Sabrina Carpenter's Fashion Rebrand
Sabrina Carpenter's flouncy and vintage fashion sense has taken the world by storm just as her music has, but she hasn’t always dressed this way.
Sabrina opens her “Short n’ Sweet” tour in a series of custom Victoria’s Secret monochrome corset bodysuits that harken back to the 50’s and showcase her flirty, feminine, vintage aesthetic. Photographed by Alfredo Flores for Sabrina Carpenter’s “Short n’ Sweet” tour, September 2024. Available via IG @sabrinacarpenter. © All rights belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.
Sabrina Carpenter is a force to be reckoned with in pop music, but her vintage style is really what sets her apart from her counterparts in the music industry. Sabrina’s current style points to a trend among younger music artists trying to appeal to the industry by adhering to referential aesthetics.
Because her career began at such a young age, with her first on-screen role being at the age of 11, the public has witnessed the evolution of Sabrina’s personal style throughout the peaks and valleys of her career.
As Sabrina dove deeper into her music career in the late 2010s, she embraced an edgier style complimented by harsher makeup and more revealing cutouts. Although she struggled to find mainstream success as a musician, the fans she had garnered seemed to attach to this more pop-star-esque wardrobe. While it is important to be your own muse and break boundaries as an artist, the absence of reference to the industry in her aesthetic may have been what was keeping her music solely in the minds of those who watched her on the Disney Channel. A lack of cohesion and reference in an artist’s personal style makes it difficult for fans to understand their inspirations and associate an artist with a particular vibe that coincides with their art.
At the release of her fifth studio album, “Emails I Can’t Send,” Sabrina had begun to embrace her status as an industry beast, and she sported garments that communicated just that. For example, all eyes were on Sabrina at the 2022 MTV Music Video Awards where she stunned on the red carpet in a black Moschino dress cascaded by a litany of multicolored flowers and a retro 70’s hairstyle to match. Despite the fact that Sabrina was dressing like a pop star, her notoriety as an artist still was not mainstream. However, Sabrina’s ensembles during this era were just a “Taste” (no pun intended) of her more referential aesthetic to come in the next couple of years that would help catapult her into the revered artist that she is now.
In 2024, Sabrina’s album “Short n’ Sweet” debuted at number 1 on the Billboard Top 200 and her single “Please Please Please” earned Sabrina her first No. 1 hit. Sabrina’s “Short n’ Sweet” era was not only a major milestone in her music career, but it was the emergence of a personal style that harkened back to a flirty, retro showgirl aesthetic.
Throughout the “Short n’ Sweet” tour, Sabrina opened her show in a series of custom Victoria’s Secret monochrome corset bodysuits that perfectly communicated Sabrina’s newfound girly and vintage vibe. Said bodysuits were reminiscent of a 50’s style bathing suit and were covered in stones that shone just as any showgirl would want them to under stage lights. Because of the obvious reference point associated with these pieces, fans and industry leaders alike could pinpoint exactly what she and her music represent through her clothing: something flirty, feminine, and fun.
Moving forward to 2025, Sabrina made waves on the Grammys red carpet in a custom, baby blue JW Anderson gown by Jonathan Anderson with a backless silhouette paired with a Chopard necklace. During her Grammys performance, Sabrina ripped off a glistening Dolce & Gabbana tuxedo, after referencing an iconic number performed by Goldie Hawn in 1978, to reveal a costume in the same shade of blue as her carpet dress. While Goldie Hawn may seem like a dated reference for Sabrina’s Gen Z fans, it makes sense as a strategic style choice in an industry that values entertainers who came before. By channeling Goldie in her performance, Sabrina breathed new life into a style that appeals to industry veterans and provides younger fans with a new point of reference for their own personal styles.
Sabrina Carpenter at Coachella 2024, wearing an oversized white slogan T-shirt printed with “Jesus was a Carpenter.” The piece fuses irony and self-reference, turning a basic graphic tee into a clever moment of sartorial branding. Worn as a micro dress with bare legs and minimal accessories, the look channels early-2000s logomania and Comfort Colors silhouettes, embracing a deliberate casualness that contrasts with her usual stagewear. The styling plays into her current fashion language—flirtatious, referential, and consciously unserious—positioning her as both muse and architect of a rising pop aesthetic. Image sourced via Dazed Digital © All rights belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.
Sabrina’s vintage and referential aesthetic could not have come at a more ideal time as it perfectly coincides with her feminine vocal style and music of her most recent album “Short n’ Sweet.” There’s no harm in referencing past eras in an artist’s personal aesthetic. If anything, it allows performers like Sabrina Carpenter to reinvent the wheel for younger fans while catering to industry leaders who hold the key to mainstream success. Referential styles will only become more common as Gen Z entertainers rise in an industry that has been pumping out stars for generations.
