Photo: REX USA/Picture Perfect.
Though she is wearing a tank top in a photo shoot for V Magazine, Lorde rarely shows skin. She's more often found in floor-length, long-sleeved black gowns or oversized leather jackets than booty shorts and crop tops. As a result, many fans — both those who've loved her for a long time and those who've recently jumped on the bandwagon – have lauded her as an antidote to the Mileys and Rihannas of the world. As one commenter noted beneath the photo of an outfit we posted a while back, "This isn't something I'd wear, but I prefer it over the rest of the slutty looks young people wear."
And, while we will agree that she has fashioned an image around being a decidedly more indie type of pop star, we have to wonder if Lorde ever intended, or even agrees, with these accolades. On the one hand, any decent marketing team could figure out that the world is growing fatigued of hypersexual performances and is hungry for stars who fit a different mold. Yet, her image feels more organic than contrived, which is part of her appeal. Reading our minds as per usual, Lorde recently spoke out about that very subject for V. While she acknowledges that “people like to paint [her] in a certain way," she's quite adamant that she has "nothing against anyone getting naked. For me personally I just don’t think it really would complement my music in any way or help me tell a story any better. It’s not like I have a problem with dancing around in undies — I think you can use that stuff in a hugely powerful way. It just hasn’t felt necessary for me.” This all makes perfect sense, and it is a breath of fresh air in a time where criticizing Miley is no less trite and tired than the antics of Miley herself. Lorde's sense of style is much more realistic (if your "real" is the streets of Williamsburg) and anything other than her quiet, witchy black ensembles would feel out of place. Flash and fanfare can work very well for Beyoncé or, yes, for Cyrus, who made her name on in-your-face sexuality just as much as Lorde made hers on the opposite. But, that doesn't have to be the de facto gimmick for every artist.
In the interview, Lorde also calls herself a "hugely sex-positive person." That is a loaded term — one that gets thrown around a lot, and one that we've personally gone to some lengths to clarify. In this short interview, Lorde doesn't say anything more on the subject, but we would love to know what the term means for her personally. Either way, it seems like she has a viewpoint that is thoughtful and the result of some real experiences with the pressures on young women, both on the micro scale of everyday life and in the big picture of sudden celebrity. (V Magazine)