The Ever-Evolving Style of Boy Bands
Frank Carroll/NBCU Photo Bank/Getty Images.The Osmonds, 1960s
The Osmonds almost always matched exactly, though eventually they took a cue from Elvis himself and wore studded jumpsuits (still all matching).
by Bob Thomas/Getty Images.The Beatles, 1960s
In the beginning, when they were at the height of their heartthrob status, the Beatles were the picture of clean cut, with slim-fit suits and skinny ties. These are the boys who sang, ever-so-chastely, “I want to hold your hand.”
by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images.The Beach Boys, 1960s
The Beach Boys brought California style to the world of boy bands. These short-sleeve button-down shirts, which are something like a Hawaiian shirt crossed with a barbershop quartet uniform, are a perfect example.
by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images.The Jackson 5, 1960s
The Jackson 5 often coordinated but quickly grew out of the trend of matching exactly. When performing, the band leaned hard into the more costume-y aspects of 60s and 70s attire with bell-bottoms, big prints, and loose tops.
by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images.The Monkees, 1960s/1970s
The Monkees knew their way around a tunic.
by Barry King/WireImage.Menudo, 1980s
The members of Menudo, the Puerto Rican boy band that gave us Ricky Martin, were addicted to leather and denim but often allergic to sleeves.
by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty ImagesNew Edition, 1980s
In their early years, these Boston boys (Bobby Brown among them) leaned hard into Lacoste collared shirts, high socks, and tennis shoes.
by Ebet Roberts/Redferns.New Kids on the Block, 1980s
As with New Edition and the Monkees, N.K.O.T.B. moved toward having their own styles, though it tended to have the effect of a single person wearing different items from the same closet.
by Brian Rasic/Getty Images.Boyz II Men, 1990s
Boyz II Men exemplify the 90s trend of band members returning to matching each other exactly. B2M favored oversize patterned suits, baseball hats, and vests. So many vests.
by Barry King/WireImage.Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch, 1990s
Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch was more of a hip hop group than a boy band, but its members still managed to synchronize their dance and outfits. Mark Whalberg, who starred in Calvin Klein ads in 1992, was one of the most successful early celebrities to partner with a fashion brand.
by Paul Bergen/Redferns.Blackstreet, 1990s
Blackstreet took a lot of the hip-hop and R&B fashion trends at the time and made them slightly flashier and much more matchy-matchy.
by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic.Kriss Kross, 1990s
Yes, Kriss Kross was just boys in a band and maybe not a boy band, but its style was unforgettable. The style is clothes, see, but worn backward.
From Hulton Archive/Getty Images.Hanson, 1990s
Are the brothers Hanson our first and only grunge boy band? In clothing choices, maybe. They wore a grunge-lite style, like Kurt Cobain looks tamped down for younger pop audiences.
by Mick Hutson/Redferns.Backstreet Boys, 1990s
These guys stayed in the realm of coordinated to matching, beginning with oversize jewel-toned suits and hip-hop inspired looks. Rachel Zoe got her start freelance styling for them, which explains some, but not all, of the outfits.
by The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images.*NSYNC, 1990s
It’s difficult to pin down one overall look or reference that *NSYNC was going for. The important thing was that every member had his version of whatever the style du jour was, and it really ran the gamut. There were denim looks and suede looks and lamé looks and sports looks. Justin Timberlake recently took it upon himself to apologize for their style on behalf of the group. “I want to take this opportunity to apologize,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “Any time you can do dancing from the 90s—wonderful—but, there was a lot of questionable attire. And, I think [*NSYNC] may have been responsible for, like, 90 percent of it in that decade. So, sorry.”
by SGranitz/WireImage.LFO, 1990s
LFO eschewed the hyper-stylized looks of its immediate predecessors and assumed a sort of post-grunge, pre-millennial sense of style. The video for its most famous song, “Summer Girls,” had the boys in tees, tanks, and board shorts. At some point in their past there was a soul patch.
by Walter McBride/Corbis/Getty Images.98 Degrees, 2000s
Hopping on the end of the 90s boy-and craze, the group’s clothes had hints of borrowed R&B, just like its music did.
by Scott Gries/Getty Images.B2K, 2000s
B2K was a short-lived boy band, but its style was TRL distilled down to its purest form. Think suede suits, calf-length cargo shorts, velour tracksuits, and fedoras.
by Andrew Lepley/Redferns.O-Town, 2000s
O-Town was a product of MTV’s reality show Making the Band, so its style was very much of that network, much like B2K. The group also shared the same manager as LFO, *NSYNC, and the Backstreet Boys, the controversial Lou Pearlman, so the band’s style was not far removed from its predecessors.
by Kevin Winter/Getty Images.The Jonas Brothers (2005)
The Joe Brothers went from a Disney-fied version of emo style to slim suits that wouldn’t have looked completely out of place at the beginning of this slide show.
By Peter Kramer/NBC/NBC NewsWire via Getty Images.One Direction 2010s
The five (now four) boys from the U.K. sometimes coordinated but they were allowed to be highly-stylized versions of themselves. They even took home awards for it, the kind bestowed by GQ. A lot of that was thanks to stylist Caroline Watson. With her help, they dug into high-end designers, including Saint Laurent, Gucci, and the like.
