Icon Of The Week: Kylie Minogue
After reading last year's Madonna icon post, a friend was quick to mention that I shouldn't make the mistake to forget Kylie; the same way Madonna influenced mainstream style, Minogue had the indie gaystream. She might not be the first pop star that'll come to mind when it comes to fashion icons, but I won't deny the power of Minogue's perpetually evolving image. Which is why I'm celebrating her this week!
Minogue started off her career in her native Australia as a child actress, where she achieved recognition in the television soap opera Neighbours, before moving onto becoming a recording artist when she was 19 in 1987. Her first hit, The Loco-Motion spent seven weeks at number one on the local singles chart and became the best-selling single of the decade. It easily earned her a contract, serving as the perfect springboard to her debut album, Kylie, in 1988.
The released track from the album, I Should Be So Lucky, reached number one in the UK. Over the next two years, all her first 13 singles reached the British top ten.
And every step along the way, her outfits garnered much attention and iconicism; even today, we all still remember that red prom dress and those decadent curls.
Minogue was initially marketed as a Sandy Olsson-type girl next door, a public image she would soon spend the rest of her career trying to dispel and mature.
When the '90s came rolling about, Minogue made a departure from bubblegum pop to a more contemporary dance sound. She also decided to loosen the perm.
With the new musical direction and a love interest in INXS's Michael Hutchence, Minogue began to explore a more sensual style. The media dubbed the fishnet stockings and mod eye makeup look as SexKylie.
Her personal look also prompted her tour costumes to severely evolve...
The release of her album Kylie Minogue in 1994 saw her take a break from sex appeal to rediscover herself, channelling everyone from Barbarella to John Everett Millais's Ophelia.
The quest for a self continued on in Impossible Princess.
The single, Did it Again, completely summarized the phase.
In 2000, Minogue released Light Years, and with it, that insanely hot (and now iconic) pair of gold shorts from Spinning Around.
While it seemed Minogue was finally growing comfortable within her own skin, she still failed to impress on the red carpet. To say the least.
It was only in 2002, when I can honestly say she was beginning to develop somewhat of a decent taste off the television sets.
In the mean time, she was still going hot and heavy with the iconic trends. You might remember the technicolour craze she started in In Your Eyes...
Or that gorgeous gravity-defying white bodysuit from Can't Get You Out of My Head that would eventually become one of the things to define the millennium.
On the red carpet, her style eventually evolved into ballroom dancing couture...
Though somewhere along the way, she stumbled onto good taste.
Her most recent offering, X, has had her exploring show girls in tour...
And the avant garde in promos.
Along with a very select few, I'm on pins and needles waiting to see what Minogue will pioneer in the music and fashion industry this decade. She might not have gone through a flawless personal fashion evolution, but she certainly made it in one magnificent petite piece! What do you think of Kylie Minogue?
P.S. I just realised I haven't wished you all a Happy New Year yet! I'll do so by sharing this video! Have a good one!
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