Lily Allen’s ‘revenge’, Harry Styles’ Dorothy and Debbie Harry’s T-shirt – 20 onstage dresses ranked!

To celebrate the release of the film Mother Mary, starring Anne Hathaway and Michaela Coel, in which a fashion designer creates a comeback dress for a pop star, we weigh up the best performative looks

20. PJ Harvey

“Dressed like a fabulously turned-out carrion crow,” is how our reviewer described the gothic, avian-like get-up PJ Harvey wore to perform her journalistic and theatrical ninth album, The Hope Six Demolition Project, in Brixton, south London, in 2016. The dress was the work of Harvey’s longtime friend, the Belgian designer Ann Demeulemeester, and epitomises the more dramatic stage looks – melodramatic but pared-back – that Harvey turned to for her later, darker albums. As she said of the clothes: “For me, it’s about the ability to meet the world. And it is a second skin, isn’t it? It’s protection, as well. It’s a very big part of clothing, the feeling of protection, particularly in Ann’s clothes.” Who would have thought that someone who earlier in their career took to the stage in Spice Girls co-ords and hot-pink catsuits would wind up in such serious Belgian high-fashion? Ellie Violet Bramley

19. Lily Allen

It’s been called the ultimate revenge dress; on stage in Chicago earlier this year, performing a track called 4Chan Stan from her breakup album West End Girl, Lily Allen wore a dress printed with enlarged images of receipts, which some fans have linked to an an alleged affair on the part of her ex-husband. “Never been Bergdorf’s / But you took someone shopping there on May 24 / You bought her a handbag / It wasn’t cheap / I was in London / Probably asleep,” she sang, as she unfurled herself from the dress showing credit card transactions and texts. It’s a piece of pop performance art, created with the help of co-creative director Anna Fleische and stylist Mel Ottenberg, from a pop star who made a name for herself in the mid-2000s performing in more seemingly cobbled-together ensembles of gold hoops, Nike high-tops and prom-style dresses. EVB

18. Harry Styles

Harry Styles has been a determined subverter of gender stereotypes over the years but his actual dress wearing has been greatly exaggerated. Aside from a Vogue shoot, this is the only time the popstar has worn one to perform. Still, he went all in for “Harryween” at Madison Square Garden back in 2021, dressing up as “Dorothy” in a bespoke blue and white gingham dress by Gucci, marking (or perhaps peaking?) his long-term collaboration with the brand, accessorised with red ruby slippers and a stuffed Wizard of Oz Toto. Proof that the man looks as good in gingham as he does in his fancy chore jackets from SS Daley, this was lighthearted Harry giving his fanbase what they want (in comparison with his aloof little number at the most recent Brit awards). The fans and the papers gobbled it up, naturally. Morwenna Ferrier

17. Joni Mitchell

Although she couldn’t have known it, this marigold-orange dress with turquoise jewellery was the perfect look for her 1970 Isle of Wight festival performance, since described by Mitchell as “a bit of a disaster”. A rowdy, riled-up crowd wasn’t giving her the respect she deserved and, instead of being cowed, she called them out – “You’re acting like tourists, man. Give us some respect!” It won them over. This was Mitchell, 26 at the time, giving as good as she got. A bit of a departure from the more boho, floaty aesthetic for which she is best known, but which doesn’t quite fit the real-life “fancy French cologne” and “clean white linen” beloved of the singer. Mitchell doesn’t need a dress to make her stand out, but that day, in front of a lairy crowd, her pared-down but vivid dress may have helped. EVB

16. Geri Horner (Halliwell)

The union jack has taken on very different associations in 2026. But 1997 was a different time. Worn by Horner a year after the Spice Girls’ debut album came out, when pop culture and politics had culminated in optimistic Blair-mania, the flag swiftly became shorthand for a camper side of Britpop that bordered on sexy (not to mention a go-to Halloween costume for decades that followed). Horner later auctioned it off to the The Hard Rock Cafe, which paid a record-breaking £41,000 for it, and the style was later resurrected in the 2007 Spice Girls comeback tour by Roberto Cavalli. Never mind that the dress is a little black Gucci number, designed by Tom Ford, with a tea towel sewn on the front. MF

15. Björk

With a look like a thought-provoking fever dream, it’s impossible to pick the best of the Icelandic popstar’s costumes, given the maelstrom of sensational, often ornate, always striking costumes that she has worn to perform over the past 30 plus years (she has, in fact, worked before with her friend, the designer Iris van Herpen). But this dress, worn to perform at the Athens Olympics in 2004, wins for sheer scale. Its 210 metres of fabric expanded out across the stadium floor. She said backstage at the show: “I represent the ocean and the idea is that my dress floods the stadium.” Notable mentions also for the clam shell helmet she wore in 2011 to perform at Bestival and the otherwordly work of Japanese designer Noir Kei Ninomiya she wore to Coachella in 2023. No one does it quite like Björk. EVB

