Usher Explores Iconic Looks From the Last 27 Years, From His First Album Cover to the 2024 Super Bowl

♪ I wanna rock with you baby ♪

[snapping fingers]

♪ All night long ♪

♪ I wanna roll with you lady ♪

♪ Feel so strong ♪

Yeah. Hey Vogue, it's your boy, Usher, here.

And this in my Life in Looks.

Here we go.

[chill music]

Oh, we got a good one to start it off.

You know why this means so much to me?

Being 15 years old, and you know, doing my first album

in New York City,

I decided that I wanted to do things my way.

I was introduced to Frank Sinatra.

And I heard My Way, the song.

I was like, I want, that's how I feel right now.

But, I'm at the beginning of my story.

He was at the end of his life.

A little bit of what you see in here, right,

you want my U-chain.

Right now I feel really naked, because I don't have it on.

But, it's all good.

But this was the very first chain,

or anything that I ever designed myself.

And the rest of it is just my managed and flirtatious self.

Fool! [chuckling]

This was the Billboard Music Awards, right?

This was the night that I won several awards.

Had a very successful album.

And man, I was just very, very happy

that I got a chance to put this yellow ensemble on.

I still am mad that I couldn't quite fix the collar,

because that would of made it perfect, right?

If I just fixed the collar. [laughing]

It was strong and wrong.

Just getting into jewelry.

I had made my second U, as you can see there.

I don't know what I was thinking [laughing].

It was...yeah.

All right, so I'm really getting funky now right here.

So this is when I'm really starting to take off.

I got two U's on.

I came out of the house with two chains on that night.

You know what I'm saying?

Damn the fact that I don't have a shirt on,

you know what I'm saying?

It's just, What'd you wear?

My six-pack. What?

And of course, this one-of-a-kind ridiculous fur coat

in the middle of summer, by the way.

This Gucci, the belt, Gucci.

Gucci everywhere, baby, I had my Gucci going on.

You know, this is back in the time where,

it's like if you stay ready, you don't have to get ready.

You never know I might get into a dance battle,

so I need to have the right shows on.

I was ready for a dance battle.

Shirtless, with two necklaces on,

in the middle of summer in a fur coat.

Sounds like a winning combination to me.

This was the kid, the Kid's Choice Awards. [laughing]

Yeah, I was just totally appropriate.

Yeah, so this is a pretty incredible night.

This is BET Music Awards.

I think this is Dolce & Gabbana.

It was all about jeans and a motorcycle jacket up top.

That was like my staple look.

And once again, I had my U on.

Gucci still, had Gucci pants on.

And things like this kimono belt

that I wanted to wear to the side.

Actually was the first time that I'd ever perform

with my girlfriend at the time, Shirley.

It was cool, man.

Here we go.

So, this is a grand moment, because of my first Grammy.

I do remember this.

I wanted to stand out.

And there were these really cool Etro ties.

When I look back at this,

I don't feel so bad about it.

But I was talking to my kids,

and they were laughing like, That's terrible.

I was like, Is it, really?

To be honest, when I look at this moments,

I never cared whether I would win an award or not,

'cause I wasn't doing it for that reason.

Being on stage has always been more gratifying

than actually winning an award.

Yeah, this guy.

This was the Yeah! video.

I worked with Tameka Foster.

And Brea Stinson...

And we created this real iconic moment.

This was considered like something that was cutting edge.

And this was a bit defiant,

but also too cool enough to feel like it was the Usher look.

So, blazer...Ryan Kinney shirt which was on me,

supporting Black entrepreneurs.

Raw leather, with sort of metal buckle.

Had to have my Air Force Ones on.

Yeah, and that was it, man.

Ut...we forgot the U.

I had my U on.

So first of all, I worked on an album, Confessions.

I wanted to have real, tall conversations.

A lot of things that men go through.

And I go back and forth with L.A. Reid.

And I'm like, Yo, my first single is 'Let it Burn.'

