In everything Billie Eilish does, she always excels, whether it be achieving Instagram records or breaking stereotypes left and right.
In no uncertain terms, Billie Eilish is a Gen-Z superstar. At only 19 years old, she has broken numerous records,won multiple awards, and encouraged an entire generation. Aside from her music, what attracts people to Billie Eilish is the way she carries herself. To put it bluntly, she does not give a single f**k. She wears clothes that make her comfortable, which most of the time are oversized designer clothes. She’s honest, genuine in her interviews, and speaks up about the right causes.
Many people may know Billie as the singer who wears baggy clothes, but she blew everyone away with a pin-up inspired look for the June 2021 cover of British Vogue. We’ve already seen her trade in her iconic acid green and black ombre hair and shed her signature in her latest video, Your Power. And true to her personality, she was very honest about what message she wants her new look to give off in her stunning, grown-up turn for the fashion bible.
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Pin-up Inspired Cover Star
On the cover and in the spread, Billie Eilish wears corsets and dresses by high fashion designer brands such as Gucci, Burberry, Alexander McQueen, and Mugler. She shows a lot of skin to the point where we can even see part of her tattoo she got last year. According to British Vogue, the shoot idea was entirely Billie’s idea with her quipping, “I’ve literally never done anything in this realm at all. Y’know, besides when I’m alone and s**t.” All the looks give off a classic pin-up model feel with British Vogue adding that the looks were inspired by “Betty Brosmer, Horst’s illusionist beauty shots and the stockinged models of Elmer Batters.” Billie’s post of her British Vogue cover on Instagram reach 1 million likes in six minutes, a platform record, and became the fastest picture to get 10 million likes on Instagram.
It’s safe to say then that a lot of people liked Billie’s new look, but it could also invite questions that Billie is breaking her image. After all, she is seen as the antithesis to the industry standard of turning young woman into sexual objects and a symbol of body positivity. To hear it from Billie though, it is the exact opposite.
Billie Eilish Living Her Truth
Billie Eilish has never claimed to be an icon for body positivity, and she lets out her frustration as such in the interview “It made me really offended when people were like, ‘Good for her for feeling comfortable in her bigger skin. Jesus Christ?! Good for me? F**k off!” She then goes on to add “The more the internet and the world care about somebody that’s doing something they’re not used to, they put it on such a high pedestal that then it’s even worse.”
“Suddenly you’re a hypocrite if you want to show your skin, and you’re easy and you’re a slut and you’re a whore. If I am, then I’m proud.”
—Billie Eilish, 2021
Later in the interview, Billie Eilish goes on to explain her response to people who question her change in image ‘If you’re about body positivity, why would you wear a corset? Why wouldn’t you show your actual body?’ My thing is that I can do whatever I want. It’s all about what makes you feel good. If you want to get surgery, go get surgery. If you want to wear a dress that somebody thinks that you look too big wearing, f**k it – if you feel like you look good, you look good.”
What proves to be one of the most powerful quotes in her interview, she says “Suddenly you’re a hypocrite if you want to show your skin, and you’re easy and you’re a slut and you’re a whore. If I am, then I’m proud. Me and all the girls are hoes, and f**k it, y’know? Let’s turn it around and be empowered in that.”
Her Power
Also in the interview, she talks about her latest single, Your Power, and the powerful meaning behind it. The song sees Billie sing about being in an abusive relationship with an older man and how it affected her. “It’s about taking that power back, showing it off, and not taking advantage of it. I’m not letting myself be owned anymore.” People in power abusing those who are lower than them is a reality happening in all parts of society, not just in the music industry. It is refreshing then to see someone like Billie Eilish open up about it because a lot of young women and men can relate to what she is singing about.
What Billie Eilish proved with her British Vogue cover was what it truly means to be body positive. Yes, Billie does like to wear big clothes in public, but that doesn’t mean she can’t enjoy showing her body every now and then. Billie does things her own way and by her own rules and does so with so much confidence. She is not a sell-out; she is being true to who she is. This isn’t the first time she addressed people who comment on her body, and this probably won’t be the last either. But with the way she carried herself on British Vogue, we know she’ll do so in her signature confidence and humor. As Billie perfectly says “Showing your body and showing your skin—or not—should not take any respect away from you.” And that makes us love her even more.
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