The Latest Style Icon Is ... SpongeBob SquarePants?

Apparently SpongeBob is inspiring stars' styles here and abroad

Published on March 31, 2014 05:01 PM

Neil P. Mockford/Filmmagic; Jeff Kravitz/Filmmagic

Style inspiration can come from anywhere — a beautiful sunset, an interesting textile, an old movie. And (less frequently, we’d guess) it can come from a beloved children’s cartoon. This weekend, two separate music stars paid sartorial tribute to that crazy guy who lives in a pineapple under the sea, (sing it with us now) SpongeBob SquarePants.

Rita Ora wore the “bewildered face” version of the Nickelodeon “star” on her Moschino sweater dress (yes, the same line that brought you this sweatshirt) to promote her new music video in London. She completed the look with the matching pumps from an even more SpongeBob-y outfit in the Jeremy Scott-designed Fall 2014 collection.

At the Kids’ Choice Awards Saturday night, Pharrell Williams swapped his Arby’s-inspired (and now Arby’s-owned) Vivienne Westwood hat for an equally memorable look: A SpongeBob SquarePants onesie (featuring the cartoon’s “happy face”) zipped all the way up. Williams has long been a fan of the wacky undersea sponge, even featuring the cartoon in his designs for his Ice Cream clothing line last fall.

So who did the famous sponge more justice: Rita or Pharrell? Think this look is going to catch on? Which cartoon would you like to see on clothes next?

–Alex Apatoff