15 of Kelly Clarkson’s American Idol looks, ranked by ’00s-ness

 Can you believe it has been 15 years since Kelly Clarkson was announced as the first winner of American Idol? Neither can we! 

It was on September 4, 2002 that Kelly Clarkson became the very first winner of American Idol. Clarkson moved mountains with her voice during the premiere season of the singing hit. From her very first audition, it was clear that Kelly is truly a special woman with a huge talent.

While many have talked about Kelly Clarkson’s larger than life voice, there was a lot more to American Idol than just singing. As many of the judges have pointed out over the seasons, having the look of a star is also an important factor.

There are a few trends that were taking hold right around the same time that Kelly was busy stealing all our hearts. They include handkerchief hemlines, big chunky heels, chokers and even wearing dresses over jeans.

Kelly managed to pull off many of the latest trends while owning the stage. After pouring through all of the Season 1 performances, it’s safe to say that some of the trends from 15 years ago weren’t so bad, others need to stay locked away in history.

One way in which Kelly may have topped all ’00s trends was her hair. Kelly Clarkson latched on to the chunky highlight trend and she wore those blonde streaks with pride.

 In honor of Kelly’s win and a very successful career that followed her win over Justin Guarini in the first ever American Idol finals, we’re going to talk fashion and break down all of her performances from Season 1 and putting them in order based on trends that dominated the early 2000s.