Miley Cyrus. Rob Latour/Shutterstock
She found the best of both worlds! Miley Cyrus opened up about learning how to tap into her own fashion identity while still portraying her Disney Channel alter ego, Hannah Montana.
“There was a time when I didn’t have as much control because I was playing a character,” Cyrus, 30, told British Vogue on the Saturday, May 20, episode of Life in Looks, which featured the “Flowers” singer reminiscing about 17 of her most famous outfits. “It wasn’t always about my own feeling but it was about what was best for the character. And as I started to understand the magic of Hannah is actually the magic of me, I started infusing my own style into her style.”
Cyrus starred as the titular character upon the show’s 2006 premiere on Disney Channel. The sitcom — which lasted for 4 seasons and spawned over 100 concerts, 5 soundtracks and a feature film — followed Miley Stewart (Cyrus) as she lives a double life and transforms herself into famous pop singer Hannah Montana.
While speaking with British Vogue, the Last Song star pointed to a custom-made Jeremy Scott dress from season one of the series — which featured patterns of different road signs and a large collar — as the first time “I decided that I was going to have control over what I wear.”
While the “Party in the USA” songstress revealed that the “fabulous” gown came from a brutal “four-hour fitting” on the Hannah Montana set, she gushed over Scott, 47, and his “loyalty” at a time when “no designers understood dressing a teen pop star from a Disney TV show.”
“But he did, and I think that’s part of her genius,” she added.
Moving down her fashion timeline, the Grammy nominee also detailed a more daring look from a 2010 concert in Paris. The outfit — which featured a crop top tee, leather shorts and four Beaumont belts from her “personal” collection — felt both “protective” and something that was “completely different” from her usual Hannah Montana style, Cyrus explained.
“This was my way of introducing myself as Miley to the world,” she continued. “I had been a character for so long, so this was the beginning of developing who Miley would be.”
Since taking off the blonde wig, the “Younger Now” singer has crafted an increasingly dramatic style evolution over the years, often making it clear that she’s not afraid to lean into shock value when it comes to fashion.
During a 2021 interview with Vogue, Cyrus revealed that her wide-ranging style choices are specifically made to reflect her personality at any point in time.
“Fashion to me is kind of like flipping yourself inside out. It’s like wearing your heart, wearing your guts, wearing your values, wearing your identity, wearing your pain, wearing you joy,” she shared. “There’s something kind of childlike about it. You’re so fearless when you get yourself dressed when you’re a kid. You don’t think about what someone will think of you or what they’ll judge.”
She added, “It’s just about expression and how you feel that day. There’s a fearlessness. And so when I get dressed, I try to kind of think like my inner child and be genuine and authentic in whatever I’m wearing.”
When it comes to looking back on her time as Hannah Montana, the songwriter has mixed emotions about the show — but only love for the character.
“You were like a rocket that flew me to the moon and never brought me back down. … You and I have been through it all together, my friend. We’ve shared many firsts. A lot of lasts. Ups. Downs. Tears and laughs,” the former child star wrote via Instagram in a March 2021 open letter to her on-screen counterpart. “Hannah, I hope you hear me and believe those words are true. You have all my love and upmost gratitude. Breathing life into you for those six years was an honor. … I love you, Hannah Montana.”
