The Lorde of Glamour
As Dyer points out, fashion and notions of beauty (charm, glamour, etc.) is able to elevate a star’s status. A high fashion designer, when linked to a star, gives them “connotations of high society, European ‘taste’ and exclusiveness” (38).
In the 2016 Met Gala, for example, Lorde showed up wearing a Valentino dress; a handmade Italian designer haute-couture dress that, by association with European taste and high monetary value, set her apart from the rest of the world and marked her as a part of the exclusive high society.
In the same interview with Vogue mentioned earlier, even though it is written that she was wearing knitted gray pants and a t-shirt, Lorde still reminds us of her high social status and belonging to a glamorous world by naming “Comme des Garçons, Miu Miu, Moschino, and Simone Rocha among her favorite [high fashion] labels” (Heller).
As for friendship, Lorde’s public relationships with other celebrities also emphasize her glamorous stardom. Countless posts on her Instagram register her friendships to other A-listers, verifying her status of pop star. One example of this is the set of photos that she posted for her 20th birthday, which featured her celebrating with other celebrities. A specific photo of Lorde, kissed playfully on the cheeks by Taylor Swift and model Karlie Kloss, normalizes their relationship with the caption “had the best birthday party i've ever had tonight surrounded by my nyc family. all organised by tay who is as she says "a mom with no kids". i am ur kid and u love me so hard i could burst. here's to our 3 magic years of best friendship and more moments like this squished between angels”. The way Lorde calls them family and best friends normalizes these relationships, making her look like a natural pop star.
