Joan Baez’s Style, Like Her Music, Transcends Time

Maybe you’re a longtime Joan Baez fan, or maybe you’re new to the party after watching Monica Barbaro’s portrayal of the legendary musician in A Complete Unknown. No matter how long you’ve been on the bandwagon, Baez’s folk music—her clear-as-a-bell soprano, her soul-piercing lyrics, and her acoustic guitar—transcends time, and her social justice themes and heartbreaking ballads are relevant in any era.

Baez’s style is just as classic and enduring as her music. Aside from her penchant for performing barefoot (which, along with her flowing hair, earned her the nickname “Madonna”), throughout the ’60s and ’70s she was likely to be found wearing blouses with lace embroidery, chunky silver jewelry, and leather sandals. But she’s also been known to go back to basics, making an understated jeans and T-shirt look like the chicest outfit in the world.

Throughout her life, Baez—now 84—has stayed true to her folksy-casual style. She’s carrying on a decades-long fondness for striped shirts, wearing one as recently as Berlinale in 2023. Her formalwear often consists of blazers (like the beaded one she wore to the Kennedy Center Honors in 2021 and the 2019 Latin Grammys) and silver jewelry. The singer is also fond of scarves, be it the rainbow silk kerchief she wore with her black monochromatic look to the Grammys or the red shawl she wore for a 2017 dinner benefitting the Elton John AIDS Foundation.

With so much discourse about personal style in the zeitgeist, Joan Baez serves as a shining example of cutting your own sartorial path.