Rapper Missy Elliott has revealed the edgy outfits she wore in her first videos masked her shyness.
The hip-hop legend stormed onto the scene in 1997, when her game-changing album Supa Dupa Fly was released. In the music video for The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly), her chart-topping hit from the debut, the star dressed up in a metallic space suit that resembled a giant balloon, and Missy reveals the iconic look in the promo represented so much more than a unique sense of fashion.
"To me, the outfit was a way to mask my shyness behind all the chaos of the look," she notes as American Elle's covergirl in the June 2017 edition of the magazine. "Although I am shy, I was never afraid to be a provocative woman. The outfit was a symbol of power.
"I loved the idea of feeling like a hip-hop Michelin woman. I knew I could have on a blow-up suit and still have people talking. It was bold and different. I’ve always seen myself as an innovator and a creative unlike any other."
Fashion heavyweight Marc Jacobs shares the same thoughts about Missy's creative innovation - the designer cast her among the models for his Fall 2016 ad campaign, which was photographed by David Sims.
For the shoot, Sims and Jacobs drew from the metallic balloon suit Missy wore in her The Rain music video, with Marc noting her musical genius had changed his life.
"From the moment I heard, The Rain, back in 1997, I was entranced by the genius rhythms and brilliant rhymes of Missy Elliott," Marc wrote on his Instagram account in a caption attached to a photo of the ad featuring the hip-hop star. "Missy’s music has kept me and my design team happily energized through countless weekdays, weeknights and weekends during those long hours of sketching, fitting, styling and doing looks.
"I am in continued awe of Missy’s ability to push the boundaries of the style of music both to the eye and to the ear. It was a dream of mine to work with her."
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