Fashion Icon of the Fortnight: ARIANA GRANDE

This may seem ironic in regards to the fact that Ariana was on my worst dressed list of 2014 VMAs Red Carpet, however I am absolutely in love with Ariana's style choices. Usually known for her pastel skirts and pointed court shoes, Ariana has changed her look entriely following her recent album release a few weeks ago. It all started pre-single drop for 'Problem' featuring Iggy Azalea earlier this year, with her connoting a more aged look that her usual. This apparently was in regards to many mistaking her as "around 17 years old", rather that the 21 which she is, influencing her to change her look entirely, opting for black/dark colours and minimalist clothing. 

Ariana first made her name in hit show, 'Victorious', playing popular character, Cat, with iconic red hair and naive persona. This led on to her co-hosting her own show with Jennette McCurdy, 'Sam and Cat' which saw both their popular characters from 'Victorious' and 'iCarly' combine to produce a hybrid of two of Nickelodeon's most popular shows. Ariana, with the help of Nickelodeon, plummeted in to fame and popularity, starting her music career with the release of single, 'Put you Hearts Up', however gaining popularity in vast amount of countries with 2013 release, 'The Way' featuring Mac Miller. 

As said before, Ariana's clothing choices has evidently progressed throughout the years, from sweet girl next door vibe, to extreme "biker chick", sporting at her last red carpet event (the VMAs) a bandeau leather dress included with chains and buckles. Always described as "short and bright" in the past for her outfits, for red carpet style, my favourites have to include her dress for the MTV Movie Awards 2013; a smal pastel pink and white number with ruffled skirt trim, paired with nude platform court heels, as well as her mini white number for the 2014 Teen Choice Awards (also sporting a mini yellow dress that day, also; one of my favourite outfits she's ever worn). It is clear that she usually opts for whites and pinks, especially on stage in her performance costumes; which haven't left a lot to the imagination recently.
Ariana recently performed at the MuchMusic Video Awards sporting a tiny sparkly two-piece and knee high boots, which she has recently paired with her outfits frequently. This not only showed off her tiny waist and other assets, but didn't leave much to the imagine and probably led to little/no complaints, seeming how great she looked! Usually ratings plummet and complaints soar when celebrities perform in minimalistic clothing, from Rihanna and Miley Cyrus, to even Taylor Swift; however Ariana seems to pull it off elegantly and feminine, without even verging on tacky. This is also like her outfit worn for her VMA performance of 'Break Free' earlier last week which consisted of a "disco" corset, imitating a disco ball with matching thigh highs. I likes this outfit as she looked extremely fierce and feminine, and fitting to the song and video filmed alongside [video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8eRzOYhLuw (I suggest you watch it, it's great). Although this outfit absolutely slayed the rest of those of the night (although Nicki's Anaconda performance won't go forgotten), the outfit she quickly changed in to to join her duet with Jessie J, followed by Nicki, for hit single, 'Bang Bang', was highly disappointing, being a very bland black and whit number, which didn't seem to be very flattering, even on the size 4/0. (Watch her VMA performance here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXUc7KJKFpw)

Her dress down style isn't something to go amiss either, with her flaunting her assets frequently, especially on social media websites like Instagram. My favourite styles of Ariana's so far has to be her 'back-to-school' vibe clothing, such as the lace top/purple tartan skirt combo, accompanied with a bow tie only seen iconically sported by One Direction's own, Harry Styles, back in 2012. This look worked perfectly for her, especially with her iconic half-up-half-down do that she sported for years, stating on her Facebook that the reason behind this was because her hair became so damaged from dyeing it frequently for her 'Victorious' character that it became extremely damaged. Another look which I loved was the pastel purple knitted dress that she sported to The Whitehouse Egg Roll earlier this February [2014]. I absolutely loved the style of the dress (although I believed for attending the White House it was a tad short, especially paired with the knee high boots), and it suited her perfectly, like everything else she wears. I think that's the beauty (literally) of Ariana; she could wear a bin bag and still pull it off! She has true natural beauty and it shines through with her great personality and humour she sports with it. The amount of interviews I have seen of her and how much of a great sport she is makes me love her even more, let alone the fact she's uber talented with being an actress AND singer, as well as being able to bust out a whole choregraphed number in platform heels in front of thousands of people while doing all these things! Phew, how talented is she to be able to multi-task?!

