THEY'RE WITH THE BAND

Thanks to groups like Blackpink and boygenius, musicians' synchronized dressing has reached new heights.

- Gaby Wilson

For years, I dedicated an entire section of my closet to silver. Not jewelry, but clothes. Tube tops threaded with tinsel. Tanks weighted down in diamanté. Halters undulating with waves of sequins. They were advertised as "going-out tops"-flimsy things that I suspect would shudder and wilt if held too close to an open flame-but for me (and about a dozen of my closest college girlfriends), they were part of a uniform.

Twice a week, sometimes more, we would get together and sing. Pop, country, R&B, whatever, but with never an instrument in sight. You could call us an a cappella group, and technically speaking, you'd be correct, but in our minds, we swore we were the Spice Girls. Even with a group that size, with more vocalists than seats in a passenger van, we seemed to settle into distinct archetypes. Sporty, Baby, Posh, sure, but also Preppy, Witchy, Sapphic, Mom. While shopping for silver, we gravitated toward pieces that reflected not just the stage lights, but those jagged, peculiar nuances of our personalities.