14. Rosalía

Operatic, balletic and classical – all the things Timothée Chalamet takes umbrage with – but with a grungey, Berghain-inflected twist, Rosalía’s music is so soaring and dramatic that she probably doesn’t need the help of costumes. But she’s getting it anyway; this design, worn to perform at the Brits in Manchester earlier this year, is a custom design by Andreas Kronthaler for Vivienne Westwood. It’s just one of an orchestra’s worth of high-drama looks that Rosalía has been wearing to deliver the high-notes and thrilling strings of her (sold out in London) Lux tour. If anyone has any tickets to sell, please let me know. EVB

13. Grace Slick

Jefferson Airplane’s Grace Slick was partial to a kaftan and a Jesus sandal. But it was here, headlining Woodstock in 1969 in a white fringed tunic-dress worn over flares, that she cemented her role as the archetypal, dusky-eyed hippy pin-up capable of also belting out some pretty powerful social anthems. The colour choice was deliberate, in contrast to the tie-dye that surrounded her. Note the snail-shell buttons, outdoorsy, weird, at one with nature. On that, 1969 was a very muddy year. “I thought, ‘August – it will be hot and dry on the East Coast”, said Slick, according to her biography. “I suppose I could have been funky and walked around in the mud and played with it on me, but I was kind of being prissy.” MF

12. Diana Ross

Never knowingly under-sparkled, Diana Ross set the bar for many of today’s popstars, and not by chance. This design, and many Ross wore over the years, is by that famous designer of diva fashion, Bob Mackie. Ross wore this Mackie dress in 1976 for a performance on The Midnight Special. Although dramatic by most people’s standards, it’s one of her more demure looks – particularly when you put it alongside the colossal dress, complete with 18fT train, she wore to the Met Gala in 2025. EVB

11. Amy Winehouse

The late singer was so wedded to her hitched-up Betsey Johnson skirts and Dolce & Gabbana mini dresses that, along with the ragged beehive and Rimmel eyeliner, she was almost convincing as a 60s popstar reborn in the indie sleaze era. But it was this acid-print halter dress, designed by her friend and longtime stylist, Naomi Parry, and worn for her final concert in Belgrade in 2011 that best married her two worlds. Parry, who is in the news over a court case with Winehouse’s father, is said to have designed a whole collection for what would have been her summer tour the same year. MF

10. Madonna

More of a catsuit or conical bra wearer on stage, Madonna only rarely seems to step out in a showstopping dress. But, on the 1987 Who’s That Girl world tour she did. Earlier in the show she actually wore a maximalist Dame Edna Everage-inspired dress to sing Material Girl. But it was this flamenco-inspired dress, complete with corsetry and flouncethat she wore to sing La Isla Bonita, that gave the kind of theatricality that Madonna is best known for. It’s no Jean Paul Gaultier bra – that invention wouldn’t appear until her 1990 Blond Ambition tour – but it gave a flavour of the sartorial drama to come. EVB

9. Taylor Swift

Apologies to the millions I’ll offend but it’s hard to love Taylor Swift’s hoof-shaped boots and shiny tights, particularly given her massive tour wardrobe – 44 songs, 10 eras, everything from Versace to Roberto Cavalli – arguably doubles up as a commentary on the pressure for modern pop stars to reinvent themselves in the modern age! But Swift’s powder-blue split-shoulder embellished Alberta Ferretti dress, worn for the Folklore segment, is showstopping, elegant and right side of ethereal for the biggest pop star in the world. And much more arresting than the leotards. She looks good in blue and a red lip, and the J Mendel custom-made gown she wore for the Into the Woods video is chicer, but it’s not a stage dress so here we are. MF

8. MIA

MIA went into labour within hours of this performance at the Grammys in 2009. Always unapologetically herself, this dress, which was a creation by British designer Henry Holland, encapsulated that. Now, popstars performing while very visibly pregnant is no big deal – Rihanna of course used her 2023 Superbowl halftime performance to reveal, with a little help from a Loewe catsuit, that she was pregnant. But MIA was a frontrunner, and as with everything women do that bucks any kind of status quo, she encountered the wrath of the internet: bloggers called her a “skanky ho who couldn’t wait to get her baby about before getting back in the game!”. EVB

