Earlier this month, when the CFDA announced that Erykah Badu can be receiving the 2024 Trend Icon Award at this yr’s ceremony, one phrase immediately got here to thoughts: Duh.
Tomorrow night in New York Metropolis, the legendary singer shall be acknowledged for her inimitable private fashion all through the years, and it’s an honor that’s extraordinarily properly deserved—and, properly, lengthy overdue. Since bursting onto the scene within the Nineties, Badu has been bringing one-of-a-kind appears to the purple carpet which might be not like anybody’s round her—typically full with voluminous silhouettes and, in fact, her signature sky-high chapeaus. “I’ve at all times had a love for taking bits and items of the issues I’m drawn to and creating one thing much more grand than the sum of these elements,” Badu mentioned in a press release of receiving her forthcoming CFDA Award. “From the music I make, to the appears I placed on, to the expertise I’m growing; I’m at all times in search of extra modern, thrilling methods to be extra expressive and join with folks—to be nearer to nature.”
Thrilling and expressive are actually two phrases that describe Badu’s strategy to dressing. From the very begin, Badu has introduced individuality to Hollywood areas. One among her earliest and most unforgettable appears was on the 2000 Ossars, when she arrived in a inexperienced robe with yellow raffia accents and an identical head wrap. Badu designed the look along with her buddy Charlene Sheppard, at a time when the singer was taking a particular, intentional strategy to trend. “From the 90s to the mid-2000s, I solely wore Black designers from New York, Dallas, or Atlanta,” Badu advised Vogue in her Life in Looks video. “I wished to ensure that I used my platform to be an advocate for younger designers.”
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Although Badu has since worn items from nearly each main trend label on the purple carpet, the main focus of her wardrobe has remained constant. Lots of her theatrical toppers have been made by the Tokyo-based label Bona Capello. “Erykah is the actual deal,” founder Thom O’Brien advised Vogue in 2017. “She helps unbiased artists and has an understanding of the inventive course of.” She has additionally remained a continuing fixture within the entrance rows of Trend Month—notably, at exhibits similar to Marni or Thom Browne. (She has worn lots of the latter’s tailor-made fits).
Extra lately, Badu has been delivering her assertion appears on the annual Met Gala, too. Her first time attending was again in 2014, when she wore a smooth white coat by Riccardo Tisci for Givenchy. On the 2022 Met Gala, she wore a patchwork Marni look with dangling beaded strands, designed by Francesco Risso. “He put a lot thought into this—he knew that I favored carrying issues that make noise and music,” Badu advised Vogue of the look in her Life in Looks video.
Under, discover extra of Badu’s greatest trend moments through the years.