Autumn Oh
- Sep 17, 2021
- 3 min read

VMAs Recap: The Parts We Care About

I think we can all admit that we don’t watch the VMAs solely for the awards. We care about the outfits on the red carpet, the drama on the sidelines, and everything else in between. For this year’s VMAs, they brought just that.

From Chloe Bailey’s aluminum foil dress by Reynolds to MGK and Connor McGregor getting into it on the red carpet, we are going to break down every inch of the VMAs – but only the good stuff.

(Images via Getty)

Views from the Carpet

Lil Nas X

From Prince to Little Richard, Lil Nas X seems to have been going for a couple of looks on the VMA Red Carpet. While it has the potential to be a solid and presentable ensemble, it has too many components that prevent us from focusing on one thing: is it the Jheri-curl wig, the pants, the dress, the off the shoulder?

It seems Lil Nas X's team was going for a look as controversial and scandalous as he is, but they dropped the ball and made everything about his look that evening very, how do you say... Busy.

Chloe and Halle Bailey

As you can see, there is a stark difference between the dresses the Bailey sisters wore to the award show.

Starting with Halle, she graced us with a Mônot Fall 2021 dress that showed a lot more than we are used to from the former Disney star. It crossed her over to "grown woman" status and was the perfect dress to arrive in as Halle Bailey, not Halle of Chloe x Halle.

Now on to her sister, Chloe. Although this is a dress from Marni's Fall 2021 collection, it looks like an exclusive from Reynold's Aluminum Foil 2021 collection. Nothing about it draws me in in the right ways and is quite disappointing, considering that this was her first major performance as a solo artist. It didn't give what it was meant to give (what that would be, I don't know), and it shows.

Billie Eilish

Billie is a beautiful girl, and after expressing that she mainly wheres baggy clothes to draw attention away from her curvy figure, it's somewhat understandable as to why she wore this knit ensemble. Although understandable, it doesn't make it fit for the Red Carpet.

The baggy knit dress is nothing different from what you would see in the streets of NYC. Not cheap, but familiar. We've seen her previous baggy looks that were packed with style and intentional fashion, but this seems thrown together and improvised.

Saweetie

Saweetie can pull off absolutely anything. I wish her styling team felt the same way because it appears that most of the carpet looks they create for her all include a low drop-front for cleavage and a slit for leg and hip exposure.

She looks stunning in it, but the style gets stale after a while. The repetition takes away from the extraordinary design and fit of the Valentino Resort 2022 dress.

The sooner her fashion team takes time out to design clothes for Saweetie that match her personality and expresses this on camera, the sooner her beauty won't have to do all the talking, and the dresses can do the wowing.

Avril Lavigne

Seeing Avril Lavigne at the VMAs was a highlight of some of our nights. She has clearly been taking shots from the fountain of youth because she hasn't aged a day since "Sk8r Boi."

Her ensemble reflects everything we've ever loved about her rock star persona, and her date understood the assignment given to him by her.

The Freaks Came Out At Night!

Normani gave us a sneak peek into the things she'd do to Teyana Taylor, Chloe Bailey bust it wide open and smashed her major solo performance, and Lil Nas X tooted it to Montero. The VMAs got real freaky, real fast.

Normani leaving little to the imagination with her spicy performance of "Wild Side," ending it with a... would you even call it a lap dance? Whatever it was, it was hot, and it left all of us speechless.

We have nothing but good things to say about Chloe's performance. If you weren't a Chloe Bailey fan before and saw her performance, you most definitely are now.

Lil Nas X serving body and talent, he mashes up "Call Me By Your Name" and "Industry Baby" and shows us exactly why he's still on top.

McGregor v. MGK?

How weird is the world when MMA fighter Conor McGregor and rapper MGK fight on the VMAs Red Carpet? Not only was it a bizarre fight, but the pictures from the altercation were hilarious.