- Hey Vogue, it's Mary J Blige.
And today, I'll be going through my life in looks.
[happy music]
So, this first look is from the "I'm Goin' Down" video.
It's just all swag, and tension, and anger,
and street, and gritty.
It's all attitude.
It's an Armani suit,
and an Apple Jack hat, and some Teflon boots.
Well, the song is very sad and intense,
so the video was very, it was like, look at me now.
So what? Forget you.
I'm hot and I'm sad.
I'm mad you hurt me, but I'm fly.
So at the end of this video,
I'm wearing like a big, black Mongolian fur,
makeup by Kevin Aucoin, killed it.
And I finished my song, and I dropped the mic, and I leave.
Visuals were always a huge part of being an artist,
like from the first album.
way before I was even in the industry,
it's always about looking good.
So, this was the Billboard Award.
And I was trying to give off sexy Catwoman kind of thing
without the ears,
because I wanted something to match my Fendi bag
that had patent leather on it.
This outfit is Gucci.
I mean, at this point, I was all about more is more,
lots of rings, blondest hair, or the reddest hair.
I wore black lipstick or dark lipstick,
just as many accessories as I could find.
And I was super shy, camera shy, believe it or not.
And especially people shy, so the red carpet was like,
ugh, do we have to?
All right, I love this one.
This is Fendi. And this is actually styled by me.
I found this outfit in Sweden at some boutique,
paid a lot of money for it.
I just wanted it.
I think I did my own hair that day, too.
I think I did everything for myself that day.
I mean, this is straight ghetto fabulous right here.
We have the twisty hoop earrings.
We have the swoop.
A lot of girls were wearing the swoop, a bun.
The Fendi glasses, we were matching from head to toe.
I loved fashion.
I just loved to make sure that I was,
you know, that I can do things for myself.
And before I was in the music business or doing anything,
I did my own hair.
I colored my own hair. I cut my own hair.
I weaved my friend's hair. I'd braid their hair.
You know, we didn't have a lot of money.
But, it was about finding the best cheap things
to make them look fly.
And we did that.
So when I got some money, I was able to go crazy.
Whoa.
This is the "Not Gon' Cry" video.
This was my life. I was in mourning from everything.
This is just a woman in pain,
but with so much swag.
And she's fabulous.
And she's in pain, but she's just still so fire, so hot,
so fabulous.
You know, this is how we suffered.
We made ourselves look good.
That made us feel better.
It was written from her perspective, but it was also written
from what I was actually really dealing
with in my real life, being cheated on,
ready to burn someone's house down.
That's what this whole look is about.
You have a hood on. It's black.
Glasses, black lipstick, no one sees your eyes.
No one really knows me, you know.
Or, you can go to a funeral.
So either way, something bad is involved.
Oh.
This outfit was the day that I won my very first Grammy
with Method Man for "You're All I Need".
That was my very first Grammy ever in my career.
This outfit is Dolce & Gabbana.
The stylist said, "Put it on," I liked it, and I wore it.
That's what kind of day that was.
I felt grown and sexy in this outfit.
I felt fashion forward
because that's what I was always trying to do,
something new and different.
I was like, "Wow, hip-hop gave me my first Grammy,
not even R&B."
So, you know, I'm the queen queen of hip-hop soul.
And it was just a beautiful moment.
This is Plain Suit, I think.
This hat is Nishia Furs, my girlfriend, Feria,
who used to be in Manhattan, rest her soul.
She made the hat.
And this is called a night at the club.
I don't remember the photo being taken,
but I do remember dancing.
I remember that night.
It was before I got married.
Everything was fun before I got married.
But, I would definitely wear the outfit again, for sure.
I wouldn't wear the hat, though.
I would definitely not wear the hat.
I wouldn't do the hair that way.
I would do something else.
But, I would definitely wear that outfit again, for sure.
Aw.
I know exactly where I was here.
I was at the Inauguration for President Obama,
on the stairs, singing "Lean On Me".
It was zero degrees outside
and I had on that little blazer.
It's freezing, but you know, singing warms your heart.
It makes you feel, you know, good.
It makes people feel good.
So like, I still can't believe that I made it
to be able to do something like that.
That day, I kept thinking that exact thing, like,
wow, I'm about to sing
for our first African-American President,
which we never thought we would ever have.
So, everything was a dream come true that day.
And it was just amazing, oh.
Aye.
This is called free-at-last!
I was fresh out of my divorce and
just happy to not be claimed no more.
I went crazy.
I said, give me all the chains,
give me everything that looks like I'm free.
The amount of skin and just skin everywhere.
Like, I actually have a panty, not shorts,
but like some kind of panty
with the already see-through pants, a bra, cleavage.
I cut all my hair off.
Like, that's actually all my hair that I cut off.
It's just flowing.
Everything about it is flowing,
and it's sexy, and it's moving.
It's just fly.
I don't even know I looked that good.
That picture's great.
Oh, wow.
Now, I do remember that this is Versace.
And this is at the Met Ball.
It's so Mary J Blige in a gown.
I love boots. And everyone knows I love boots.
So, this could have never gone wrong. This was perfect.
And the night was such a costume kind of night
that you could, you'll get away with that.
You can get away with, you know, that boot and that gown.
I would've done it anyway, though.
I would've done it at the Oscars.
Oh, this is the 2019 BET Awards.
And this is my performance for that night,
before the Lifetime Achievement Award that I was awarded.
This was called I'm-all-the-way-outside.
I'm free. I'm flying.
My hair is flying.
I haven't stripped down yet. I've got my coat on.
This is an another level of ghetto fabulous.
This is queen MJB in her element, coming out to "My Life",
about to perform "My Life",
'bout to perform "No More Drama".
And so, we finished that.
And under this, we're about to strip down,
take off this coat.
And under this is a white leather romper with stones,
white leather boots with stones.
And we're gonna go put this white leather MJB hat
on to the back.
And then, we're gonna go out there
and tear this place down like we did.
I felt like it was a place of heaven for me
because I had arrived in a place,
I had just come out of hell.
And that was heaven for me, where I get to, oh man,
I was acting a fool because I just felt so good about me.
Because for so long,
someone was telling me that I wasn't nothing,
and I was too old, and I was too fat,
and I was too ugly, and I was too this, and I was too that.
The struggle was over. I had paid all the alimony.
I did everything that I was supposed to do.
And I took a deep breath,
and let me do this Mary J Blige real quick for these people.
Oh, she has arrived.
This is just, I'm content.
I'm loving on me very hard.
I'm so grateful, so thankful.
But, I'm still ghetto fabulous, and live, and sexy,
and classy all at the same time.
But, it's just freedom, freedom, do what you want.
This is an Ashish jumpsuit.
It just felt really, really good.
'Cause I remember the first time I ever hit
this Apollo stage, I was singing background for an artist
by the name of Jeff Redd on Uptown Records.
And I used to shop on 100th and 25th Street at High Energy.
And just to look across the street,
as a child that didn't know what was gonna happen
in her life, and see the Apollo,
and then end up there performing on my own,
like not at amateur night,
but performing as Mary J Blige, it's amazing.
Vogue, thank you so much for watching.
I hope you enjoy my looks and I'll see you next time.
MJB.