The Fashion Evolution Of Emily Ratajkowski

Emily Ratajkowski has been a major player in Hollywood since we first came to know her after the infamous Blurred Lines music video. While the model started out focusing on her fashion and acting career, she’s evolved over the years into a powerhouse feminist voice in Hollywood – she’s now a best-selling author and podcaster, plus her commentary on gender politics has been hugely influential on Millennial and Gen Z generations.

She also has a lot of fun with style. Her off-duty preference is oversized blazers and loose layers most of the time, but for events she’ll play with cut-outs, naked dresses, structure and out-of-the-box couture. “I will wear whatever the hell I want, as much make-up as I want, and make myself feel good,” she recently told ELLE UK. “Which sometimes means being sexy and sometimes doesn’t.”

Here, we look back at the style evolution of Emily Ratajkowski and some of her best fashion looks over the years.

2014

2014 was the year Emily Ratajkowski started to appear more regularly on red carpets, as ‘Blurred Lines’ was released in late 2013 and everyone wanted to know more about the gorgeous model. Naturally, her style was very of-the-time. Think sexy going out tops, smoky eyes and a strong LA-party vibe.

While at the time Ratajkowski believed the music video for ‘Blurred Lines’ was feminist, she later recounted traumatic experiences on set in memoir My Body, including allegedly being groped by Robin Thicke during filming.  “[T]he women who gained their power from beauty were indebted to the men whose desire granted them their power in the first place … With that one gesture, Robin Thicke reminded everyone on the set that we women weren’t really in charge … I was nothing more than the hired mannequin.”

Ratajkowski, ever the chameleon, quickly added acting to her CV, starring in Gone Girl alongside Ben Affleck as Andie Fitzgerald, a student he has an affair with. This opened the doors for a series of film and television roles, including Entourage and We Are Your Friends. For the opening night, Emily Ratajkowski wore a slinky red gown by British label SAFiYAA.

2015

By 2015, Ratajkowski was firmly on the Hollywood A-List. Here, she wore Fausto Puglisi to the MTV Movie Awards.

For her first Met Gala appearance at the ‘China: Through The Looking Glass’ event, Ratajkowski worked with Topshop on a custom creation.

2016

One of Emily Ratajkowski’s best fashion looks was this stunning evening gown by Steven Khalil. A naked dress twist on Old Hollywood glamour, it remains stylish to this day.

For ‘Manus x Machina: Fashion In An Age Of Technology’, the 2016 Met Gala theme, Emily Ratajkowski chose minimalist, sleek Prabal Gurung. It’s not an event stand-out in terms of theme, but it was a beautiful choice for the star.

Emily Ratajkowski spearheaded the naked dress trend after Beyonce wowed us all at the 2012 Met Gala, and this is one of her most memorable gowns. Created by designer Julian McDonald, it was controversial at the time, with fashion commentator Tim Gunn calling it ‘appallingly vulgar’, but Ratajkowski stands by the design, telling Harper’s Bazaar in 2023  “I was in my 20s and just, like, hadn’t registered that it was so sexy, because there is a panel in the middle, but it looks like there isn’t. I was basically called out for wanting attention, which I think is interesting because you go to red carpets for attention, basically.”

2017

At the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in 2017, Ratajkowski wore an iridescent Jonathan Simkhai gown with trailing feathers, looking every bit the Hollywood star she had become.

At the 2017 Met Gala, Emily Ratajkowski wore an incredible sequinned Marc Jacobs dress that was reminiscent of Van Gogh’s masterpiece, ‘Starry Nights’.

The star’s gown for the premiere of Ismael’s Ghosts at Cannes Film Festival in 2017 is one of her most memorable looks.

Proving she was fast becoming a fashion darling, Ratajkowski attended Christian Dior’s Paris Fashion Week show in late 2017, wearing demure Dior. By 2017 the star had redefined herself beyond the sex symbol ‘Blurred Lines’ had introduced her as, and this period of shift was later discussed candidly in her memoir, My Body.

