"If you have an opinion, maybe you should shove it, or maybe you could scream it," Hayley Williams sings in the opening lines of Paramore's "This Is Why," the title track of the band's latest album of the same name. It's more than just a lyric. It's a lifestyle, how she chooses to express herself both off and on the stage — whether she screams what she believes in or wears it across her chest on a graphic T-shirt. That's exactly what she did at Hangout Festival in Alabama during Paramore's headlining set in late May, where Williams, along with bandmates Zac Farro and Taylor York, caught up with Teen Vogue to chat about pre-show rituals and beauty routines, all while sharing some behind-the-scenes photos snapped by Farro himself.
"At Hangout Fest, I wore a T-shirt by Mondo Mondo that said 'I wake up screaming,'" the lead singer of Paramore shares with Teen Vogue. The baby tee she references is fiery red, with the words spelled out across in bold sequined, shining letters. "A lot of fans thought it was a nod to lyrics from [Taylor Swift's] 'Anti-Hero,' which I kind of love." Williams is a long-time friend of Swift, growing up alongside her in the music industry, and soon, she'll be featured on Swift's upcoming project, Speak Now (Taylor's Version), on a vault track. “I've known that the collab I did with her was about to [be announced], so I liked that it weirdly foreshadowed that.”
Sure, it was a cheeky easter egg, but the T-shirt also had a much more personal and political meaning for Williams. "It's a statement about what it feels like to wake up in 2023 and how it really felt to wake up as a woman in America," she says. As the band traveled closer to Washington, DC, on their tour, Williams' shirts became deliberately more political, with more explicit statements emblazoned across her chest. To headline Boston Calling, for example, she wore a shirt that read "Abort The Supreme Court" with words from the Declaration of Independence across the back, which has since made its way into her vintage collection. "A nice political statement that you can wear without really even having to open your mouth? I love that," she confesses.
What Williams wears is only one of many important and impactful parts that constitute her almost instantly recognizable look. You can't separate Hayley Williams from the variety of iconic hairstyles and colors she's donned over the twenty years she's been a recording artist. These looks are courtesy of her stylist and hair and makeup artist, Brian O'Connor, who's been working with her for most of her career and travels with her on the road. Not only are they best friends and collaborators, but they're also co-founders of Good Dye Young, a hair color brand that the duo started in 2016. The two trust each other wholly, and she loves it when O'Connor takes the reins on the makeup that goes on her face pre-show. "I sit in his chair, and I'm just like, 'Paint me like one of your French girls.' I just let him do whatever," Williams quips.
The getting-ready process before a show looks slightly different for guitarist Taylor York and drummer Zac Farro. While Williams is getting her hair and makeup done, the boys are usually in the mood to get amped up. What is it like before the band gets on stage? Somewhat chaotic, they share. "There's a lot of ping pong," Williams says. The band carries a ping pong table on the road with them, and the members, especially the boys, take it quite seriously. "They're so competitive," Williams shares, teasingly confessing how much her bandmates have already sweat from their early-evening impromptu ping pong tournament before hitting the stage.
Still, there is a method to the madness, and care goes into their looks. "We all try to coordinate color schemes, and we all try to look like we're in the same kind of world," Farro jokes. Some things take more than just sticking to a color theme, and the prep starts at home. Case in point: Taylor York's hair upkeep. He is admittedly a bit more shy when it comes to fashion and beauty and says he doesn't really know what he's doing, but over the years, he's learned what works for him, especially when it comes to taking care of his curly hair.
"To be honest, I used to be far more diligent about my hair. But I have a few products that I use every day. [Though] sometimes I have to force myself to take a shower just so that I know that my hair won't look like a frizz ball," York confesses with a shy laugh. The two other members of the group also chuckle as York shares the ultimate curly-haired struggle. "My two current [hair care] brands are Pattern and Kevin Murphy," York adds, but more often than not, he ends up relying on luck and a little bit of divine intervention. “Anyone who has curly hair knows that most days you're just praying to the hair gods that they're on your side. Some days are just better than others, and you just have to accept whatever you get.”
Unlike his hair, York says he doesn't think much about his clothes and believes his style and taste are "the most vanilla" out of all the Paramore members, though his bandmates disagree. "He has a uniform; he's like our resident Johnny Cash," Williams excitedly proclaims. " I have two shirts that I pick between, and I'll be like, 'Do you guys like this one?'" he riffs off. York is the quietest among the group, but Williams naturally fills the small silences emanating from his timidness. “Taylor smells so good all the time; he wears a vetiver essential oil!”