And he's like No, it's not...It's 'Yeah!'

I'm like, No, it's 'Let it Burn,' I'll telling you, man.

He's like, No, it's 'Yeah!'

It was a huge fight between me and L.A.

I actually, ultimately won the argument.

So, with 12 consecutive weeks at number one,

of course, someone would have to dethrone me.

Why not do it again?

So, then Burn took it down. [chuckling]

And, it became the next number one.

Great look, great moment.

That's a lot of history.

This is the actual album artwork for Confessions.

You know, throughout history has been these moments

were things that I tend to gravitate towards.

Knitted caps have always been something

that I was really found of, loved.

So I spent that entire album with either that A-town cap,

or these knitted hats.

It's funny, I gotta ask you a question, right?

does it look like I'm standing in a booth,

singing to a microphone,

or does it look like I'm in a confession?

[pages shuffling]

Me on the court in Cleveland, with the Cleveland Cavaliers,

I wished I owned a minority share in.

It was a one-on-one, a Doc Roman-Nelly piece.

These might be True Religion pants.

I still got my U-chain on.

How many U chains have I made?

Uh...countless.

All right, I remember this three-piece

like it was just yesterday, I loved it.

I'll never forget doing a split in this.

I actually flipped off of the top stage,

onto a set of stairs, and came up into a perfect split.

It was...it was probably one of my better performances.

The style was Don Haynes.

Introduced me to Bottega Veneta.

But we wanted to do something that was classic.

I was really on a three-piece kick at the time.

I still wear my shades,

because that was a major part of my imagery at the time.

So, I was always trying to find like staple things

that people would remember me for.

So this is in Atlanta.

This is Margiela.

So this night, I presented Justin Bieber

with the 2011 Horizon Award.

You know, having discovered Justin,

of course, I wanted to make certain

that I wore something that was pretty nice,

one-of-a-kind.

And I wanted to kind of not up-stage anybody,

but I wanted to at least still have a little bit of pop.

[gentle music]

Oh man! At the Grammys.

This night in this attire ensemble, was dedicated to Prince.

It was me, FKA twigs, and Sheila E. that night.

It was a real celebration.

Because I wore Taylor Arturo.

He, for many years,

dressed and created one of one designs with Prince.

The jacket that we made was a print

that he specifically made for Prince

that he never got a chance to work on.

But yeah, if you just look at this,

that high-waisted pant, I loved it.

When you put together a moment like this,

where you're celebrating someone, it's a passion project.

It's not really about the execution or perfection.

This moment was really a celebration.

I wish we had more time.

I would of figured out a way to have gotten

to do a record with Prince.

He's the one person that I always wanted to work with,

that I never got a chance to do a song with.

And the journey continues. [clapping]

February 2020.

This is right before the pandemic hit.

And I remember wanting to do something

that I felt was very strong.

Olivier, he game me this amazing Kimono style,

you know, blazer.

And these pants that I thought were really, really cool.

This ensemble, I thought, was really powerful, really strong

and very strong to be at in an all-women's show.

So this the opening residency at the Coliseum in Las Vegas.

Olivier of Balmain, and me,

did something that I thought was really incredible.

Olivier, I really appreciate you.

Thank you for for making this incredible sapphire,

one-of-a-kind heavy-ass jacket.

You notice my hair, it's kind of going back.

I was just living free and just having fun.

This moment would then lead, you know,

to me having a successful residency,

and then making it over to the Super Bowl.

But this was the beginning.

A very, very promising two years of an amazing experience.

But, it all started right here.

September 2023 Marni, and afterwards,

no on will ever see it again.

We burnt it.

This is it, it's done.

Funniest thing about it is,

they called me and Honcho, Puevo, the Avengers, right?

Like, it was crazy.

This was a real fashion moment right here, right?

You absolutely gotta have Mel Gibson's type balls, right,

to pull this off.

It was cold in there.

I can tell you, I could feel it, I could feel the draft.

But they weren't, this was not actually a kilt.

