Spice Girls Photos That Recall Their Meteoric Rise To Fame

These stunning Spice Girls photos will take you back to a time when “girl power” ruled the world – all thanks to these five young women.

Twenty years ago this month, the Spice Girls released their first single, “Wannabe,” and the world gobbled it up. The single, which sold over 7 million copies, smashed records and catapulted the group to global fame — and criticism.

Indeed, some have said that by “reducing” the women’s movement to fashion and all-laughs friendship, the group “[wiped] out feminism for a decade.” However, it bears reminding that the Spice Girls may not have even existed had they not practiced the very solidarity they extolled in song at the very beginning.

Originally, the five young women were meant to compose a group called “Touch,” with Chris and Bob Herbert as their managers. However, upon realizing that the Herberts sought to control their image — and bind them to an unscrupulous contract — they abandoned ship.

Not only did they leave en masse, they took master recordings of their songs with them. It wasn’t easy street from there, though. It would take the women, originally strangers, half a year before they met and signed with Simon Fuller, who would play a major role in making them one of the most successful female music groups of all time.

With that, we look back on their buffalo-booted and Union Jacked run, which split up for a time in 2000, in the photos below:

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1 of 14The Spice Girls perform during a “Saturday Night Live” dress rehearsal.MARY ELLEN MATTHEWS/AFP/Getty Images 2 of 14The group poses for the 50th International Film Festival in Cannes.BERTRAND GUAY/AFP/Getty Images 3 of 14Sofía Ferrreira/Flickr 4 of 14The Spice Girls pose at a Paris hotel in 1997.THOMAS COEX/AFP/Getty Images 5 of 14Queen Elisabeth II shakes hands with the Spice Girls after a performance at London’s Victoria Palace Theatre. AFP/Getty Images 6 of 14Prince Harry and Charles (L) pose with Posh and Sporty Spice.WALTER DHLADHLA/AFP/Getty Images 7 of 14The Spice Girls arrive atop a double decker bus for a screening of their new movie “Spice World” at Planet Hollywood in New York.HENNY RAY ABRAMS/AFP/Getty Images 8 of 14A young girl holds the Spice Girls dolls.JOHNNY EGGITT/AFP/Getty Images 9 of 14Martin/Flickr 10 of 14Spice Girls pose at a photocall at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich in 2007.Getty Images 11 of 14The Spice Girls perform at the 2007 Victoria’s Secret fashion show.Mark Mainz/Getty Images 12 of 14Getty Images 13 of 14The Spice Girls perform during the Closing Ceremony on Day 16 of the London 2012 Olympic Games at Olympic Stadium on August 12, 2012.Mike Hewitt/Getty Images 14 of 14Like this gallery?Share it:

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The Spice Girls’ “Girl Power” As Chronicled In Photos View Gallery

Enjoy these Spice Girls photos? Next, check out 21 Kanye West facts you have absolutely, positively never heard before. Then, have a look at four reasons why Paul McCartney was a way better Beatle than John Lennon.

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1 of 14The Spice Girls perform during a “Saturday Night Live” dress rehearsal.MARY ELLEN MATTHEWS/AFP/Getty Images

2 of 14The group poses for the 50th International Film Festival in Cannes.BERTRAND GUAY/AFP/Getty Images

3 of 14Sofía Ferrreira/Flickr

4 of 14The Spice Girls pose at a Paris hotel in 1997.THOMAS COEX/AFP/Getty Images

5 of 14Queen Elisabeth II shakes hands with the Spice Girls after a performance at London’s Victoria Palace Theatre. AFP/Getty Images

6 of 14Prince Harry and Charles (L) pose with Posh and Sporty Spice.WALTER DHLADHLA/AFP/Getty Images

7 of 14The Spice Girls arrive atop a double decker bus for a screening of their new movie “Spice World” at Planet Hollywood in New York.HENNY RAY ABRAMS/AFP/Getty Images

8 of 14A young girl holds the Spice Girls dolls.JOHNNY EGGITT/AFP/Getty Images

9 of 14Martin/Flickr

10 of 14Spice Girls pose at a photocall at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich in 2007.Getty Images

11 of 14The Spice Girls perform at the 2007 Victoria’s Secret fashion show.Mark Mainz/Getty Images

12 of 14Getty Images

13 of 14The Spice Girls perform during the Closing Ceremony on Day 16 of the London 2012 Olympic Games at Olympic Stadium on August 12, 2012.Mike Hewitt/Getty Images

14 of 14Like this gallery?Share it:

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The Spice Girls’ “Girl Power” As Chronicled In Photos View Gallery

The Spice Girls’ “Girl Power” As Chronicled In Photos

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These stunning Spice Girls photos will take you back to a time when “girl power” ruled the world – all thanks to these five young women.#

These stunning Spice Girls photos will take you back to a time when “girl power” ruled the world – all thanks to these five young women.