Britney Spears' style was the blueprint for today's female stars, and she was shamed for it every step of the way

• Britney Spears was a style icon in the 1990s and 2000s.
• Many of today's female celebrities and influencers wear styles that are similar to Spears'.
• Spears was constantly shamed for her style and is rarely credited for her impact on the industry.

I can't think of Britney Spears without thinking of my 10th birthday party.

I celebrated hitting double digits by listening to "Toxic" on repeat, dancing in my living room with a gaggle of my friends until the CD player gave out from overuse.

As we danced, my friends and I tied our shirts up to give off the illusion that we were wearing crop tops. The Limited Too tank tops we all wore underneath our clothes ensured no one saw our stomachs, but we didn't care. We wanted to look as much like Spears as we could, and tying our shirts - and crimping our hair - was the most effective strategy we could think of.

My friends and I loved everything about the "Hit Me Baby One More Time" star - not just her fashion.

And while we were far from alone in our love for Spears and her style, the singer was also frequently the subject of criticism and ridicule, as The New York Times Presents' documentary "Framing Britney Spears" examined.

People often attacked Spears' revealing clothing, arguing she wasn't a good role model for young fans because of what she wore.

Twenty years later, many of the trends Spears popularized are celebrities' go-to looks, highlighting her influence in the fashion world and how unfairly she was treated. And although we've made strides in the way we discuss their style, modern female stars face similar criticism to Spears, making clear we still have work to do when it comes to misogyny in fashion and celebrity culture.

Britney Spears became a fashion icon early in her career

Although Spears became famous for her singing, her fans - and critics - were soon paying attention to every part of her life, keeping a particularly close eye on her fashion.

Spears' style choices were notable because she often opted for clothing that was deemed suggestive at the time.

Early in her career, Spears was often pictured in crop tops, tight dresses, and sheer pieces during performances. But she wasn't afraid of experimenting with her fashion, either. Spears was also known for wearing cargo-style pants and denim pieces, as well as accessories like bucket hats.

But the daring pieces she sported in performances and music videos were often what people remembered, and magazine covers frequently featured Spears' latest looks in the late '90s and early 2000s.

Spears wasn't the only, or the first star, to popularize daring looks that showed off skin.

The members of Destiny's Child, TLC, and the Spice Girls were wearing crop tops and sheer outfits before Spears, and Mariah Carey was no stranger to breaking fashion boundaries either. The singer's peers, like Christina Aguilera and Jessica Simpson, were wearing similar looks, too.

But the combination of Spears' youth and her monumental stardom made her a lightning rod for attention, turning her into a bona fide fashion icon before she turned 18.

Today, celebrities are wearing similar outfits to the looks Spears sported in her heyday

Spears' early looks went out of style in the late 2000s, but they've made a comeback more recently.

Fashion trends from the 1990s and 2000s have been on the rise over the last few years, with celebrities turning to retro styles like crop tops, bucket hats, and slip dresses. The revival of these styles reinforces Spears' role as a fashion taste-maker, as many of the outfits stars wear today look just like outfits the singer was wearing 20 years ago.

In fact, you can look to almost any of Spears' favorite looks from the 1990s and 2000s and find a celebrity who wore something similar in recent years.

For instance, Bella Hadid sported a see-through white crop top with loose pants in 2020.

The outfit looks similar to an ensemble Spears wore for a promotional shoot in 1999. Spears' transparent, white top and relaxed pants have the same energy as Hadid's modern look.

Other stars have opted for red-carpet ensembles that look similar to outfits Spears wore early in her career.

The sheer gown Elsa Hosk wore to the 2018 Vanity Fair Oscar Party looked like an updated version of Spears' minidress from the 2001 VMAs.

The matching sets Spears favored early in her career are becoming popular again, too.

For example, in 2019, Halsey wore a tie-dye top and matching pants reminiscent of a set that Spears wore to perform in 2000.

Spears was also a fan of shirts that drew attention to her navel, such as crop tops or shirts with cutouts on the torso.

Recently, stars have worn tops that look like copies of those Spears wore two decades ago. For instance, in 2020, Kendall Jenner wore what looked like a modern version of a crisscrossed, strappy pink tank top Spears sported in 1999.

These are just a few of the looks celebrities are wearing today that have roots in the outfits Spears popularized, highlighting her lasting impact on the fashion industry.

Despite the popularity of her style, Spears was shamed for what she wore

When modern stars wear styles that were popular in the '90s, the media and fans take notice, but typically it's merely to note the rise of a nostalgic fashion trend.

But when Spears bore her stomach or opted for a sheer outfit, it was a scandal.

Throughout her career, Spears became an object of ridicule and shame, with her critics pointing directly to her outfits as a reason for insulting her on many occasions.

As shown in "Framing Britney Spears," comedians, reporters, and consumers vilified Spears for wearing revealing clothing. She was slut-shamed and presented as a danger to young fans.

In one of the most extreme examples, Kendel Ehrlich, the former first lady of Maryland said in 2003 of the pop star: "Really, if I had an opportunity to shoot Britney Spears, I think I would."

Those critiques didn't come exclusively because of what Spears wore, but there's no denying her ensembles played a role in people's opinion of her.

The public also conflated Spears' outfit choices with her sexuality, with some talk-show hosts and journalists often asking Spears prying questions about her sexual activity or making inappropriate comments on her appearance.

Of course, Spears' outfits did not entitle anyone to information about her sex life or give people the right to make vulgar comments on her appearance, but they acted as if it did.

For instance, a radio host once asked Spears' ex-boyfriend Justin Timberlake if he had sex with Spears, which is outrageous in and of itself. But Timberlake then said that he had slept with her, demonstrating that even those who were once close to Spears had no regard for her privacy.

Likewise, a study of profiles on Britney in magazines from early in her career highlights the public's fixation on her appearance as well. For instance, a 1999 Rolling Stone article about then 17-year-old Spears describes her chest as "ample" within the first 500 words of the piece.

The harassment was sexist and unfair, and few even realized it was a problem at the time.

The fault doesn't lie just with the media, either. Many of Spears' fans would read tabloid articles about her and engaged with gossip about her looks, her sexual activity, and her mental health, making even those who love her complicit in the abuse Spears experienced.

We've made progress in allowing women to wear what they want, but we still have a lot of work to do

Spears' refusal to tone down her look to make others comfortable emboldened a new generation of stars to experiment with their fashion as they see fit, but her contemporaries are still facing unfair criticism for their outfits today.

The critiques aren't always as extreme as Rosie O'Donnell calling Spears' outfits "trampy" in an interview with Mariah Carey - but stars are still shamed for their ensembles nonetheless.

For instance, Kim Kardashian West and Ariel Winter have both been slut-shamed for bearing skin in recent years, and Billie Eilish has said that she typically avoids wearing fitted clothing altogether to prevent people from commenting on her appearance, as Teen Vogue reported.

On one occasion when Eilish did wear a tighter tank top, people took to social media almost immediately to make sexual comments about the young star.

Eilish was only 17 years old at the time, demonstrating that little has changed for famous women aside from their own confidence.

We fail female celebrities when we equate their worth to the clothes they do or don't wear, sending the message that all that matters is how they look.

Our failure to stand up for Spears negatively impacted her mental health, and we owe it to the celebrities of today not to repeat history.

The cycle will continue if journalists, other celebrities, and fans don't realize that their words have consequences, which is why we have to call out sexist behavior toward female stars - and women in general - when we see it.