The Real Reason Billie Eilish Wears Baggy Clothes, Even After Her Happier Than Ever Era

Long-time fans know that Billie Eilish has had a major style transformation, with her early career being defined by oversized, streetwear-inspired fashion. The LA native underwent a significant aesthetic change in 2021 for her second studio album "Happier Than Ever," wearing a Hollywood-glam ball gown to the Met Gala, appearing on the cover of British Vogue in a pin-up-inspired photoshoot, and incorporating more revealing garments into her red carpet wardrobe. This marked a major shift for Eilish, but her third studio album "Hit Me Hard and Soft," released in May 2024, has seen the Grammy-winning singer return to baggier pieces and more androgynous style elements. 

While this may seem like a strange evolution, the sustainable, celebrity fashion icon has some pretty straightforward reasoning for how her style has developed. "I felt pretty trapped in the persona that people had of me, and then I changed it completely to f*** with everyone," Eilish said during a June 2022 interview with NME, referring to her transition from oversized to revealing ensembles. "I wanted to have range and to feel desirable, and to feel feminine and masculine – and I wanted to prove that to myself, too. Now I finally feel comfortable in the person I actually am and being all of those things at once."

Over the years, Billie Eilish has opened up about the oversized fashion that dominated the beginning of her career. While she has long been inspired by streetwear, which often features loose silhouettes, the singer has admitted she was very much motivated by her negative body image. "I only started wearing baggy clothes because of my body," Eilish told Vanity Fair in 2021, opening up about self-harm and disordered eating. As she told Variety, "I didn't want people to have access to my body, even visually. I wasn't strong enough and secure enough to show it."

Even so, Eilish's relationship with her body has changed overtime. "It's not that I like [my body] now, I just think I'm a bit more OK with it," she told Dazed in 2020. "I'm just wearing what I wanna wear. If there's a day when I'm like, 'You know what, I feel comfortable with my belly right now, and I wanna show my belly,' I should be allowed to do that." In this way, while the singer is more comfortable wearing feminine style elements and revealing pieces, she is seemingly also comfortable returning to the more masculine and oversized elements that populated her early career. "It's all about what makes you feel good," Eilish told British Vogue. "If you want to get surgery, go get surgery. If you want to wear a dress that somebody thinks that you look too big wearing, f*** it – if you feel like you look good, you look good."

If you need help with an eating disorder, or know someone who does, help is available. Visit the National Eating Disorders Association website or contact NEDA's Live Helpline at 1-800-931-2237. You can also receive 24/7 Crisis Support via text (send NEDA to 741-741).