7. Josephine Baker

Seen by some as the first global pop star, the Franco-American might have been best known for the banana skirt she wore to perform the Danse Sauvage in 1926. But her onstage looks, which have echoed down the decades and inspired the likes of Rihanna, Beyoncé and Aretha Franklin, went well beyond the potassium-rich fruit. This flamingo-pink gown epitomises her most flamboyant onstage style and was one of the last costumes she wore, to perform at a 50th anniversary concert in Paris in 1975 at the age of 68. She died a few weeks later. Baker’s style might have been spectacular, but it belied a talent for stealth; the singer was a wartime a spy for the French resistance. Later turning her skills to activism in the US civil rights movement; she wore Dior suits to march shoulder-to-shoulder with Martin Luther King. EVB

6. Tina Turner

Just so disco and on-the-nose of what you might want a popstar to wear, it’s little wonder that this flaming dress was worn not only by Tina Turner but also Cher and, later, Beyoncé in a tribute to Turner. The over-the-hip-bone slits are a touch of cut-genius from Mackie, who reportedly said his cardinal rule of dressing the River Deep, Mountain High singer was “you couldn’t cover anything up”. He later said: “It was kind of a cavewoman dress. It didn’t just hang there like an old Halloween costume. She worked it. Tina had the best body, with the longest legs, and she used it all. When she was on stage she became rock’n’roll.” From on-stage in the 70s with Turner, where it was originally worn with a cape made of orange turkey feathers, to the V&A in South Kensington, the dress went on display as part of a 2023 blockbuster exhibition called Diva. EVB

5. Debbie Harry

Debbie Harry has been photographed wearing many cool things in her time, including a black dress covered with 3,000 blunt razor blades to the Q awards and a zebra print dress that was actually a pillowcase found by her landlord in the bin for Creem magazine. But it’s the plain white T-shirt, worn here in 1979 as a dress as if she’d just found it on her boyfriend’s bathroom floor, that matched her low-key bubblegum brand of punk. Harry loved T-shirts, famously the Doctor X one. And with those cheekbones and that skin, why bother with anything else? MF

4. Beyoncé

From a Mugler bee costume to cowboy hats and chaps, Beyoncé’s back catalogue is a rich tapestry of incredible onstage looks. But it was a creation by former Roberto Cavalli creative director, Peter Dundas, which reportedly took 50 people a week to embroider, that arguably takes the crown. Influenced by the golden work of Gustav Klimt, the dress had not only Bey’s own face on it, but also references the Yoruba goddess Oshun (associated with love, sexuality and fertility; Bey was pregnant with twins Sir and Rumi at the time), as well as lyrics from her song Love Drought. It was topped off with a very on-brand halo. EVB

3. Cher

“She had anywhere from 15 to 30 outfits in one show, so after a while, you forget you even did it”. Cher met Bob Mackie, in 1967 when she appeared on The Carol Burnett Show. Mackie was the costume designer, and the pair went on to collaborate for decades; indeed, it was Mackie who took Cher out of the crochet and flares and into the ab-baring naked dresses and illusion rhinestone gowns. The best ones – the most fun and sexy – appeared on the Cher show, her solo variety gig after her divorce from Sonny Bono. At the start of each set, Cher would emerge from some sort of cover-up or coat and, with an insouciant little clap, walk down the stage to perform. And there is something quite profound now about watching a woman in her 20s, newly single, emerging from a cocoon into a butterfly dress at the start of what would be an incredible solo career. MF

2. Rihanna

Rihanna has never been a big dress wearer on stage, so it’s a pity that she saved her best one for the hellscape that is a Victoria’s Secret show. Still, on stage in New York and flanked by angels twice her height, what a look it was. A black custom-made Vivienne Westwood gown – you may recognise the white version of this as one of the most popular wedding dresses on the market – lace gloves, thigh-high Gucci boots, pearl choker, Chanel sunglasses and the brand’s requisite mall-lingerie peeking out underneath. Top tier stuff, not least because this is 2012, a simpler time when celebrities were not always contractually obliged to wear a head-to-toe look by one fashion house – which is often the case now. MF

1. Grace Jones

If anyone knows how to dress for the stage – not to mention in life – it’s Grace Jones. She and Keith Haring had been working together for a few years already when he created this look – big-top in scale – initially for the singer’s I’m Not Perfect (But I’m Perfect For You) music video, then later for a 1987 New Year’s Eve performance at the Roseland Ballroom in New York. (As with most of the seismic creative partnerships of the era, they had been introduced by Andy Warhol.) At 60ft high, it was less of a dress and more of an extravaganza; Haring, by amusing contrast, attended in a pair of blue jeans and crew-neck tee. Jones, who was a muse for good reason to several of the 20th-century’s biggest-name designers, has revisited the look since. She wore a replica to close her edition of London’s Meltdown festival in 2022 and it still felt ahead of its time. EVB