Billie Eilish’s Met Gala Dress = Her Selling Out? My 2¢

The style choices Billie Eilish made early on in her career led to her having an image that was, as I've seen some people put it, "the opposite of a glam girl."

She would cover up nearly all her body (the exception being that she would expose her forearms, or wear shorts sometimes), from head to toe, in a sometimes over-the-top way, with baggy clothes, layers upon layers of jewellery, and often at least one piece was in a neon colour, most frequently neon green.

Her look was often head to toe casual-wear, most often sweats, but she would sometimes have more form fitting or button-down top styled with some super extra pieces, like a Powerpuff Girl vest and pant combo that she's styled before.

The looks she created, whether by herself or with the assistance of a stylist I don't know, were incredibly eye catching and stupendously fun to watch.

They set her apart in a world where female artists typically choose outfits that are incredibly revealing and hyper feminine, rather than a more unisex/gender neutral style as she chose for herself.

The thing is - she's publicly spoken many times about how body dysmorphia, and her mental struggles how she personally views her physical body, has made her feel terrible about herself in the past.

While I wouldn't personally state that her initial style was created exclusively out of a desire to cover up her body so that people wouldn't talk about it so much (we all know, people still talked about her body even when she did cover it up), at least a small part of why she initially created her look likely was down to having body image struggles and body dysmorphia.

Then came that Met Gala Dress, which honestly I can understand why some misinterpreted as her "selling out" and becoming "just like the other celebrities."

It wasn't. For someone who struggles as Billie does with self-image, it couldn't be. It was more her claiming her own narrative.

More of Billie Eilish doing what she wanted and, more importantly, not letting herself get in her own way about fashion choices just because she didn't want people to talk.

No, this was a massive step forward for her.

It took confidence for her to do. It was surely a struggle she had to push herself to accomplish.

She didn't sell out, she fought her fears, and in wearing this dress, she won against them.

Do I love the dress, love the look?

It's pretty, it's beautiful, it's absolutely nowhere near my favourite of hers, and I don't think it's particularly original or creative, so it loses points there of course.

But that's not important because I love what the look represents: the next chapter of Billie Eilish where she's not hiding anymore, where she's fighting her fears and getting out there in a way she's never done before.

If she pulls back the glam now, and goes back to her old styling, it's not because she has to.

While before, it could be said that she was never glam because she was too afraid to go there. To be talked about in that way.

To be seen as "trying to be feminine and failing" or whatever else she might have been afraid of people saying.

Now she's done it, and if she goes back or if she goes forward and mixes glam, more revealing clothing, more skin, whatever she chooses to wear - it's her choice finally and not a matter of choosing outfits that make her comfortable.

She's taken herself outside the self-imposed box she created for herself. She's free now.

If we're talking about personal preference and personal opinions, what I would like to see from Billie is: more edge.

I think she has the voice of an angel and the heart of a rockstar. So I would love to see the rockstar version of her rear it's head in her fashion and style choices.

I'd also love to see her wear pieces that mix a little hint of glam into her ridiculous, over-the-top fashion sense, like her version of an Avril Lavigne evolution.

Avril Lavigne also started off with more gender-neutral fashion and then opened herself up to more feminine outfits, resulting in the internet believing the "true Avril Lavigne" was replaced with a body double named "Melissa Vandella"... stupid I know.

Hopefully we won't get such a silly story from Billie evolving, fashion-wise and even doing a re-do of her entire image as Avril Lavigne did, if she chooses to do so.