17 of the most controversial outfits musicians have worn

"This was one of my favorite outfits," Cher told Vogue in 2019. "I came to Bob with an idea. I said I want to have a mohawk, [but] that is not actually Indian. I want it to be so over-the-top that it's next week. The beautiful shawl was cashmere. I loved the whole thing."

She reportedly wore the outfit to hit back at the Academy after she failed to be nominated for her role in "Mask." She told Vogue, which named the outfit as one of the most controversial in Oscars' history, that she felt like the Academy didn't take her seriously.

"I had the idea mostly because the Academy didn't really like me," she said. "They hated the way I dressed and I had young boyfriends so they thought I wasn't serious. So I came out and said, 'As you can see I got my handbook on how to dress like a serious actress.'"

She won the award for best actress for "Moonstruck" in 1988.

"Misa's purple pastie look for Lil' Kim is one of the most influential fashion moments of the early 21st century, because it changed what a woman rapper could look like," Kara Kia at PopSugar wrote in 2020.

Some fashion critics hated the look, but Dion maintains it was ahead of its time.

"When I wore that look, yes it was at the Oscars, and when I wore that, everyone was wearing dresses, not pants," Dion told People in 2017. "I was the only one with pants in a backward suit from Galliano and if I would do this today it would work. It was avant-garde at the time. And it doesn't matter, you just have to assume what you wear, and I did."

A record number of people searched online for Lopez's revealing Versace dress in 2000 — so much so that Google invented Google Images to help find the picture quicker.

"I said, 'This is what we're going to wear,'" Lopez told Vogue in 2019. "I didn't think it was all that risque, to be honest. I was more excited that it was the Grammys. I wasn't really even thinking about the dress that much. I was just glad I had something to wear."

Gray wore a dress that read, "My new album comes drops Sept. 18, 2001" on the front and "Buy it!" on the back.

Although some thought it was a great marketing tactic, others, like The Hollywood Reporter, called it one of the worst outfits at the MTV Video Music Awards.

W Magazine called this dress "one of the most instantly ridiculed red carpet dresses of all time."

Gaga chose to wear a dress, heels, and headpiece made entirely of raw meat. Animal rights groups like Peta took issue with the look.

"In her line of business, Lady Gaga has a hard time being 'over the top', and wearing a dress made from cuts of dead cows is offensive enough to elicit comment, but someone should whisper in her ear that more people are upset by butchery than are impressed by it — and that means a lot of young people will not be buying her records if she keeps it up," Ingrid Newkirk, Peta founder, said at the time.

As Insider's Amanda Krause wrote, the musician recently told British Vogue she'd decided to wear the dress as a political statement — specifically, in support of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy repeal, which President Barack Obama signed in 2011 to allow gay, lesbian, and bisexual Americans to openly serve in the armed forces.

"We decided to do the meat dress because I thought to myself, 'If you are willing to die for your country, what does it matter how you identify?'" she said.

Of the outfit, she added: "It smelled like meat. It was thrilling to wear."

Minaj's Versace hooded gown and accompanying Pope caused the Catholic League's president, Bill Donohue, to call out the singer.

"Whether Minaj is possessed is surely an open question, but what is not in doubt is the irresponsibility of The Recording Academy," Donohue said in a release at the time, according to The Washington Post. "Never would they allow an artist to insult Judaism or Islam."

At the Philip Treacy show in 2012, Gaga wore a burka, typically worn by Muslim women. Outside the show, she wore a silk and fur niqab.

After Lady Gaga's song "Burqa" was leaked the following year, Callie Beusman at Jezebel called the musician's use of the garment "patently offensive, blatantly appropriative, and hideously context-blind."

"You can't just ornament yourself in other cultures (especially not if those cultures are specifically targeted for violence and harassment in your home country)," Beusman wrote.

Patheos writer Hind Makki, who is Muslim, told HuffPost Live in 2013 that she found the song offensive, saying, "There is a thin line between artistry and appropriation and between appropriation and solidarity."

Rihanna's see-through, Adam Selman gown left very little to the imagination — some critics said it was too naked, while others commended her boldness.

The singer stands by the daring fashion choice.

"Could you imagine the CFDA dress with a bra?" Rihanna told Vogue in 2016. "I would slice my throat. I already wanted to, for wearing a thong that wasn't bedazzled. That's the only regret I have in my life."

Jeremy Scott at Moschino designed Perry's gown, and it featured graffiti. Joseph Tierney, a street artist, claimed Scott stole the art from his mural in Detroit and put it on the gown without his permission. Tierney then filed a lawsuit against the Italian designer.

"Not only did Ms. Perry and Defendant Scott advertise, wear, and display the clothing at the event, they arrived at the event in a spray-painted Rolls Royce, and even carried around Moschino-branded cans of fake spray paint during the event, as if Defendants were responsible for the artwork," the lawsuit read, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The two parties settled the lawsuit in 2016.

This particular outfit just barely covered the singer's body, prompting many to question if it was appropriate.

"Miley Cyrus set the risqué-fashion bar pretty high when she turned up at the 2015 MTV VMAs wearing little more than silver suspenders," Rolling Stone wrote at the time.

Madonna's Givenchy look was see-through, showcasing her buttocks and breasts. Some complained that the musician was too old to be wearing such revealing outfits, but Madonna fought back against the criticism.

"The fact that people actually believe a woman is not allowed to express her sexuality and be adventurous past a certain age is proof that we still live in an age-ist and sexist society," she wrote in an Instagram caption at the time.

Rihanna wore the papal outfit designed by John Galliano to the Met Gala, which was themed "Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination." Some fans called the look and the larger event sacrilegious.

"The Met Gala theme is lowkey disrespectful to the catholic religion, let's be real," one Twitter user wrote at the time.

Of the look, Rihanna told Vogue: "It feels expensive! It would be a sin not to wear it!"

In October 2018, West visited President Donald Trump in the Oval Office to talk about prison reform. While there, the rapper wore a "Make America Great Again" hat.

"There was something about putting this hat on that made me feel like Superman," West said during the meeting.

He also wore the hat while appearing on "SNL" in September 2018 and in photos posted to Twitter. Other musicians criticized him for supporting the president, with Snoop Dogg telling him to "snap out of it," and Moby saying he shouldn't "debase" himself.

"You don't have to agree with trump but the mob can't make me not love him," West wrote on Twitter in April 2018. "We are both dragon energy. He is my brother. I love everyone. I don't agree with everything anyone does. That's what makes us individuals. And we have the right to independent thought."

"Thank you Kanye, very cool!" Trump tweeted in response.

Villa wore a black and white gown with a design that resembled a brick wall. When she fanned out the skirt, the back read, "Build the Wall," referencing President Trump's plan to build a wall at the Mexico border.

The dress was so controversial that the designer, Desi Designs Couture, issued a statement on Instagram, writing, "[the] views, thoughts, and opinions expressed by my clients are not necessarily the same as my views, thoughts, and opinions."

Villa's second Desi Designs Couture gown read, "Trump 2020" on the front and "Impeached and Re-Elected" on the back.

"There were photographers who were heckling me, calling me a loser, saying 'Impeach him,' or 'F--- Trump,' and I just don't acknowledge. I don't engage," Villa told Insider last year.