.jpg)
Missy Elliott’s music videos from the ’90s and the early 2000s have made her synonymous with certain outfits. There’s the glossy oversize trash bag suit and highlighter yellow shorts that she wore in her iconic visual for “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)” and the paisley, rhinestone-adorned Canadian tuxedo that she paired with a Motörhead T-shirt in “Get Ur Freak On.” And it’s almost impossible to think of Elliott without immediately picturing her dancing in a tracksuit, whether it is the baby blue one she wore in her “Work It” video or the maroon one she donned in “Gossip Folks.”
Elliott’s latest music video, however, proves that she’s even more of a style shapeshifter than her Y2k-era videos might lead you to believe. In her new visual for “Why I Still Love You,” a single from her recently released Iconology EP, Elliott travels through time. Starting in the ’60s, Elliott is first depicted as the leader of a Supremes-esque group called Missy and the Demeanors, performing on a fictional variety show TV segment in a sparkling black sequin fringed bodysuit. Then it’s 1971, and Elliott is backstage in a groovy, flower power paisley outfit (flared bell bottoms included). And finally, Elliott goes full-out ’80s punk on American Bandstand. Elliott might have established a singular style within the world of hip-hop, but “Why I Still Love You” proves she’s just as adept at playing era-specific characters, too.