Britney Spears says younger stars copied her schoolgirl look
Britney Spears said on Oct. 17 that younger performers have copied the schoolgirl image she wore as a teenager, writing on Instagram that "at least mine was real."
The message was posted with a dance video. Spears wore a tied white button-down shirt, a short light grey skirt and red boots, and moved to Chris Isaak's 1995 song "Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing," as reported by Billboard.
In the caption, Spears wrote that "a lot of girls" had taken on the "complete image" she had when she was younger. She called herself "the original apple B school girl" and ended the post in capital letters: "To all the girls who say I'm History... I'M PROPHECY."
The clothes point back to her 1998 video for "...Baby One More Time." Directed by Nigel Dick, the video shows Spears in a tied-up white shirt, pleated skirt and braided pigtails dancing through high school hallways. It has passed 1 billion views on YouTube.
Spears popularised that look at the start of her recording career. The video made the tied shirt and pleated skirt part of her early visual identity, and the image has been widely repeated in pop videos and stage costumes since.
The Instagram post arrived as Spears prepares a reissue. She has released the previously unreleased song "She'll Never Be Me," co-written with Justin Timberlake, Bradley Daymond and Alex Greggs, ahead of the 25th anniversary edition of her 2001 album Britney due on Nov. 6.
The post drew swift entertainment coverage on Oct. 18. Yahoo Entertainment reported on it under the headline "Britney Spears Shades Pop Girls Who Copied Her Iconic Look: 'At Least Mine Was Real,'" while Vice headed its report "Britney Spears Seemingly Throws Shots at Pop Stars Today." Both outlets quoted the same "at least mine was real" line from the caption.
What makes this stand out is how plainly Spears tied the claim to the costume. She did not name any other performer in the post. She left the argument to the shirt, the skirt, the boots and four words about what was real.
