The fashion renaissance of Mel C, the most stylish Spice Girl of 2025

Victoria Beckham’s recent Netflix documentary might have (rather convincingly) positioned her as a fashion force to be reckoned with, but stealthily and assuredly another member of the artists formally known as Spice Girls has stepped out of the Nike trainers and into the spotlight.

Mel C, or Sporty Spice as she was known when the Spice Girls shot to fame in 1996, the nicknames bestowed upon them by Smash Hits magazine in 1997, once said that she felt like she was “the plain one in the back” (although as an original fan back in the day, that voice was anything but plain). But almost 30 years later (horrifyingly for yours truly, who saw every Spice Girls tour back in the day, queued for the Spice World movie on its Boxing Day debut and collected the Impulse deodorants), no one’s putting Sporty in a corner.

Melanie Chisholm (aka Mel C, or Sporty Spice) stars in JW Anderson’s latest campaign, seen here with the famed Loafer Bag - JW Anderson

This week Mel C was unveiled as the star of JW Anderson’s new campaign, alongside John Malkovich. For the uninitiated, Jonathan Anderson is a Northern Irish supernova whose ascent in the fashion world saw him take a role of unprecedented power and influence at the house of Dior, running both men’s and women’s collections. He’s the most talked about name in the fashion industry, and his badge of honour bestows that much-craved stardust of “cool”.

The 51-year-old Mel C looks coolly minimalist in this new campaign, writes Doig - JW Anderson

Before that, Anderson turned fellow LVMH house Loewe into the hottest thing from Madrid since gambas al ajillo, in part by enlisting interesting, nuanced, offbeat celebrities instead of the usual mind-numbing Kardashian-Jenner-almost-AI-bots – campaigns starred Sir Anthony Hopkins, Dame Maggie Smith, Leslie Manville and Daniel Craig.

So for his own label – as it happens, the one fashion editors are salivating over currently – he’s continued with that sentiment. The 51-year-old looks pared back and coolly minimalist (an elevation of the “plain” that she said dogged her in her formative years) in swaddling coats, twisted, draped shirting and excellent knitwear. Oh, and the bag that’s currently the hottest ticket since the Bottega Veneta “Cassette”, the liquid suede deliciousness that is the Loafer.

Yes, it’s an ad, and yes teams of stylists, hair and makeup will have moodboarded Ms Chisholm into the vision you see before us, but outside the studio Mel C has evolved to have her own formidable style presence in recent years, shedding the tracksuits thrust upon her by that “sporty” persona (a weight around her neck that led to severe body dysmorphia) to a style that’s more elegant and assured. The tracksuits of the 1990s were entirely natural to her at the time; as a girl from the North West, she said, it was the natural to-go.

The Spice Girls in Miami, 1996 - Getty

Wearing a pair of her trademark trackpants while peforming at Madison Square Garden in 1998 - Getty

She’s never been girly – leave that to Baby – or vampish – the territory of Mel B – and she’s thankfully eschewed the Tory Home Counties Wife aesthetic of Geri Horner (née-Halliwell) wearing pristine all white.

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Instead she’s adhered to a kind of minimalist androgyny and grown-up sophisticated tailoring; see the sleek black cutaway dress she wore to Victoria Beckham’s 50th, or mannish tailoring with lingerie underneath worn to the Brits last year (some 27 years since she blasted onto that stage in vest top and tracksuit trousers, perhaps eclipsed by Ginger Spice in that Union Jack dress).

Modern-day Mel C has grown into sophisticated tailoring with punchy twists, such as this lingerie look from the Brit Awards last year - Getty

The singer has spoken about her issues with eating disorders in the past, a toxic combination of that “sporty” caricature and cruel press comparisons with the more glamorous members of the girl group, to the point of anorexia and excessive exercising.

“I was quite unwell for a few years. When I look back, I don’t know how I did it when you consider how little I lived on and how much exercise I was doing.” Today, she’s athletic and lean rather than agonisingly muscled.

In the early 2000s she broke out on her own (as an OG fan, I attended her 2003 solo tour at the Glasgow Carling Academy, watching on as she wore khaki cargo trousers and a ripped vest) in a furious rejection of the shinier popstar persona. She chopped her hair into a spiky crop, adopted grunge and Ibiza trance-esque tie dyes (as a byword, it’s an indication of the misogyny of the appalling tabloid of the culture of the time that she was publicly forced to deny being a lesbian for cutting her hair and wearing masculine army jackets).

In the early 2000s, Mel C struck out on her own and cut her hair into a spiky crop - Getty

Today, she’s a masterclass in finding your style groove in your 40s. Melanie C veers towards Victoria Beckham’s slinky dresses and well-crafted tailoring, as well as a return to embracing elements of Sporty as a nod to the aesthetic that cemented her public persona.

“I’ve happily come back to owning the Sporty Spice look. If I’m going out I’ll dress it up a bit with a nice suit or a nice suit pant, potentially with a trainer again. I like to have a sporty element, even if I do a dress.”

Mel C still celebrates her original Sporty Spice look, as seen here at Glastonbury in 2023 - Jamie Lorriman

It’s a movement across fashion; see coveted labels like The Row and Phoebe Philo who balance draped, soft-fit suits for women with sheer vests and chunky sandals or slides.

The singer’s also been embraced by the fashion world recently in other ways; last year she featured in a campaign by cult skater label Palace, toying with the athleisure aesthetic that she first championed in the 1990s. The sports attire and trainers still feature, but tempered with mannish, oversized jackets or by way of a bandeau top rather than full track and field. That said, she was always the dark horse who was going to go the distance.

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