizarre Adventure." Even Reddit users noticed the resemblance (and, of course, brought out plenty of proof to back up the theory). But as Seventeen points out, "Whether her look was inspired or not, one thing's for sure she definitely killed it, like she usually does."
Billie Eilish embraced sunnies, beanies, and super-long coffin nails
As Billie Eilish's style developed, she began topping off her baggy outfit/rainbow-hairstyle looks with a few extras. The star not only loves sunglasses (like her $420 Gucci sunnies), but she also likes to pop on a hat. You can even buy a Billie Beanie if you want to top your noggin like the star.
And then there are Eilish's nails. Over the years, she's gone from short nails to lengthy (and trendy) coffin nails. If you're curious about how on-point Eilish is when it comes to her manicures, then you'll surely be impressed to know that she goes to the same nail artist as beauty mogul Kylie Jenner. Indeed, check out Tammy Taylor for some celeb-worthy finger-tipping styles.
Even Elle couldn't help but point out Eilish's talons during a 2019 interview, noting that "she's as hard as her fake nails, which go clickety-clack on the kitchen table as she reclines in her seat." At the time, they were "fluorescent green and pointed like stakes used to slay vampires." While chatting, Eilish "preen[ed] them through her mane," "prod[ded] them into her ear canals," and "flick[ed] them on their sides when removing sleep from her eyes." Earlier, "She made a hole in her left hand with one of them while riding a horse." Eilish explained the incident herself, saying, "I stabbed myself. Whatever. I love these nails, but I'm gonna change the shape because I don't wanna accidentally poke a horse in the face."
Billie Eilish goes designer punk?
Billie Eilish embraced an edgier punk-like look as she started to get older, but did so with a refined sheen, going from "1980s and '90s hip-hop and skater looks," per The New York Times, to designer duds like Gucci, Chanel, and even masked (yes, masked) Louis Vuitton-ish looks. Indeed, part of Eilish's style is to slay coveted copies from one of the hottest semi-forgers around. "While the logos certainly are Louis Vuitton derived, they aren't a new drop from Virgil Abloh. Instead, the pieces are the work of Imran Moosvi ... Instagram's favorite bootlegger to the stars," according to Vogue.
What do these choices say about Eilish? Well, they mean a lot, according to the star. "[Clothes are] the first thing that matters in every day of my life. Everywhere I go, everything I do. Everything. It's the first thing that I think about that I barely even think about it," Eilish told Vogue Australia in 2019. She continued by explaining that her "whole personality is based [on her] clothes and what [she's] wearing that day."
"I'll have a different personality for a different outfit sometimes. If I'm wearing something I don't feel comfortable in I will turn into a totally different persona that I hate," Eilish continued. She also claimed that "[fashion has] always been [her] security blanket," and her "way of expression without having to use words." Eilish noted, "Fashion is its own language. And I use mine all day, every day. There's really no limits to where you can wear anything."
Billie Eilish turned into a creep-tastic goth pop star (or did she?)
Billie Eilish may have been into a hip-hop aesthetic mixed with a street style vibe when she was younger (which was, like, just a few short years ago), but by the time her debut album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? came out in 2019, she had morphed into a super-freaky goth girl.
The singer's videos for "You Should See Me in a Crown," "Bury a Friend," "When the Party's Over," and "All the Good Girls Go to Hell" are particularly dark, and see her covered with spiders, being stabbed with way too many gigantic needles, sitting around with eyes that leak black liquid, and staggering down the road with demon-like wings during a fiery apocalypse. Even the album cover — which sees her sitting on a bed with purely white eyes, black hair, and a disconcerting smile that will send shivers down your spine — is enough to give you bad dreams.
Author of Encyclopedia Gothica Liisa Ladouceur debated whether or not Eilish is genuinely a goth pop star, saying that she appears to be a "pastel Goth meets Hot Topic new metal child." She added that while Eilish's music both does and doesn't suit the definition of goth in various ways (influence, content, etc.), her fashion "sort of bounces into the goth realm," and the "nightmarish imagery" that's presented in her videos is like "mini horror movies." Basically, "What she does visually ... is the most gothic thing about her."
Billie Eilish stripped down to make a point
Billie Eilish has to face an unfair amount of scrutiny when it comes to her body. For instance, she once made headlines when she greeted fans in a tank top. "My boobs were trending on Twitter! At number one! ... Every outlet wrote about my boobs," she told Elle. That's why she chose to cover up in baggy clothes for so many years.
However, in March 2020, Eilish shocked fans during a concert by ditching her signature over-sized outfit and playing a body-shaming protest video (which she then shared on Instagram) that shows her from the shoulders up while she stripping off her top and lowering herself into black liquid. In the video, called Not My Responsibility, Eilish says, "Some people hate what I wear, some people praise it ... Some people use it to shame me." She continues by explaining, "So while I feel your stares, your disapproval, or your sigh of relief, if I lived by them, I'd never be able to move ... The body I was born with, is it not what you wanted? If I wear what is comfortable, I am not a woman. If I shed the layers, I am a slut ... Why?"
Now that Eilish is getting older, she told Elle, "I'm gonna be a woman. I wanna show my body." We'll just have to wait to see how the public reacts when that happens, and if the star is able to continue to ignore what others think.
What would Billie Eilish look like without her flair?
It's pretty hard to imagine what Billie Eilish would be like if she didn't have her attention-worthy flair. However, she gave the world a glimpse at a more, er, normal version of herself in her "Xanny" video, which was released in December 2019. Sitting on a white bench in a white room while wearing an all-white outfit that consists of simple pants and an understated sweater, her hair is just brown and not neon, her nails aren't black but instead appear to be rose-colored, and she has minimal makeup on. Frankly, Eilish looks like anyone you might pass on the street and not at all like the outrageously stylish star that she's known as.
Normally, Eilish goes to the other extreme. "I just like dressing out of my comfort zone," she told Harper's Bazaar in 2017. "I want to dress in a way that if I was in a room full of people wearing regular clothes, I would be like, 'Oh, I bet everyone's looking at me.' I want to feel that way. That's my casual."
However, in "Xanny," Eilish opts instead for a somewhat laid back look, which many people would consider to be the more common version of casual. Granted, it's one that includes cashmere pants by The Elder Statesman, according to Harper's Bazaar, which can set you back around $1,000 per pair. So even without the flair, Eilish's style is still somewhat over-the-top.