Why do Justin Bieber's looks upset us?

Maybe it's because we still cherish his smooth fringe from 2010, his look as an emerging pop star, with purple polo shirts, denim vests, and chains around his neck, but even today we are outraged by the casual looks of Justin Bieber. After the first time one of his outfits really sparked a storm of controversy and memes on social media, when for the launch of a new lip gloss by his wife Hailey Bieber the singer showed up in a tracksuit, yellow Crocs, and a pink baseball cap (she, on the other hand, was in a full red-hot look and stilettos), Justin Bieber continues to spark online criticism. "Too sloppy," "a moment of silence for the 'Purpose' era," "what is he wearing?" are just some of the most frequent comments under posts depicting the couple during their daily outings. On one hand, it can be said that the Peaches singer, who rose to fame at the young age of 16, is after all a creative from Los Angeles, where fashion is notoriously quite peculiar (just look at Kanye's latest outings), on the other hand, it must be acknowledged that his style lately is more out of the ordinary than usual. Last Wednesday, the two stars were spotted leaving the Churchome church in Beverly Hills after mass: Hailey Bieber in a total Saint Laurent look, leather jacket and black pants, leopard bag and large golden earrings: her husband in jorts, a Bob Marley t-shirt, a cropped hoodie, and a red crochet cap. The item that garnered the most attention were the boots he was wearing, plush shoes from Pharrell's FW24 collection for Louis Vuitton Men. This is not the first time he has been seen with these pseudo-slippers - which have soles shaped like bear paws - and it probably won't be the last.

Besides the fact that Justin Bieber's style seems intentionally to contrast with his wife's, neat and "clean," as her biggest fans say, the quality that manages to make every look of the singer go viral seems to be an inevitable "surprise effect" item. Just like Pharrell's soft boots, which combine Louis Vuitton's elegant logo with a rather shabby silhouette, in recent months Bieber has pulled out other footwear that left everyone speechless. First, the Mary Janes last June, paired with a white skirt by Willy Chevarria, calf socks, and the inevitable visor cap. Or again, during the same period but in New York, the slippers from the Drew House brand (to your amazement, they cost $20), paired with a puffer vest and cargo shorts next to a Hailey Bieber in a champagne satin suit. Thus, dressed like a truck driver on a break, he made headlines again for how his way of dressing is "disrespectful" to his partner. The best part of the whole matter is that Justin Bieber seems not to care at all about what people think of what he wears, as expected.

There is a rather simple explanation about Justin Bieber's style and why it continues to surprise. In the world of Hip Hop, there has always been talk of sneakers, basketball jerseys, oversized pants, and a "street look." Over time, however, the genre and its representatives have begun to increasingly insert themselves into a high fashion discourse, starting with partnerships with sports brands like Nike and Puma, and reaching Prada, Versace, Balenciaga, Cartier, Raf Simons, Balmain, and Rick Owens (if you haven't noticed, all mentioned in Rocky's Fashion Killa). The culmination of the marriage between Hip Hop and luxury fashion happened last year, precisely with Pharrell's appointment as the creative director of Louis Vuitton Men. While on one side we have rappers like Tyler, the Creator, a pioneer of preppy style, who particularly appreciate refined proposals like luggage and tailored suits from the award-winning producer's new collections, on the other side there's Justin Bieber, who likes to "make it weird," to quote another classic. And to his audience, it seems annoying that a creative with money can dress badly and get away with it, buy thousands of dollars worth of luxury clothing and have no style. But Bieber's style is precisely to have no style, or at least to appear as if he doesn't.

In recent months, we've seen Justin Bieber wearing an enormous polka dot puffer by Marni, the most peculiar sports sunglasses from brands like Walter Van Beirendonck, beige sweaters in full dadcore style, and a myriad of bucket hats placed in the most ridiculous positions. It's a casual style, but fake, because there's nothing casual about someone who can afford a pair of LV logo slippers for $2,520. Looking closely, with his Bob Marley shirt and his blond hair left at the mercy of the way the pillow shaped it that morning, Justin Bieber lately vaguely resembles Kurt Cobain, who like him loved to dress in the most unexpected and implausible ways for public appearances, from that time he posed for The Face in a floral dress, to when he was photographed by Jesse Frohman in a leopard velvet coat and aviator hat. What do you say, should we expect a grunge album from Justin Bieber?