Pop Star Style: How Image Defines Today’s Music Icons
Chappell Roan’s Statue of Liberty-inspired look at the 2024 Governors Ball festival, featuring a latex toga with a revealing cutout, sparked a surge in album sales for her album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, which had debuted nearly a year prior. The moment exemplifies a growing trend in the pop music industry: the deliberate construction of a visual universe around an artist, inextricably linking image to musical identity and fan engagement.
Stylists are increasingly recognized as key architects of this phenomenon, shaping not just an artist’s aesthetic but their entire persona. Genesis Webb, Chappell Roan’s stylist, draws heavily from drag and Club Kid culture, creating viral fashion moments that amplify the artist’s message. “People like Prince, David Bowie, and Björk created an entire world and stayed so true to that world within everything that they did, not only sonically, but visually,” Webb told W magazine. “It’s how you let people know how to feel.”
This emphasis on visual world-building isn’t new. Bob Mackie, the designer celebrated for his work with Cher, Madonna, and countless others, has long understood the power of clothing to define an artist. In 2025, a show featuring his fashion sketches of divas like Cher, Madonna and Tina Turner was installed at the Soho Grand Hotel, and in 2026, he is 86 years old. Mackie’s designs, often characterized by sequins and glitter, weren’t merely garments; they were extensions of the performers’ stage personas. As Mackie himself has said, “A woman who wears my clothes is not afraid to be noticed.”
The current wave of stylists are building on this legacy, often incorporating vintage and archival pieces to add depth and intellectual weight to their clients’ looks. Tyla’s stylist, Ron Hartleben, frequently utilizes rare vintage finds, such as a Tom Ford for Gucci minidress worn at the CFDA Awards. “Wearing historical pieces puts talent in new lights, and it invites them to be examined in a different way,” Hartleben explained. “It’s a more intellectual approach to clothes rather than just wearing the shiniest, newest thing.”
Sabrina Carpenter’s stylistic evolution provides another case study. Hartleben played a pivotal role in transitioning Carpenter away from her Disney Channel image, incorporating Old Hollywood and pin-up silhouettes into her music videos for “Feather,” “Espresso,” and “Please Please Please.” This shift coincided with the breakthrough success of her album, Short n’ Sweet, and generated controversy when Carpenter danced in a Carolina Herrera tulle dress around a church in the “Feather” video.
The influence of Y2K aesthetics is as well prominent, with stylists like Caterina Ospina, who works with Zara Larsson, drawing inspiration from cartoons and dolls like Winx Club, and Bratz. Ospina describes Larsson’s style as transmitting “this feeling of being sexy and free, that you can be anyone or anything, and people love her for that.” This echoes a sentiment expressed by Hartleben, who notes that the early 2000s were “all about freedom and taking sexual liberties with clothes, feeling empowered in your body and taking risks.”
Paying homage to cultural predecessors is another key strategy. Tyla, for example, referenced Aaliyah at the 2024 MTV European Music Awards, wearing a fur-trimmed Roberto Cavalli gown reminiscent of a dress Aaliyah wore in 2000. Chappell Roan, while not directly replicating specific looks, captures the essence of artists like Lady Gaga through her choice of designers, such as Alexander McQueen, who cited Gaga as a muse.
Beyond established designers, stylists are increasingly collaborating with independent and emerging talents. Webb worked with Zana Bayne to create a full set of leather armor for Roan’s VMAs performance, while Ospina has tapped Sorcha O’Raghallaigh to design sparkling dresses and miniskirts for Larsson. “I can create new stuff from scratch with smaller designers, things that you’re just not seeing on the runway,” Ospina said. “As celebrity stylists, we have an obligation to younger designers, to propel those voices into mainstream success, because that helps fashion evolve.”
Small details, like Larsson’s signature hibiscus blossom or Tyla’s habit of wearing her jeans unbuttoned, further contribute to the creation of a unique and recognizable persona. These individual touches, combined with a stylist’s awareness of emerging trends, are crucial for establishing an artist’s distinct identity.