CNN
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Is Millie Bobby Brown trying to send a message with her new look?
The 21-year-old British actor has undergone a massive style shift as she debuted a new bleach blonde blowout accompanied by ’90s and Y2K-inspired ensembles — from bedazzled low-slung pants to a nostalgic Hervé Léger bandage dress — that wouldn’t look out of place in a certain mega pop star’s closet. Fans online have eagerly hoped that the outfits are a nod to a future Britney Spears biopic, which is currently in the works under “Wicked” director Jon M. Chu.
On Thursday in Madrid, Brown continued the trend in another Britney-coded look, with a patchwork spin on the Canadian tuxedo (see Spears’ iconic 2001 matching denim look with Justin Timberlake), and sheepskin-trimmed knee-high boots (Spears is among the A-listers that have made Uggs part of their unofficial off-duty uniform).
Brown’s latest outfits coincide with the press tour for her new Netflix film, “The Electric State,” co-starring Chris Pratt. Brown replied to the rumors about her role in Spears’ biopic, telling Access Hollywood on Monday that she “would love nothing more” than to be involved, but “that’s (Spears’) story, and I am in full support of her bringing her story to life … how she wants to.”
Since the film rights to Spears’ bestselling memoir “The Woman in Me” were nabbed by Universal Pictures last summer, the forthcoming biopic has sparked a flurry of fancasts, including Addison Rae and Sydney Sweeney. But Brown first signaled interest in stepping into Spears’ shoes long before. On “The Drew Barrymore Show” in November 2022, Brown said: “I want to play a real person and I think for me, Britney. (It) would be Britney Spears. I think her story, first of all, resonates with me.” A day later, Spears wrote in an Instagram post: “I hear about people wanting to do movies about my life… dude I’m not dead!!!”
While Brown has yet to confirm her involvement in Spears’ biopic, the “Stranger Things” and “Enola Holmes” star’s denim and sheepskin outfit was her most playful nod to the conversation yet. Or at the very least, it was one more look somewhat enigmatically keeping in line with the decade before her birth, following up on a velour pink tracksuit top emblazoned with “1991,” which she wore to an after-party for her latest film.
If Brown — or Millie Bobby Blonde, as a fan online dubbed her — isn’t auditioning for the biopic of her pop idol, the sudden nostalgia in fashion may be a simpler answer. After all, Brown’s red carpet appearances and Instagram snaps have also drawn comparisons to Barbie as well as ’90s icons both real and fictional, including Pamela Anderson and Carmela Soprano.
With the dystopian flick “The Electric State” taking place in an alternate, robot-populated timeline of 1997 — though one in which teenagers still crimp their hair — Brown is possibly just having fun with the decade’s fashion and her role as the protagonist. In the film’s trailer, which is set to Oasis’ 1995 smash hit “Champagne Supernova,” Brown sports a pair of overalls and a scrunchie in her blonde hair.
From Zendaya to Margot Robbie, many stars have been adopting method dressing — matching real-life red carpet looks to their film roles — in order to drum up excitement, so it’s a possibility that Brown may not be emulating some far future role and is embracing the film that she’s currently promoting. But if she starts rocking Spears’ favorite fedoras, we’ll circle back.