Ashley McBryde, Carly Pearce, Lainey Wilson and Trisha Yearwood at the 2024 ACM Honors

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There were other country stars at the ACM Honors, but we opted to focus on these four Yeehaw Divas because they’re the only ones who wore anything worth discussing to this thing. They also happen to embody the two sides to country music star styles.

Ashley McBryde
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The most common Country star style is to go as low-key and generic as possible. Many of them seem to want to avoid the cliches of denim and cowboy hats, but we always think that’s a mistake. Pretty much every genre of popular music has an accompanying style that signals your love of that genre. What Ashley’s wearing here suffers from being so generic that it announces nothing. You’d never look at someone in this outfit and assume they were really into country music. She gets credit for highlighting her tats well, but there are so many more interesting ways to go.

Carly Pearce
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This is a variation on Ashley’s take in that it’s almost completely stripped of anything that says “country.” To be fair, we don’t expect Dolly or Loretta cosplay here, but this is pretty much indistinguishable from any pop diva’s style. Anyone from Taylor to Beyonce could step out in this and look completely on point, which says to us that it’s a mostly forgettable outfit. Those flowers look pure craft store.

Lainey Wilson
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Now that’s what we’re talking about. The hat is the cherry on the sundae, but you could ditch it and this would still read country to us. We love the top (it’s giving down-home Stevie Nicks) and the jewelry, but the pants are kind of ugly.

Trisha Yearwood
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The problem with country style is that it can so easily lapse into cliche, which is probably why a lot of younger stars try to avoid it. But she’s country royalty and she can get away with a lot. The basic style, right down to the fishnets and boots, works for her, but that print is ugly. A less harsh color story would improve a lot here.

[Photo Credit: Terry Wyatt/Getty Images for ACM]

• ACM Awards
• Ashley McBryde
• Awards
• Carly Pearce
• Lainey Wilson
• Red Carpet
• Red Carpet Rundown
• Trisha Yearwood