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

Kelly Clarkson’s American Idol try out made clip made it into the top three outfits that she wore during her time on the show. As contestant number 2311, Kelly auditioned an a capella version of Madonna’s “Express Yourself.” She certainly was expressing herself with one of the biggest trends of the early ’00s.

Remember when women and girls started wearing their dresses over their pants? Well, that trend wasn’t lost on Kelly. She showed up to the American Idol tryouts wearing a sleeveless acid washed denim dress (or maybe it was a shirt that looked like a dress.) Anyway, Kelly wore that denim number over a pair of wide leg black pants and it created a look that was nothing short of memorable.

During her audition, Kelly made quite an impression on the judges. Kelly, who worked as a waitress in Texas prior to her Idol win, managed to win everyone over with her bubbly personality and her ability to be funny in front of such famous faces. She even got Simon Cowell to clap for her after offering to switch places with Randy Jackson and be his judge instead. Thankfully, everyone loved Kelly during her initial tryout even though Simon notoriously had “doubts” about the singer in her early weeks on the show.

Thank goodness that didn’t stop him from putting Kelly through each week because she ultimately became one of the most famous and successful of the American Idol contestants, only coming in second after the insanely popular Carrie Underwood.