Britney Spears’s Britney Turned Her Into a Style Icon

“I’m not a girl, not but a lady,” Britney Spears sang these now-iconic lyrics on track 4 of her 2001 album, Britney. While the line straight spoke to her period of existence, it was also indicative of the pop icon’s evolving individual type. Possessing just skyrocketed to fame with her to start with two studio albums, “… Infant 1 More Time” and “Oops!… I Did It Once again,” the then-20 12 months previous lose her innocent schoolgirl search in favor of sexier outfits and a far more provocative audio over-all for her third. (Britney opens with “I’m a Slave 4 U,” in which she proclaims, “I require to do, what I come to feel like doin’—so let me go, and just hear.”) In honor of the sport-transforming album’s 20th anniversary this 7 days, Vogue is looking back again at some of the singer’s very best appears to be from the era (cue the infamous denim gown she wore to the AMAs).

Acquiring cultivated a far more wholesome (but even now theatrical) pop-star seem with “…Baby One particular Additional Time” and “Oops!,” Spears experimented with her newfound self confidence as a younger grownup for the duration of the Britney period, displaying a minor far more skin in the procedure. Famously, the media relentlessly criticized her for it, stating her new picture was overtly-sexualized—but wanting back, there was nothing perverse about her model. In actuality, it was really refined, especially on the pink carpet. Spears generally wore glitzy evening gowns and negligible, ethereal slip dresses—two garments that rarely make her a “negative instance for little ones.” Take into account her dress for a Cannes press convention in 2001, when she wore a sweet Matthew Williamson v-neck mini from his spring 2002 collection, included in embroidered butterflies.

Spears also experimented with kitschier appears to be like for activities, which had been typically styled by the duo Kurt and Bart. Acquire the patchwork denim robe that the pair intended for her at the 2001 AMAs (her boyfriend at the time, Justin Timberlake, also wore a matching denim accommodate.) At the VMAs the exact same calendar year, Spears wore a Dolce & Gabbana black lace gown that had all people chatting, thanks to its exposed black bra and underwear worn underneath it. But once more, nobody would bat an eyelash if it were on the purple carpet now. Perhaps men and women had been mad for the reason that it was, quite simply, unapologetically hot. 

In her phase performances and new music films, Spears additional leaned into that racier vibe. Her 2001 VMAs “Slave” functionality ensemble—the a person with a authentic python on her shoulders—continues to be talked about right now. But she typically wore shredded or cropped tops designed personalized for her by Alina Campbell, who built her off-the-shoulder major for the Britney album include, during this era, also. For the “Slave 4 U” video, Campbell built a cropped top rated for Spears that was trimmed with gold lace and flower appliqués, and then finished with a matching arm cuff and very low-rise denims. Go figure, bicep cuffs and minimal-increase denim are the two coming back again right now. Spears was simply ahead of the curve. 

Beneath, additional of Spears’s best seems from the Britney era.