Shania Twain Outfits That Missed The Mark

Shania Twain is a certified legend in the country-music scene, but music isn't her only creative outlet. Unabashedly into fashion that's bold, glamorous, and occasionally larger than life, Twain takes big sartorial swings. As she wrote in a 2023 Instagram caption, "For me fashion is a powerful tool that helps to convey my personality ... it's one of my favorite things about attending award shows! Life is too short to wear boring clothes!" Certainly, boring looks don't often factor into her wardrobe. In terms of wild color and sheer, outrageous joy, Twain's performance ensembles are up there with the likes of Katy Perry; they're so intentionally zany that we scarcely dare hold them to regular trends and style standards. 

Of course, this out-of-the-box mindset means that she isn't always well-received on the red carpet. Twain's experimental style has landed her on many a worst-dressed list, from the 10 worst looks at the 2023 CMT Awards to the most inappropriate outfits in Grammys history. And while we will always appreciate her playfulness and fashion gusto, the "You're Still the One" singer has worn a few particular looks that we just can't get behind. From serving ill-timed spooky vibes to donning completely incomprehensible stage costumes, some of Twain's outfits have totally missed the mark.

You never know when Shania Twain is going to pull all the stops and when she's going to show up in something curiously restrained instead. Case in point, Twain chose disappointingly simple styling for the 2013 Academy of Country Music Awards — where she was presenting the entertainer of the year award, no less. Clad in a black, sleeveless minidress and matching thigh-high boots, Twain looked ready for a regular night out but lacked any extra awe or sparkle. We'll admit that the tails on the dress were fun, and we weren't necessarily mad at the overall look — Twain was adorable, if underdressed — but aside from being a touch casual for such a big red carpet, the understated monochrome style simply wasn't Twain-worthy.

When we first saw pictures of Shania Twain's spooky, Elvira-coded dress from 2017, we thought it was a perfectly fun Halloween look. From the plunging neckline and vampy fishnets to the trailing sleeves, it could have been a near-perfect ode to the so-called Mistress of the Dark. Then we found out that this wasn't a Halloween look at all — of all places, Twain wore this goth-coded 'fit to the August opening of the US Open. Her vibe was about as far as you could get from the preppy polos and pristine, white pleats of the tenniscore aesthetic and didn't even seem seasonally appropriate, leaving the thought process behind this look a total head-scratcher.

Shania Twain's canary-yellow gown at the 2023 Brit Awards may have featured a bold hue, but it still didn't impress us much. In photos from the event, even Twain herself looked unenthused to be there. Maybe she was jet-lagged from the flight to London, or maybe she wasn't feeling as sassy as usual in the gown's demure silhouette, which featured long sleeves, a crew neckline, a maxi hem, and utterly unnecessary ruching like scar tissue across her torso. Either way, Twain surprisingly failed to pop at the awards show, even in such a brightly colored number. To be fair, yellow is a tricky palette to work with, and even Brooke Shields' attempt at a yellow gown landed her among the worst-dressed celebs at the 2024 Tony Awards. At least Twain's makeup and hair looked fab, even without the addition of any wild wigs.

We had a lot of fun with Shania Twain's 2023 "Queen of Me" tour, and by the look of her irrepressible tour wardrobe, so did she. However, we barely knew where to begin with the chaotic white denim and nude bedazzling of Twain's deconstructed skirt-and-jacket stage ensemble. What was the most puzzling faux pas here? The barely there skirt (if you can even call it that)? The butchered sleeves? The absolutely unhinged train of pea-green tulle? This one was a lot, even for Twain. Styled with sunglasses and heavy, gold chains, it looked a little bit like someone put Madonna through a shredder and then tossed her on stage. Twain gets kudos for trying something different, but we ultimately gave her sliced-and-diced 'fit low marks for execution.

These days, Shania Twain's style seems louder than ever, so it's rare for her outfits to go wrong through lack of effort. But with so many exciting, eye-popping outfits in her arsenal, we can't help but feel that Twain phoned it in for her appearance at Andrea Bocelli's 30th-anniversary concert in July 2024. The dress she chose looked more like a beach cover-up from the early noughties than a fashion-forward, red-carpet-worthy piece. In fact, we're pretty sure we all had prepubescent halter tops in that exact pattern. The look totally lacked Twain's usual verve and creativity, making it an unusually underwhelming misstep for the "Man! I Feel Like a Woman" singer.

Shania isn't going to limit her style over something as trivial as age, but not all fans were delighted with the daring bodysuit ensemble that she wore during a December 2024 show during her "Come on Over" residency at Planet Hollywood Las Vegas Resort & Casino. "Why is @ShaniaTwain in a nude bodysuit and diaper?" quipped one user on X, formerly known as Twitter. Others hurriedly defended Twain for looking stunning at 59 years old — definitely true — but we agree that layering a sparkly bikini over an obvious body sock wasn't her best stage costume. While we loved the long, pink jacket and matching cowboy hat, the bikini looked cheap, and the too-obvious nude bodysuit (we can't see her belly button, but we can see seams) gave the whole thing an uncanny valley feeling.