It's been forever since an article of clothing Britney Spears wore got people talking, at least free of satire. But as we run out of adjectives for Lady Gaga and Nicki Minaj's campy wardrobe race, the former teen queen is making fashion headlines again. Fourteen years (!) after her racer-back bras of ". . . Baby One More Time" became a new pop uniform, Spears is rocking the world of intimate performance attire again with a $20,000 bra.
Now 30, between albums, and with a noticeably more svelte physique, Spears is also, somewhat randomly, the poster woman for a game called "Twister Dance." In the ads for the game, she dons a black rippled zip-up bra, and looks rather good doing it. People have noticed; good old-fashioned toned abs are still an aesthetic blessing, even when other pop stars are dressing like props and coloring their hair candy hues.
Then, of course, there's the matter of the outrageous pricetag. Why would a sports bra cost the same as a couture gown? Fashionista was intrigued enough to dig for explanations.
Body Rock founder Kelly Dooley, who made the $20,000 silk "Eternal Love" bra for Spears, laid out the case: you get what you pay for. And what you get is 18k gold aplenty: zippers, a removable tassel with "diamond-eyed skulls and hand-cut Swarovski crystal hearts," and some pyramid studs sprinkled in with Swarovski crystals. Other embellished bras from the line that feel destined for inclusion in a future Spears video include "the Tzarina" ($600, faux fur) and silver-chained "Trenta" ($1,850).
Automatically, Kanye West's gauche design excursions come to mind here. In fact, he should be taking notes from Body Rock for any future intimate attire design plans. A "Dark Twisted Fantasy" lingerie line, perhaps modeled by Spears (and Kim Kardashian?), feels almost inevitable.
-RollingStone