2016 Grammy Outfits That Highlight How Much Fashion Has Changed In A Decade

Each decade brings new cultural changes, including shifts in fashion and music. After watching today’s biggest stars walk the red carpet at the 2026 Grammy Awards, it’s worth looking back at who attended the ceremony ten years ago—and, more specifically, what they chose to wear.

Contrasts with this year’s fashion statements show how some trends have faded into oblivion while other, very different ones have emerged.

A look back at the celebrity outfits from the 2016 Grammys highlights how fashion has become more informal

Image credits: Recording Academy / GRAMMYs

Let’s quickly travel back to 2016. Kendrick Lamar led the winners with five trophies, including Best Rap Album for To Pimp a Butterfly. Taylor Swift took home three awards, including Album of the Year for 1989, which featured hits like Shake It Off and Blank Space.

Meghan Trainor won Best New Artist, while Ed Sheeran won Song of the Year for his ballad Thinking Out Loud.

Ariana Grande’s long red gown by Romona Keveza

Image credits: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/Getty Images

Regarding the star’s fashion choices, it’s safe to say that the 2016 ceremony was generally marked by more formal, less revealing outfits compared to the latest edition.

Ariana Grande, who introduced The Weeknd, wore a red, floor-length gown by Romona Keveza. The singer and actress styled her hair in her signature high ponytail.

Adele’s floor-length Givenchy design

Image credits: Jason Merritt/Getty Images

Adele, who performed All I Ask at the ceremony, dazzled in a long, embroidered Givenchy gown with shoulder cutouts. The star wore her short blonde hair down and sported a smoky eye.

Ellie Goulding’s elegant Stella McCartney gown

Image credits: Jason Merritt/Getty Images

Nominated for Love Me Like You Do from Fifty Shades of Grey, Ellie Goulding opted for a pastel pink Stella McCartney number with a train. The back of the dress was adorned with dozens of rhinestone-bedazzled chains.

Zendaya’s double-breasted suit by DSquared

Image credits: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/Getty Images

One year before she made her MCU debut in Spider-Man: Homecoming, Zendaya was already a fashion icon. The actress, then 19, wore a double-breasted suit by DSquared with a blonde mullet.

Lady Gaga’s tribute to David Bowie

Image credits: Jason Merritt/Getty Images

Lady Gaga, nominated for Til It Happens to You, never disappoints on the red carpet, and 2016 was no exception.

The hitmaker honored David Bowie, who had passed away a month before the ceremony, by channeling Ziggy Stardust in a show-stopping custom Marc Jacobs jacket and leotard.

Selena Gomez’s purple Calvin Klein design

Image credits: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/Getty Images

Meanwhile, Selena Gomez embraced the side cut-out trend with her sparkly Calvin Klein dress.

At the ceremony, she introduced Andra Day and Ellie Goulding.

This year, celebrities at the 2026 Grammy Awards stunned with bolder looks, some of which left little to the imagination, signaling that what once felt daring now feels almost conservative.

Chappell Roan’s show-stopping sheer dress by Mugler

Image credits: Phil McCarten/Getty Images

One of the clearest examples of this shift is arguably Chappell Roan, nominated for The Subway. The singer wore a sheer, burgundy Mugler dress that completely exposed her chest. 

The most surprising detail? Her dress appeared to be held up by her breast piercings.

On social media, people compared the look to outfits worn by Bianca Censori, the architect married to Kanye West, who is often photographed in skin-baring outfits.

Yungblud’s open leather shirt

Image credits: Brianna Bryson/Getty Images

Similarly, British rocker Yungblud exposed his chest by wearing an open leather shirt paired with matching pants.

Heidi Klum’s latex dress

Image credits: Amy Sussman/Getty Images

German supermodel Heidi Klum did not show much skin, but she donned a flesh-colored latex gown that highlighted almost every detail of her silhouette.

The Project Runway host completed the look, which mimicked an unclothed mannequin, with neutral-colored pumps.

Karol G’s translucent number by Paolo Sebastian

Image credits: John Shearer/Getty Images

Karol G, nominated for Best Latin Pop Album for Tropicoqueta, sported a sheer blue number courtesy of Paolo Sebastian.

The Colombian singer fully embraced the translucent dress trend by wearing flesh-colored underwear.

Lady Gaga’s bold feathered dress

Image credits: Christina House/Getty Images

Lady Gaga, who took home Best Dance Pop Recording and Best Pop Vocal Album, turned heads in a black feathered look from Matières Fécales.

The outfit divided opinions among fans, with some lamenting that it felt like Gaga did the “bare minimum” compared to her previous eccentric fashion choices.

Asked why sheer fashion has become more prominent in recent years, behavioral psychologist and author of The Psychology of Fashion, Dr. Carolyn Mair, attributed the shift to a period of social unrest. 

“It’s not just a reaction to COVID, where people just wanted to be seen—it has transformed,” she told Cosmopolitan UK in 2023. “This trend is connected to many political issues, including those in the States around abortion, the war in Ukraine, and also Brexit… It’s a reaction to the control that people are having over our lives.”

With translucent or revealing looks, the wearer feels empowered and communicates to the world that they have control over their own body, Mair explained.

“You can buy a jumper with a bigger silhouette and then discard it, never wear it again. But this trend requires something else. 

“This takes something as the wearer: the confidence, the empowerment, the sense of, ‘I’m making a statement about my own freedom here, and freedom over my body.’ There is a rebelliousness here, but it’s about taking control.”

Singer Joy Villa’s barely-there look at the 2016 Grammys

Image credits: Steve Granitz/Getty Images

See-through fashion has become more prominent in recent years, but it is, of course, not new. In 1974, people were scandalized when Cher wore a translucent dress at the Met Gala.

At the 2016 Grammys, singer Joy Villa, known for her wild outfits, donned a spiky, barely-there black look that exposed her chest.

Not everyone is a fan of modern red carpet looks, with some expressing a preference for more formal dresses

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