8 of Aretha Franklin's Most Iconic Fashion Moments
Aretha Franklin passed away at age 76 on Thursday, August 16, from advanced pancreatic cancer, her [...]
Early days
One of Franklin's first portraits as a young artist featured the rising star posing in a sleek satin gown on a stage, a beaming smile on her face. The image was snapped around 1964 in New York City.
Grammy gold
Franklin wore an orange gown embroidered with gold detailing and a matching headscarf to the Grammy Awards in 1970, where she picked up some more hardware. Throughout her career, Franklin earned 18 of the coveted statues, including the first eight awarded for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance.
A queen
This embellished dress that Franklin wore during a 1971 performance is surely fit for a queen. Known as the Queen of Soul, Franklin became one of the bestselling musical artists of all time, selling over 75 million records worldwide.
Feathered
In 1968, Franklin performed in London wearing a white empire-waist dress with a fully feathered skirt with neck detailing and a matching headwrap. Franklin's love of feathers is one that would continue throughout her career.
The diva
Franklin performed a 1972 show in this fully fabulous rhinestoned white two-piece ensemble, complete with a pink feathered jacket and floral hair accessory.
Dressing for herself
While some may not have been fans of Franklin's getups, the diva never took their opinions into account.
When a New York Post writer wrote that "[Franklin] must know she's too bosomy to wear such clothing," the singer had an instantly iconic response.
"How dare you be so presumptuous as to presume you could know my attitudes with respect to anything other than music," she said. "You are hardly in a position to determine what separates stars from divas since you are neither one nor an authority on either."
The below photos sees the star attend the American Music Awards in 1983.
Bold and bright
Franklin wasn't afraid of color, donning gowns of vibrant pink, orange and more throughout her career. Here, she wears an embellished turquoise dress topped with a canary yellow coat during a concert in 1990 in New York City.
Beautiful in blue
The star combined her love of color, feathers and wraps in this bright turquoise ensemble, which she wore for a concert at New York's famed Apollo Theater in 2006, her first at the venue in 20 years at the time.
Photo Credit: Getty / Jeffrey Mayer
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