Style Icon: Joy Crookes

Growing up, I always felt a little bit too brown to be British, and much too British to really be Indian. All beauty ideals that have had an impact on me have been extremely Eurocentric, because of the pop culture icons that were deemed cool by my peers at any given time. Seeing someone of South Asian descent having an impact in creative industries (either in front of or behind the camera) was pretty much impossible even up until a few years ago in the West. As a result, my two identities have always been separate, with my heart torn between wanting to be Aishwarya Rai beautiful or Rachel Green beautiful - any Indian-ness dissipating when I stepped out of the front door to hang out with my predominantly White friends. This identity crisis is exactly why Joy Crookes' music and style is particularly meaningful to me. She is of both Irish and Bangladeshi descent, was brought up in London, and takes inspiration from both her ancestry and her home so confidently - this is why I have chosen her to be the first subject of my Style Icon series.

Crookes' home city, London, is her ultimate muse, and I agree that it would be very difficult not to be inspired by what she sees around her in such a vibrant place. London is not just a British city, but is instead a melting pot of numerous cultures - at any one time you can see the street-style seen in magazines and people wearing clothing representative of their own culture too. London would not be London without immigrants, as pointed out by Crookes in a Harper's Bazaar interview in February 2022. In the same interview Crookes stated that she particularly enjoys seeing British Caribbean style on both men and women, including rude boy style (which originated in Jamaica and was, in that time, heavily inspired by the style in Hollywood's western and gangster movies).

When it comes to high profile red carpets appearances and performances, Joy Crookes' style choices take a different direction. For the BRIT Awards in 2020, Crookes wore a beautiful lehenga - and instead of being seen by British publishers as an educational moment, some news outlets called it a costume. To the most recent BRIT Awards, Crookes wore a custom two-piece gown (pictured at the beginning of this article) made by her stylist, Natalie Roar, in collaboration with Kate Walker. For the caption on the Instagram post honouring this creation, Roar wrote "This outfit was a labour of love, made by women, for women of colour, for people who in 2022 are still unable to see themselves represented in spaces like these, to let you know that we see you and will never stop honouring you." Roar stressed the importance of money going back to the communities that inspired the outfit in a British Vogue interview. The fabrics and jewellery were sourced by Roar from South Asian shops in North London, and the jewellery adorning Crookes' hands was made by Bhavya Ramesh, a designer based in Bangalore, India. For Crookes, the choice to wear something honouring her ancestry is not only to assert her own understanding of who she is, but to show love to the thousands of Desi girls sitting at home and seeing themselves represented. It allows us to believe that sharing our own unique stories in creative industries is possible too.

There is something about a musician's style that is more interesting to me than other celebrity styles. Through their music, there is a self-expression that I try to connect with their appearance - not just what they look like as humans, but what they consciously choose to wear. Consequently, the artworks (especially the styling choices) that go along with an artist's music such as in the videos, album covers and performances all have to be complementary to this self-expression - Joy Crookes does this so well in my opinion. Her album 'Skin' is not only soulful in sound, but the topics she explores - her roots, political views and identity - resonate deeply with me. Joy Crookes has verbalised things I feel, like all great artists do, but as someone who is both British & South Asian, I connect with it on a different level than I tend to do with other music.

Fashion is absolutely meant to be fun, but for artists it is also a brilliant visual tool to connect with audiences. For artists of colour or of any historically oppressed culture, asserting pride in identity through fashion choices gives their fans not only the confidence to do the same, but it shows them that they too are heard and understood.

Picture Credit: Billboard

Other Credits: Harper's Bazaar, British Vogue, Instagram/Natalie Roar