Badu has been unafraid to lean into culturally loaded magnificence and trend, routinely donning bangles and arm cuffs, tribal make-up, and kente fabric. However her strategy by no means feels heady or laborious. Working example: Badu retaining issues recent and enjoyable with a denim-on-demin-on-denim take a look at the 1999 Soul Practice Awards.
The star has not rested on her laurels through the years, both. Regular reinvention and evolution are on the coronary heart of her type journey. The discharge of Badu’s 2000 album, Mama’s Gun, noticed the star lean into even bolder appears: green-tinged micro braids for the 2002 Grammys purple carpet; an afro and a cutoff band-tee for a similar occasion a yr later. She even has generated buzz for carrying, effectively, nothing. Her highly effective 2010 visible for “Window Seat”—which featured the star slowly shedding her garments in downtown Dallas—naturally made headlines.
In more moderen years, Badu has embraced boldly outsized silhouettes and items. Suppose toddler-height bowler hats, voluminous overcoats, dramatic bell sleeves, a swimsuit gown with a prepare evocative of freshly picked cotton. The evolution looks like a pure and thrilling development for a star who has mentioned rather a lot by way of her trend. As of late, she has turned increasingly to luxurious manufacturers for help, most notably Thom Browne. The star attended the model’s spring 2023 present in a Southern Gothic-leaning androgynous and brooding swimsuit by the American designer. At 51, Badu is a strong illustration that type solely will get higher—and extra skillfully refined—with age.
Under, try a few of Erykah Badu’s most memorable appears through the years.
Erykah Badu performs on the One Love Bob Marley Pageant in Oracabessa, Jamaica, in 1999.Photograph: Getty Photos