In all seriousness I do admire Ariana immensely, especially with how much she is in the spotlight of media accusations and scandals, which she is happy to always clear up. Following the recent J-Law and Calum Hood nudes scandals, a rumour and a few photos attached spread virally assuming to be Ariana, who soon confronted the rumours, reporting, "my petite ass is much cuter than that". Looking through her tweets also it shocked me how much contact she has with her fans. It's unlikely for a celebrity to reply to fans frequently, so it amazed me that most of her tweets were replies to fans, telling them that she loves them, even tweeting some first saying how sweet their messages were on other social networking sites! It just shows how much of a sweet, down to earth person she really is, beautiful both inside and out (hardly debatable). 











Dress like Ariana;

❀ ASOS Knitted Dress with Raglan Sleeve in Nep
To copy Ariana's knitted dress Style, take in to consideration this pastel blue item from ASOS.Bang on trend and at a cheap price, this item is perfect for the winter, and would look great paired with some biker boots, chunky necklace and a messy up-do. This outfit is great for shopping with friends or spending the day out, rather than something for night (although casual dressed parties are at large at the moment).

❀ Textured Curve Pelmet Skirt
The style and colour of the skirt is perfect for Ariana and is similar to her outfit worn on the Red Carpet for Kiis FM 2013 which consisted of hot pink minimalistic block coloured co-ords. These would be great for any formal event, and could be matched with the two-piece top available on the site, copying Ariana's 2013 outfit, however also signifying her look opt for a black 90's style high neck tee, or even a white crop top or bandeau.

❀ Oh My Love Bandeau Bodysuit with Plunge Neck at ASOS

Ariana is not shy of anything Disney, regularly visiting Disney World with older brother, Frankie, so this bandeau bodysuit seems to channel her inner Disney vibes however tying in her usual minimalistic clothing choices. It almost is an alternative to her recent performance at Radio Disney awards where she sported a tight leather outfit accessorised with some Mickey Mouse ears. The skirt in the photo on the ASOS website is perfect to the style that Ariana opts for, however I would choose the lighter colour instead of the initial black which does connote Ariana's style, but then pair it with a pastel coloured skirt and white pointed court shoes.



Ariana's High Street Store; TOPSHOP
I chose TOPSHOP for Ariana's High Street store as I believe it connotes femininity, as well as presenting that edge that Ariana is opting for most recently. Not only do they have such a wide style, stocked with ruffled mini skirts and two pieces from her popular look, they also have a wide range of dresses, fit for the formality that Ariana presents on a day-to-day basis, in between the rare skinny jeans look she goes for when travelling and her days off, usually paired with a dark coloured jumper and/or coat, and black boots. As Ariana is so on-trend and up to date with all the fashion news, it is clear that TOPSHOP, being one of the most popular high street brands, reknown for their usual on-trend style in comparison to other retailers, fits perfectly with her style, therefore naming them a great pair in the fashion industry.
[Just to note, all stores chosen to be linked to the celebrities named in my 'Fashion Icon of the Fortnight' saga are not in any way interlinked with the stars themselves, these are fully based on my opinions and style choices of both] 

You can buy Ariana's album, 'My Everything', from here.



Cred for pictures and info to:
style.mtv.com
disneydreaming.com
gofugyourself.com
justjared.com
seventeen.com
TOPSHOP.com
riverisland.co.uk
ASOS.com
Zara.com
Mango.com
For photos, information and references

Question of the Day: What's your favourite song off of her album, 'My Everything'?