Björk Guðmundsdóttir’s
Wacky, Weird And Wonderful Fashion
Few musicians stray quite as far from the fashion mainstream as the Icelandic Björk. Since first rising to prominence through her part in The Sugarcubes, she’s never stopped making headlines with her experimental style.
One of the more unique facets of Bjork’s fashion is that she’s as comfortable in a moomin t-shirt as a body-morphing Comme Des Garcons dress. Where many celebrities only veer towards the eccentric at the Met Gala, her street style brought a whirlwind of thrift purchases and sculptural high fashion. It reflected her music-making practice, defying any rigid expectation of music with each experimental body of work.
Speaking to Rei Kawakubo for Interview Magazine, Bjork recalled - “I remember how walking into your stores would free me from the typical “civilized” western femme archetype and be more androgyne, creature like.”
Bjork’s most iconic look came at the 2001 Academy Awards. Designed by Macedonian Marjan Pejoski, the look composed of a wraparound swan dress and a body stocking, accessorised with six ostrich eggs left on the red carpet. Although now featured in the MoMa, the look was endlessly mocked and parodied at the time, labelled “one of the dumbest things I’ve ever seen” in one article. Speaking to The Gentlewoman, Bjork said Hollywood thought she was “a naive elf from Iceland that didn’t know how to pick an Armani dress. Uh, hel-lo.”
Her contributions to fashion don’t lie solely in looks - the singer has spotlighted countless small designers, coined “the patron saint of Avant-Garde” by Vogue. As a result, she’s developed relationships with the likes of Jean Paul Gaultier, who she walked for in FW 1994.
The singer’s output has always been intertwined with high fashion. Her stage performances resembled a runway, eccentric with designs from the likes of Iris Van Herpen and Soren Bach. The album cover for ‘Homogenic’ was created by Nick Knight and Lee Alexander McQueen, while the paper dress worn for ‘Lost’ was from Hussein Chalayan. McQueen in particular was a close collaborator and friend, designing items like the dress worn for 2004’s ‘Who Is It’ music video.
All images Björk.
One of the more unique facets of Bjork’s fashion is that she’s as comfortable in a moomin t-shirt as a body-morphing Comme Des Garcons dress. Where many celebrities only veer towards the eccentric at the Met Gala, her street style brought a whirlwind of thrift purchases and sculptural high fashion. It reflected her music-making practice, defying any rigid expectation of music with each experimental body of work.
Speaking to Rei Kawakubo for Interview Magazine, Bjork recalled - “I remember how walking into your stores would free me from the typical “civilized” western femme archetype and be more androgyne, creature like.”
Bjork’s most iconic look came at the 2001 Academy Awards. Designed by Macedonian Marjan Pejoski, the look composed of a wraparound swan dress and a body stocking, accessorised with six ostrich eggs left on the red carpet. Although now featured in the MoMa, the look was endlessly mocked and parodied at the time, labelled “one of the dumbest things I’ve ever seen” in one article. Speaking to The Gentlewoman, Bjork said Hollywood thought she was “a naive elf from Iceland that didn’t know how to pick an Armani dress. Uh, hel-lo.”
Her contributions to fashion don’t lie solely in looks - the singer has spotlighted countless small designers, coined “the patron saint of Avant-Garde” by Vogue. As a result, she’s developed relationships with the likes of Jean Paul Gaultier, who she walked for in FW 1994.
The singer’s output has always been intertwined with high fashion. Her stage performances resembled a runway, eccentric with designs from the likes of Iris Van Herpen and Soren Bach. The album cover for ‘Homogenic’ was created by Nick Knight and Lee Alexander McQueen, while the paper dress worn for ‘Lost’ was from Hussein Chalayan. McQueen in particular was a close collaborator and friend, designing items like the dress worn for 2004’s ‘Who Is It’ music video.
All images Björk.