Now 34, the No One singer admits she hasn't truly dressed for herself since she was a teenager and she threw away her sexy summer dresses for jeans and boots after feeling threatened by men on the streets of New York - and so very few people have seen the real Alicia.

And she decided it's time to rethink her wardrobe options after realising she still makes fashion choices based on what makes her invisible when she's planning a school run or a shopping trip.

In a lengthy Tumblr.com post, the Girl on Fire hitmaker writes, "For as long as I can remember, I’ve hidden myself... I definitely started hiding when I got old enough to walk down my NY (New York) streets alone. I started to notice a drastic difference in how men would relate to me if I had on jeans, or if I had on a skirt, or if my hair was done pretty. I could tell the difference, I could feel the animal instinct in them and it scared me. I didn’t want to be talked to in that way, looked at in that way, whistled after, followed. And so I started hiding.

"I chose the baggy jeans and timbs (boots), I chose the ponytail and hat, I chose no makeup, no bright color lipstick or pretty dresses. I chose to hide. Pieces at a time. Less trouble that way.

"I remember feeling that same way when I first started to get recognized as an artist. I had the baggy/braided/tough NY tomboy thing mastered, that was who I was (or who I chose to be) and I felt good there. Then, because of the way I spoke or carried myself, people started calling me gay and hard and I wasn’t gay, but I was hard and although I felt comfortable there, it made me uncomfortable that people were judging me and so slowly I hid that side of myself. I put on dresses and didn’t braid my whole head up, so people could see more of the 'real' me..."

She continues: "To this day, every time I get out of the shower to get dressed, I swear the first thought that comes into my head is, what can I wear that won’t cause too much attention when I go pick up (son) Egy (Egypt), or head to the store, or go shopping, or visit a friend. And just the other day it hit me! OMG! Alicia!!! Why are you choosing to be that person?? That is so old and outdated!! STOP!!

"You are allowed to be smart. You are allowed to be beautiful. You are allowed to be radical and have strong thoughts that others might not agree with. You are allowed to be tough. You are allowed to be sexy. You are allowed to be bold. You are allowed to be shapely. You are allowed to be kind. You are allowed to be yourself!! And guess what!?? I can be all these things all at the same time. I don’t have to give up one to be the other. I don’t have to hide anymore... I don’t have to try to go unnoticed."