Billie Eilish got real about what contributed to her struggles with her body image.
Ever since the 22-year-old singer stepped into the spotlight, she has been known for her style of baggier streetwear clothing. However, it turns out she didn’t always dress like that. While opening up about her style evolution over the years in an interview with Complex on Thursday, the 22-year-old singer revealed she liked to wear dresses and skirts more when she was a child. In fact, she never wore pants and shorts! Wow!
Related: Ariana Grande Gets Emotional Addressing ‘Dangerous’ Comments About Her Weight
That changed, though, and her “body problems” began once she became a preteen “obsessed” with the one-size-only clothing brand (that size being extra small), Brandy Melville. She said:
“What’s really interesting is that when I was a little girl, I loved big dresses. All I wore was fairy dresses and skirts. I never wore pants or shorts when I was a little kid. But when I got to be about 11, I got obsessed with this brand called Brandy Melville. And they only sold clothes in one size. I was chubbier and I was obsessed with these clothes, but I’d buy a shirt and it wouldn’t fit me. That’s when my body problems started. I was around the age of 10 or 11.”
Ugh. Brandy Melville strikes again. Sadly, so many girls know the feeling of walking into that store, trying on an item, and it doesn’t fit. It sucks, and you may start picking apart your body when you shouldn’t. Humans are NOT one size! It’s Brandy Melville’s fault that they cater to only one body type instead of embracing the fact that everyone is a different size and making the brand more inclusive. Billie went on to that she “was just developing really early” and “wasn’t slim,” adding:
“Also, I was in ballet, and that’s this whole world of body problems.”
All of that combined led her to start wearing baggy clothing, so she “could feel comfortable in my body and not feel tied to how my body looks.” But then she switched up her style again, returning to her roots by wearing tighter clothing during her Happier Than Ever era:
“Then [my career] got to be big, and when I was around 16, I was put in such a box of, like, ‘Billie Eilish wears baggy clothes only. And she’s not a woman. And she doesn’t look like a girl. And she’s not desirable.’ So when I made Happier Than Ever, I was kind of like, ‘OK, people have decided that I’m this one thing. And I am that thing. But I’m also all these other things.’”
In her mind, though, she went to the “extreme” at the time:
“I couldn’t just, like, wear a skirt once. I had to completely reverse everything and be this girly girl for a second and have these pink nails, blonde hair, skirts, dresses, button-ups, bras, and lingerie. I really just did it to prove a point. I was just like, “F**k you guys. I can do whatever I want. And then I can go back to what I was doing before, and you guys can eat it.’”
She really did a 180 with her style back then! See her Met Gala look as an example (below):
Stunning!
Ultimately, while Billie thinks “it was a little extreme,” she is “really grateful” for that chapter — no matter what anyone had to say about it! Good for her! Reactions, Perezcious readers? Let us know in the comments.
[Image via MEGA/WENN, Billie Eilish/Instagram]
