“If I wear what is comfortable, I am not a woman. If I shed the layers, I am a slut. Though you’ve never seen my body, you still judge it and judge me for it. Why? You make assumptions about people based on their size. We decide who they are. We decide what they’re worth. If I wear more, who decides what that makes me? What that means? Is my value based only on your perception? Or is your opinion of me not my responsibility?” said Billie Eilish, in a video that’s now been viewed more than 40 million times since it was published before her tour in May 2020, titled Not My Responsibility. In a Calvin Klein ad campaign in 2019 called “I Speak My Truth In #MyCalvins,” she also revealed the protective purpose her clothes serve, against people policing her sexuality online.
Billie Eilish’s oversized pieces meld hip-hop style with a skater, goth influence, and have become iconic both on and off the red carpet, particularly gender-neutral, head-to-toe monogrammed looks by the likes of Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Burberry. On her most recent HIT ME HARD AND SOFT tour, she was rocking the stage in oversized jerseys, shorts and chunky sneakers, often styled with snapbacks or beanies. And, even, pre-pandemic, many of her statement looks included some form of mask or face covering to accessorise.
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Emma Russell and Karrie LamCredit
Lead image: Toni Anne Barson/ WireImage at Getty Images