20 years of fashion on Google

At the Grammy Awards twenty years ago, Jennifer Lopez wore a Versace dress on the red carpet which had a ripple effect on fashion — not to mention, Google — for years to come. Jennifer’s dress was so popular on Search that it helped inspire the creation of Google Images (then known as Image Search). In honor of this anniversary, we looked at U.S. fashion trends on Search since Google Trends began in 2004 to see how people have used Google over the years for inspiration and style advice.

Jennifer Lopez’s 2000 Grammy Awards appearance may have been the biggest red carpet moment in the show’s history (according to Google Trends), but she wasn’t the only one to make a splash at the event because of what she wore. 

In the Fashion & Style category, these icons saw spikes when they stepped onto the Grammy Awards red carpet over the years:

1. Jennifer Lopez

2. Joy Villa

3. Whoopi Goldberg

4. Teri Hatcher

5. Gwyneth Paltrow

6. Fergie

7. Beyonce

8. Queen Latifah

9. Kate Winslet

10. Giuliana Rancic

Beyond the red carpet, people have turned to Google to learn more about fashionable celebrities since it was possible to do so. Reality and TV stars dominate the list of the top 10 most-searched stylish celebrities. These are the celebrities whose personal styles topped searches:

1. Kim Kardashian

2. Vanessa Hudgens

3. Jennifer Aniston

4. Selena Gomez

5. Rachel Bilson

6. Jessica Alba

7. Lauren Conrad

8. Kourtney Kardashian

9. Jessica Simpson

10. Nicole Richie

Celebrities bring fashion to life, but to really learn more about the looks, people turn to designers. In the Fashion Designer & Collection category, these are the designers people searched for most over the years:

1. Tom Ford

2. Alexander McQueen

3. Marc Jacobs

4. Betsey Johnson

5. Gianni Versace

6. Coco Chanel

7. Diane von Furstenberg

8. Karl Lagerfeld

9. Donatella Versace

10. Vera Wang

Since most of us don’t have personal designers, people come to Google for practical advice on how to put a look together or make certain outfits work. According to search trends, these are the clothing items in the Apparel category people wanted the most style help with:

1. how to style boyfriend jeans

2. how to style overalls

3. how to style doc martens

4. how to style a scarf

5. how to style combat boots

6. how to style a jean jacket

7. how to style sweatpants

8. how to style chelsea boots

9. how to style a maxi skirt

10. how to style black jeans

So what styles caught our attention the most? With “vintage,” “retro,” and “classic” atop the list, what’s old is new. These are the most-searched clothing styles overall:

1. Vintage

2. Casual

3. Retro

4. Classic

5. Street

6. Western

7. Military

8. Athletic

9. Business casual

10. Hipster

If you tune into the show this weekend, who knows? Maybe you’ll discover your next celebrity style icon.