Alex Wong/Getty ImagesSince 2020 was a year that most celebrities traded red carpet glamour for dressed-down lockdown looks, the International Best-Dressed List has changed things up, and honored some of music's most fashionable artists in the process, including Lady Gaga.
“You can’t do it of just people wearing sweatpants and pajamas — as good as they may look,” Graydon Carter, whose new online newsletter, Air Mail, now runs the list. So, as Air Mail editor-at-large Amy Fine Collins told WWD, "We ended up looking backwards and finding women whose style has just endured and who continue to inspire.”
Among the "20 timeless arbiters of style" celebrated on this year's 80th Anniversary edition of the list: Lady Gaga, Diana Ross and Rihanna.
Gaga has made the International Best-Dressed List three times, starting in 2010. And as Air Mail notes, Gaga "captivated us again with her musical and sartorial contributions to the inaugural ceremonies," with her Schiaparelli finery. Air Mail adds, "[Gaga] excels at turning herself into an ambulatory work of art."
Diana Ross, praised for her "slinky sophistication" as a member of The Supremes, and her "super-diva style" as a solo artist, first made the list in 1978. Not only is she famous for rocking Bob Mackie's over-the-top gowns, but she helped conceive the flamboyant costumes for her 1975 film Mahogany.
And Rihanna, first honored in 2015, is celebrated for her "rebel attitude," her ability to unintentionally start fads like micro-sunglasses and oversized outerwear, and "revolutionizing" the lingerie and cosmetics markets with her Savage X Fenty and Fenty Beauty brands.
The only new addition to the anniversary list, which also includes icons like Princess Diana, Kate Moss, Audrey Hepburn and Jackie Kennedy, is poet Amanda Gorman, who stunned in yellow Prada at the inauguration.
By Andrea Dresdale
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