People thought it was.

They're actually shorts.

Yeah, this was just that moment.

You know what it was for me, looking at this?

It was the wrong face.

It was the wrong face, I had the wrong face on.

I needed to be like super-serious.

Like I'm here to sell you these Girl Scout Cookies.

You gonna buy some of these cookie, I know you are.

I know you like Tag-A-Longs.

I just enjoyed it.

I just liked it.

This is what I wanted to wear.

Yeah, I was taking a bit of a risk.

But also, too, I was supporting my brother Pharrell,

as he started this amazing journey with Louis Vuitton.

And spending time at the Atelier,

and just getting to know what his process was.

I wanted to show support in a way that would be relevant,

and garner the type of attention

that I think he deserves as a designer.

[pages shuffling]

Need I say more?

I finally made it to the cover of Vogue, man.

Very happy.

This was a story about the incredible moment

that had happened in Las Vegas,

and the moment leading up to the Super Bowl,

which had not happened yet.

A classic super-model...a classic man,

and a classic moment.

[pages shuffling]

Are you serious?

What's going on, sexy eyes?

This was my SKIMS ad.

Me and Kim, we talked about doing something.

I wanted her to support Coming Home,

which is why I had the peach in my hand.

It was a grand moment.

The moment of all moments, right?

Mm, the Super Bowl.

I found out that I was gonna be the Super Bowl

halftime show, by Jay-Z, he asked me,

Are you ready for the major moment?

I'm like, What you talking about, brother?

He's like are you ready for your Michael moment?

I was like, The Super Bowl? Hell, yeah.

What was really cool about this moment,

I never get a chance to tell people this, right?

So me and Jeremy Haynes, my stylist,

we designed the entire collective

of skating culture in this moment.

I got a chance to offer something to the world.

We lost Virgil.

And being able to work with off-white,

it was me being able to have a little bit of him,

and his creation, and his house with me.

And we came up with an incredible moment

that was really the crescendo

of a lot of hard work in Las Vegas, playing the Super Bowl.

I literally had to like sliver my body into it

within less than 15 seconds.

And I got on stage in time.

Being able to skate in this outfit.

Being able to have comfortability and flexibility

in the garment is majorly important.

If you go back and you do a real forensics

of all of the things that I did,

there are tributes everywhere.

I wanted to have these athletic gloves.

You know, Mike always just does, or just did,

like a glitter-filled glove.

I had both of them, and I took one off.

That was a moment to Michael.

You see the jewelry.

I got married the night of the Super Bowl.

After having one of the most remarkable moments in my life,

in my performance history and career,

I did the next best thing,

and that's to marry my best friend.

Elvis married us.

We got married in the drive-through in Las Vegas.

And Elvis and our kids,

they kind of officiated us. [laughing]

I think this year was probably the year

of the white suit for me.

Going all the way back to the Vanity Fair party.

This amazing ensemble, Valentino,

was really, really great.

Once again, chest out. [laughing]

I really enjoyed that night.

All right, here we go.

So the dress code was The Garden of Time.

And, I started thinking about this idea.

The fact that everybody would come as like fairies,

and some people would come with flowers,

and all these things.

And I was like, You know what?

I'm gonna take the villain role.

You know, Alexander McQueen always,

a designer that I love wearing.

As you see, know I wear tons of Alexander McQueen suits.

This is a one-on-one cape,

I wanted to have a little drama.

And I did these laminated roses.

Because I really wanted you to get

the fact that I was playing the villain that night.

When I look back at the history of BET,

and the fact that I was there for the very first

award ceremony, I stood front row and watched James Brown

be presented his lifetime achievement award

by Michael Jackson.

To have that same feeling, and now be on the stage,

I have a lot to be thankful for.

[pen scribbling]

Forever is now, live in love. Usher.

[pen clacking] [book slamming]

This has been my Life in Looks.

It has been an amazing time to do this, I'd love to do more.

See you next time.

[chill music]