Janelle Monae's style evolution in 41 photos — black, white and red all over

The singer and actress has worn a number of regional designers, including Elie Saab and Nicolas Jebran

Janelle Monae, wearing a white blouse with a tutu and tights, at the Atlanta Ballet on April 10, 2008. WireImage

Janelle Monae, wearing a black and white suit, at a benefit for the Children's Hospital Los Angeles on February 5, 2009. FilmMagic

Janelle Monae, wearing black and white tailoring, attends Keep A Child Alive's seventh annual Black Ball on September 30, 2010. WireImage

Janelle Monae, wering a sequinned suit jacket, arrives at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards on February 13, 2011. EPA

Janelle Monae, wearing a white tuxedo jacket over a black dress, attends the amfAR New York Gala on February 8, 2012. EPA

Janelle Monae, wearing a Moschino jacket with a Ralph Lauren hat, arrives at the 55th Grammy Awards on February 10, 2013. EPA

Janelle Monae, wearing a red and black embroidered Tadashi Shoji tulle cape, arrives at the 2014 Met Gala on May 5, 2014. EPA

Janelle Monae, wearing black and white Chanel, attends the label's cruise collection show in Dubai on May 13, 2014. Getty Images

Janelle Monae, wearing a monochrome, patterned two-piece, attends the Antonio Berardi show during London Fashion Week on February 23, 2015. Getty Images

Janelle Monae, wearing a velvet suit by Emporio Armani with her Milner Gladys hat, attends the 2015 Brit Awards on February 25, 2015. Getty Images

Janelle Monae, wearing white trousers with a cropped Naeem Khan jacket, attends an Elle magazine party in Paris on October 6, 2015. Getty Images

Janelle Monae, wearing an embellished leather top and skirt by Erevos Aether, attends the premiere of Star Wars: The Force Awakens on December 14, 2015. EPA

Janelle Monae, wearing black and white Jean Paul Gaultier, arrives at the 58th Grammy Awards on February 15, 2016. EPA

Janelle Monae, wearing a tuxedo jacket with a tulle skirt and Edie Parker clutch, attends the Moonlight screening at the BFI London Film Festival on October 6, 2016. Getty Images

Janelle Monae, wearing a Marc Jacobs dress and mink jacket, arrives at the 2016 American Music Awards on November 2, 2016. EPA

Janelle Monae, wearing polka dot Armani Prive, arrives at the 74th Golden Globe Awards on January 8, 2017. EPA

Janelle Monae, wearing monochrome Chanel, arrives at the 23rd Screen Actors Guild Awards on January 29, 2017. EPA

Janelle Monae, wearing a textured Elie Saab dress, arrives at the 89th Oscars on February 26, 2017. AFP

Janelle Monae, wearing Ralph & Russo Couture, arrives at the 2017 Met Gala on May 1, 2017. EPA

Janelle Monae, wearing a Dolce & Gabbana tuxedo with floral detailing, attends the 60th Grammy Awards on January 28, 2018. Getty Images

Janelle Monae, wearing red Christian Siriano, arrives at the 2018 Vanity Fair Oscars Party on March 4, 2018. EPA

Janelle Monae, wearing a rainbow Nicolas Jebran gown, attends the 2018 BET Awards on June 24, 2018. Reuters

Janelle Monae, wearing black and white Wolk Morais, arrives for the premiere of Welcome to Marwen on December 10, 2018. EPA

Janelle Monae, wearing black, white and gold Chanel, arrives at the 76th Golden Globe Awards on January 6, 2019. EPA

Janelle Monae, wearing structural Jean Paul Gaultier, arrives at the 61st Grammy Awards on February 10, 2019. EPA

Janelle Monae, wearing red Valentino from head-to-toe, attends the label's Paris Fashion Week show on March 3, 2019. Getty Images

Janelle Monae, wearing over-sized white Giambattista Valli, attends the label's Paris Fashion Week show on March 4, 2019. Getty Images

Janelle Monae, wearing Chanel, attends the label's Paris Fashion Week show on March 5, 2019. Getty Images

