“I’m Miss American Dream, since I was 17,” sings Britney Spears in her 2007 pop hit “Piece of Me” – the second single off her fifth studio album, Blackout. “I’m Mrs Extra! Extra! This just in; I’m Mrs She’s too big, now she’s too thin.”
Released as a bold statement against toxic tabloid culture, Spears’s upbeat song delivered a clear message to the paparazzi and gossip rags that were fixated on her personal life at the time. And the glitzy music video for the track – which earned her Video of the Year at the 2008 MTV VMAs – is just as bold and effective. Even 15 years later, the video still remains one of Spears’s very best. It makes you want to dance, all the while smartly satirising the sensationalism around our beloved Princess of Pop. (In the video, one of the gossip magazines spreading lies about Spears is named Rats – Star spelled backwards.)
It helps that “Piece of Me” is filled with epic ’00s style too, which couldn’t be more on-trend right now. (Spears, after all, is a pioneer of Y2K style.) Directed by Wayne Isham, the music video begins with a swarm of photographers camped outside of Spears’s hotel, where the popstar and her friends are getting ready for a night out. “I’m Miss Bad media karma, another day, another drama,” she sings. Against a wall of colourful lights, she then sports a faux fur vest, a sequined black bra, and a pair of slashed Destroyed Brand denim jeans. They couldn’t be more current; have you seen the shredded denim at Diesel or Blumarine this season? Torn jeans have ripped their way back into fashion.
Once they arrive at the nightclub, Spears then changes into blingy party dresses that could appear on a Versace or Miu Miu runway today. There’s the purple, sequined minidress by costume designer Marina Toybina that she wears with giant aviators, while pulling a paparazzo into the bathroom and writing sucker on his forehead with her red lipstick. Or there’s the white faux-fur jacket with a sheer, paillette-embellished top – this was the era of going-out tops – that she strikes several poses in. The fun fashions Spears sports in the video is the perfect embodiment of the mid-to-late aughts era, when flashy maximalism ruled. When it comes to Spears and Y2K party wear, simply always gimme more!