Farro spends his pre-show hours slightly differently. He walks around with a camera, capturing the moments that become memories — exactly like he did at Hangout Fest as the band was getting ready, catching behind-the-scenes glimpses for Teen Vogue in a spontaneous photoshoot. "He's just got that eye," Williams shares about his photos. "And it's also clear in the way he styles himself, too. He loves adding accessories to his look, which is probably why you'll see him in a hat, or some funky sunglasses on stage, but he's generally a bit low maintenance and opts for comfort when it comes to his clothes."
"It's one of those things where you want to be really fashionable and wear something really great or a cool piece on stage," Farro, who also calls himself an "accessories person," tells Teen Vogue. "But when you're drumming for two hours, you've got to also wear something that's flexible, and you can play in performance." He's recently had an affinity for Issey Miyake, a brand that prioritizes ease and wearability but with a unique and recognizable twist.
Farro says that because of "pure fear," he doesn't take too many sartorial chances, but his bandmates claim he is the real fashionista of the trio, constantly frequenting thrift shops on the road. "At this point, being 33, I'm kind of like, 'Oh, I like this.' I'm not really trying to do anything daring," Farro explains. Maybe later on, but I'm kind of just in my zone now. I found a couple of brands that nail it for me, [like] No Maintenance. I've [also] been wearing Double Rainbouu star pants for the shows." As far as beauty goes, Farro keeps it simple and, above all, real. "I like my Aesop face routine in the morning, which is wash my face and use the primrose lotion," he says. "[But] I haven't done it in a while because I ran out."
"Taylor and I are probably the least [beauty-centered]," Farro adds, continuing his skin care tirade. "I mean, we're not gross by any means, but when you talk about skin and hair, I feel like should really be talking to some of our other band members like Joey Howard, who just got it on lock. [But] everybody's put together. No one's like, 'Oh, well, you need to go; you're a tour dog. You need to take a shower." Williams, with a dose of humor, politely disagrees: “No, I'm a tour dog. You're stylish. The minute they get out of their bunks or beds in the morning on the bus, they already look cool. I look like a roach until 5:00 PM.”
The members of Paramore are constantly thinking about what will hold up in a two-hour show where they're constantly moving and, at times, sweating buckets. Of course, that looks different for each member. For Williams, it's as simple as using Milk Makeup's Hydro Grip Primer and RISE waterproof mascara to add some additional security to her makeup look. Lately, she and O'Connor have also been using the about-face Shadow Sticks, which are super pigmented and have a strong lasting power.
For York and Farro, it's making sure they're in clothes that are also appropriate for the weather and prioritizing mobility and comfort, especially within a festival setting. "When we were younger, in a smaller-ish band, we would play in the middle of the day, so it was a very hot sun directly on you," Farro recalls. "Now that we're kind of headlining these festivals, the sun is down, and it's a different temperature."
The days when they're not doing shows but promotions or photoshoots are fun for the group, they admit. They get to play with their looks in ways that a two-hour set doesn't quite allow. During their latest album promotion cycle, all three members took some creative liberties to experiment — getting their hair teased to bits, finding a new favorite piece to wear out and about, or simply discovering a new favorite designer. (Williams tells Teen Vogue that one of her new favorite designers she discovered in their most recent promotion cycle is Shanghai-based Shu Shu Tong.)
They've also grown to work with bigger names in the fashion industry. For the band's show at the iconic Madison Square Garden, Williams wore a netted, sheer, and sparkly Stella McCartney minidress paired with a custom silver set underneath. "It's hard to play shows in designer dresses!" she exclaims. “But it's worth it because the photos are incredible, and the memory is incredible.”
For most of their career, which now spans almost two decades, Paramore has been rocking graphic T-shirts and a pair of jeans. It's relatively new for them to take risks like this with their fashion on stage, but they wouldn't have it any other way. "We're definitely never trying to capitalize on nostalgia. If anything, we're always running away from what we just did in a pretty overt way," Williams says.
Above anything, Paramore are chameleons. They have fluidly adapted to fit the ever-changing landscape of both music, reinventing themselves with each circumstance and challenging the status quo time after time — and it's only natural that their stylistic choices would reflect that. "Always wanting to move forward keeps us ever getting stuck in one place," Williams adds. “I'm really thankful for that. Otherwise, we'd still all be wearing red skinny jeans from 2007.”
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