Janelle Monae, wearing a black and white Mara Hoffman two-piece, arrives at the Queen & Slim premiere on November 14, 2019. EPA

Janelle Monae, wearing hooded Ralph Lauren, arrives at the 92nd Academy Awards on February 9, 2020. EPA

Janelle Monae, wearing a Ralph Lauren tuxedo and Christian Louboutin Gael Strass suede boots, attends a Christian Louboutin exhibition in Paris on February 24, 2020. Getty Images

Janelle Monae, wearing a black and white optical illusion Jean Paul Gaultier dress, attends the Harper's Bazaar Exhibition at Paris Fashion Week on February 26, 2020. Getty Images

Janelle Monae, wearing a white checked Valentino coat, attends the brand's Paris Fashion Week runway show on March 1, 2020. Getty Images

Janelle Monae, wearing a hooded rhinestone Ralph Lauren halter dress with a mermaid skirt, on the red carpet for the 2022 Met Gala on May 2, 2022. EPA

Janelle Monae, wearing Iris van Herpen, arrives for the screening of Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery during the 47th Toronto International Film Festival on September 10, 2022. EPA

Janelle Monae, wearing a caped Thom Browne coat dress and zebra bag, attends the 66th BFI London Film Festival on October 14, 2022. Getty Images

Janelle Monae, wearing a white version of the Thom Browne ensemble she wore two days earlier, at the London Film Festival on October 16, 2022. Getty Images

Janelle Monae, wearing red Christian Siriano, attends the Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery screening during the 66th BFI London Film Festival on October 16, 2022. Getty Images

Janelle Monae, wearing an asymmetric lace and metallic dress, attends the film's premiere in Spain on October 19, 2022. Getty Images

Janelle Monae, wearing black and white sequinned Gucci, attends the LACMA Art + Film Gala on November 5, 2022. EPA

Janelle Monae, wearing a black Alexandre Vauthier with boots, attends the Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery premiere in Paris on December 15, 2022. Getty Images

Janelle Monae is a regular in best-dressed lists. The American singer and actress is known for taking risks with her style choices, often choosing playful accessories, voluminous pieces or experimental ensembles.

She is frequently seen in tuxedos and her outfits almost always have a black, white and red colour palate. Not one to shy away from a hat, she frequently tops an outfit off with dramatic millinery for red carpet events.

For her recent run of public appearances to promote Netflix's Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, she wore pieces by Iris van Herpen, Christian Siriano, Robert Wun and Elie Saab for premieres in the US and Europe, sticking to hues that adhere to her black, white and red rule book.

Her go-to designers include Chanel, Ralph Lauren and Valentino, and for recent events, Thom Browne has been a favourite. She wore salt and pepper versions of two Thom Browne coat dresses for consecutive London Film Festival events in October last year.

Her vastly monochrome wardrobe was treated to a burst of colour with a rainbow phase in 2018. She eased into colourful looks with a Dolce & Gabanna tuxedo embellished with colourful flowers for the Grammy Awards in January 2018. By June, she was sporting a rainbow tulle gown by Lebanese fashion designer Nicolas Jebran at the BET Awards.

She describes her black and white looks as her "uniform", harking back to the beginning of her career when she could not afford new outfits for every show.

Speaking of her sartorial journey, she told Variety in 2020: "Once I got to high school, that’s when I started to have my own money, because I started working ... I couldn’t afford a lot of stuff, but I think it went from lots of menswear — whatever you would consider sports menswear: the tennis shoes, baggy clothes.

"Then I got into vintage shopping. I was very artsy. I was an international thespian, I would compete in monologue competitions. I was also in the acapella choir, was doing talent shows — this is in high school. So I was a busy arts student, expressing myself through art, and I started to really use fashion as a way to express that.

"I think my uniform — that’s when that came," she added. "As a homage to the working class, and my working-class parents. And honestly, I just couldn’t afford to keep up when I started to sing and perform, and I went to a performing arts school in New York, and I went to Atlanta and I was living in a boarding house, I did not have time to find a new costume every single show.

"So it was like, what is my uniform, what is my outfit going to be? What is something that I always feel comfortable in? It’s been black and white. It’s been the androgynous look that matched my energy."