Only two mere months have passed in 2020 and, so far, 18-year-old Billie Eilish is already having a remarkable year. The pop singer has accrued four Grammy awards last month and released a single, “No Time to Die” for the latest James Bond film. Her work on the movie led her to the red carpet for the Oscars, where she wore an oversized Chanel tweed suit with lace “CHANEL” gloves and double C broaches. A far departure from the traditional Chanel look, but entirely on-brand for the “Bad Guy” singer - whose recognizable style is a mixture of soft goth excellence, logomania and 90s R&B influences. Her style code is so recognizable, it has spurred viral “I dressed like Billie Eilish for a day” videos and countless “how to dress like Billie Eilish” guides online.
The singer’s relationship to specific types of clothing offers a look into her personality, beyond the image she has curated in the media. Using the Big 5 personality model, we’ll take a look at the personality traits encrypted in the styles that she gravitates to. Decoding the hidden meaning in Billie Eilish’s personal style:
Openness: High
There is a lot about Billie Eilish that hints at her scoring high on the openness scale - from choosing the “tour life,” traveling all of the time, to turning her artistic passion into a full-time career, to her lofty, cerebral lyrics. (Who else thinks about When We Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? , as per album name) And as far as outfits are considered, she couldn’t be further from boring and traditional. Even when she had a medical injury, Billie continued to rock out her medical walking boot by pairing it with a slime green Chanel tee and layered industrial chains. The look was still so characteristically Eilish that English singer Anne Marie recreated the full outfit as her Halloween costume - walking boot included.
Conscientiousness: Moderate
Conscientiousness is trait that is typically gauged by how fastidious, or careless, one is about the happenings in their life. However, the style markers that indicate a highly conscientious person are traditional colors, an overall neat appearance, and conformist designs, since they appeal to a certain proclivity toward reliability and organization. Eilish’s style is opposite to conformity, she’ll wear spray-painted sweatpants on the red carpet and opts for baggy sizing over form fitting. But then again, she’s been writing her own music since she was 13, demonstrating goal-getting behavior, countering her lax looks and rendering her Moderate.
Extroversion: Moderate-High
Consistently adorning major statement pieces, inciting mosh pits and stage diving into crowds of screaming fans would lead one to believe that Billie Eilish is a full-blown extrovert. While this may be true, it's also clear from her oversized cozy-girl looks (and decision to still live at her parent’s home) that there is an introverted side to this starlet. The cartoon characters often emblazoned on her wardrobe signify the relatable and introverted side Eilish, as a teen who likes to stay at home watching TV. And the hefty price tag of her outfits reminds us all that she makes her living as a performer - an extrovert of sorts. This type of balance in her wardrobe, between the drama of her outfits and the comfort that they provide her, underlines the hidden tension Eilish has often spoken about in interviews: between wanting to perform and wanting to stay at home with her family and friends.
Agreeableness: Moderate-Low
Billie Eilish and Billie Eilish style, may be many things, yet agreeableness is not one of them. Always against the grain, Eilish uses baggy clothing as a way to refuse visual access to her body and ward off oversexualization in the media. These precautionary sartorial measures have led to her becoming one of most identifiable style icons today.
Agreeableness is measured by how likely you are to keep the peace or say exactly what’s on your mind - no matter how brutal your thoughts may be. Stylistically, a person who is more on the agreeable side is likely to be seen in neutral colors and mild prints, like a pastel floral. The latter is typically drawn to darker colors and more, traditionally, eyebrow raising designs, such as Billie Eilish’s counterfeit designer clothing. The singer is also known to vocalize her issues when needed, like when she called out Nylon, Germany for using her picture on their cover without her consent and editing her t-shirt out of the image.
Eilish is known to exert her influence on major fashion houses, like Chanel and Gucci. When designers of these houses work with the singer, they adapt to fit her unique style rather than expect her to conform to their signature looks.
Neuroticism: Moderate-High
Eilish isn’t afraid of the dark, and it’s what makes her so interesting. It’s clear that Eilish has a lot on her mind, with lyrics that engender feelings of anxiety and existential dread like, “Why aren't you scared of me? Why do you care for me? When we all fall asleep, where do we go?” Her visual impact is influenced by the dark corners of her mind and uses nightmarish imagery to establish herself as an alternative pop artist. Surely, coming of age under the pressures of fame cannot be easy, but Eilish does happen to make it look really good with her creative styles and out-there fashion risks.
Neuroticism’s connection to creativity is a well-documented relationship, which has been a source of silent suffering for artists in the past. Fortunately, today, mental health has become less of a stigmatized discussion and more of a productive one. A discussion that Eilish herself has contributed to during an interview with Rolling Stone, where she shared that maximizing comfort on tour was a top priority for maintaining her mental health.
We can’t wait to see the records she breaks and surprising looks she develops in the future.
We use the ‘Driver’s License’ singer’s sartorial style to infer where she would score on the Big Five Personality test.