This Katy Perry CMA Red Carpet Look Reinvents the Canadian Tuxedo

The pop star looked a little bit country and a little bit rock and roll on the 2022 CMAs red carpet in a bold Marques Almeida look.

No, you didn’t just time travel back to 2001, a.k.a. the day that Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake blessed the annals of pop culture history with their matching double denim moment at that year’s American Music Awards. That was one Katy Perry wearing head to toe denim on the Country Music Awards red carpet on November 9. Is it a bustier top and maxi skirt? Are those super wide-leg denim pants? Is it actually a dress? Scientists may never know. (Editor’s note: Scientists do know and apparently Perry’s look was trousers and a bustier top.) But one thing is for certain — folks sure do have fun at country music events.

Delightfully, this isn’t even the first time that Katy Perry has channeled Britney’s iconic fancy denim look — the “California Girls” singer wore a strapless denim gown to the 2014 VMAs, complete with her own Canadian tuxedo-clad date, rapper Riff Raff. And Perry’s homage to Britney and JT wasn’t your mom’s Wranglers — Perry’s jean patchwork dress was custom Versace.

For her most recent foray into formal double denim, Perry, who was at the CMAs in Nashville, Tenn. to perform “Where We Started” with country star Thomas Rhett, chose an even more avant-garde designer, rocking a denim-on-denim look by London-based label Marques Almeida. The brand, founded by Portuguese designers Marta Marques and Paulo Almeida in 2011, has shown at Paris Fashion Week and won both the LVMH Prize for Young Fashion Designers and a British Fashion Award for Best Emerging Designer in 2015. The singer accessorized her acid-wash denim ensemble with diamond and pearl chokers and dangling diamond earrings.

Incidentally, all-over denim is Katy Perry’s look du jour, as the singer not only performed that same evening in a deconstructed dark denim dress, she also wore jeans and a matching corset earlier that day. That’s commitment.

Is this likely the first time Marques Almeida’s cool, raw-edged designs have graced the CMA red carpet? Perhaps — and we love to see it! Fashion that takes itself too seriously is no fun at all and the Canadian tuxedo is always ready to party.