2018

For the 2018 Vanity Fair Oscar Party, Ratajkowski chose a moody Zac Posen piece with a cape and matching hair ribbon.

2018 was also the year we started seeing more street style from Emily Ratajkowski. Her fashion off-duty preferences were toward low-slung trousers and jeans, denim and relaxed fits.

For the ‘Heavenly Bodies: Fashion & The Catholic Imagination’ Met Gala in 2018, Em Rata worked with Marc Jacobs once again, this time for a backless silvery gown that played with the contrast of angelic innocence and daring sexiness.

2019

The 2019 Met Gala saw Ratajkowski in a custom Dundas naked dress paired with a winged headdress, all giving ethereal goddess.

Continuing with her love of oversized off-duty fashion, Emily Ratajkowski walked her (adorable!!) puppy Colombo in New York wearing low-slung trousers and a blazer.

2020

One of our favourite red carpet fashion looks from Emily Ratajkowski has to be this set that she created via her fashion label Inamorata in collaboration with Christy Rilling Studio. Minimalist, sexy and understated. We imagine Hailey Bieber would buy this as a vintage piece.

Forever a Realisation Par girlie, Emily Ratajkowski wore the cool girl label in 2020 on the streets of New York.

When it comes to Emily Ratajkowski’s off-duty style, this is one of our favourite looks. Double denim done perfectly.

2021

2021 was when Emily Ratajkowski entered her Cool Mom era, here seen out for a walk with baby Sly in NYC, wearing a Gauge81 tennis dress.

For the 2021 Met Gala, Ratajkowski wore Vera Wang as a tribute to the American fashion designer and her success in the bridal space. “We went kind of romantic,” she told Keke Palmer on the red carpet. “She has an incredible bridal collection, she did one that was all red so it’s a tribute to that.”

Out in New York, Ratajkowski embraced the cowboy boots trend, teaming them with relaxed denim and a 90s turtleneck/blazer combination.

For an event celebrating her memoir My Body, Emily Ratajkowski wore zebra print, suede boots and a fuzzy Emma Brewin hat (Ratajkowski wore several of these in 2021 – hey, when you’re onto a good thing, why quit?).

2022

At the 2022 Vanity Fair Oscar Party, Emily Ratajkowski chose vintage Armani – a structured, open-front corset top teamed with a sequinned black maxi skirt.

One of Emily Ratajkowski’s best Met Gala looks of all time was this incredible Versace creation. Featuring heavy beading and embellishment (and the ultimate party skirt), it was easily one of the best on ground.

Arriving for the Balenciaga show at Paris Fashion Week in 2022, Ratajkowski stayed true to her favourite fashion style outside of Hollywood red carpets – relaxed, oversized, and low-key.

Arriving at the Bally show for Milan Fashion Week, Ratajkowski embodied cool-girl fashion with a camel-hued leather skirt featuring a thigh split, relaxed white shirt and knee high boots.

2023

Emily Ratajkowski has been one of several high-profile fashion celebrities embracing the micro mini for 2023.

At the Loewe Paris Fashion Week show for 2023, Ratajkowski wore one of the label’s most daring looks – the art-piece Leaf top with oversized trousers.

Emily Ratajkowski and naked dresses is a love affair that clearly isn’t going anywhere – while the star has diversified her red carpet fashion looks over the years, she remains a fan of daring gowns and never fails to nail the look. Here, the star wore London designer Feben – a glittering, mesh gown that was one of the best looks from the event.

In her personal essay for Lena Dunham’s Lenny Letter in 2016, Ratajkowski addressed the criticism she often generates due to her fashion choices. “The implication is that to be sexual is to be trashy because being sexy means playing into men’s desires. To me, ‘sexy’ is a kind of beauty, a kind of self-expression, one that is to be celebrated, one that is wonderfully female. Why does the implication have to be that sex is a thing men get to take from women and women give up?”