Shania Twain Remembers Polarizing ‘Unexpected’ Wardrobe in ‘Man! I Feel Like a Woman’ Music Video

It's been 25 years since Twain released the music video for the hit song that challenged country music and gender norms

Shania Twain is reflecting on her iconic wardrobe in the "Man! I Feel Like a Woman" music video 25 years after its release.

In a VevoFootnotes video, the country music star, 58, explained how designer Marc Bouwer made sure Twain's wardrobe in the video — which was inspired by Robert Palmer's video for "Addicted to Love" — matched the spirit of the song, which was about "liberation" and "independence."

"We wanted to make something unexpected and the role reversal was the vision," Twain wrote in her footnote.

Related: Shania Twain Talks Legacy of 'Man! I Feel Like a Woman' Ahead of Las Vegas Residency

The "You're Still the One" singer wore a white button-down shirt and tie under a black trenchcoat in the video until she slowly undressed to reveal a black corset and skirt with fishnets and a choker. For part of the video, she also wore a black top hat with a veil attached to it.

Twain said Bouwer "dressed me in that amazing high women's coat, the top hat, with the veil added for a touch of femininity in what was a 'typically' masculine outfit."

"I wanted it to evolve with the peeling away layers of clothes, like layers of this person coming off and revealing a different side of my inner self," she continued. "I wanted [the outfit] to show and say so much more than just man and woman — there's a whole area in between."

The "That Don't Impress Me Much" singer said that the country music industry gave her "flack" for the 1999 video.

"We were taking country music to a place it hadn't been before and some people didn't like that," she said, adding that she and the team involved in the project were deliberate about every risk they were taking.

Related: Shania Twain Reacts to Shirtless Jason Kelce Meme That Used Lyrics from 'Man! I Feel Like a Woman!'

"I remember the art department saying 'This is way too sexy! The women listeners are not going to like this! They're going to feel threatened." But Twain knew that her instincts were right and "women would totally get it."

The criticism of the wardrobe for the video reinforced the message behind "Man! I Feel Like a Woman."

"I was standing up for myself through the song. I wasn't being apologetic for all of the things I had been criticized for in my life," Twain said, adding that she was often told things like "....you can't wear that, that's too tight, that's too short."

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Ironically, Twain could fit in the video's famous corset decades after its release. She wore it during a performance of her Let's Go! residency in Las Vegas in 2021.

"I don't do it as easily as I did before, but it feels awesome," Twain said of wearing the outfit on  People (the Show!).

When she wore the iconic outfit during a 2023 concert in New York City, Twain revealed that before she pulled it out of retirement, the outfit had been in a "museum, collecting dust."

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