‘Lucrative’: Versace, Mugler and Gucci are dressing A-list pop stars from Dua Lipa to Taylor Swift - and why it’s hugely lucrative
From Versace to Mugler, A-list music stars are turning to fashion’s most in-demand designers for their wardrobes. And it’s worth megabucks.
Since Madonna wore a cone-shaped Jean Paul Gaultier body-suit on stage in the ’90s, couture fashion and A-list music stars have gone hand-in-hand.
The modern take on this is Taylor Swift in custom Versace, Alberta Ferretti and Oscar de la Renta on her current Eras Tour, and Beyonce in Jacquemus, Balmain and Dsquared2 on her Renaissance Tour, as pop acts increasingly turn to fashion’s most in-demand designers for their stage wardrobes.
The high-fashion tour wardrobes are almost entirely custom-made, with price-tags that are so jaw-dropping they are not made public and listed simply by the designers as “price on application”.
Dressed in head-to-toe Gucci, Harry Styles has performed in everything from a furry pink jacket to a sequined cropped jacket with nothing underneath.
Dua Lipa – who has wore Mugler, Balenciaga and Marine Serre at her shows – and Versace took their collaboration a step further than simply stage outfits, with Lipa co-designing Versace’s latest collection, titled “La Vacanza”, with creative director Donatella Versace.
A pioneer of the couture tour wardrobe, Madonna tapped Vetemnets creative director Guram Gvasalia for her upcoming tour, dubbed “Celebration”.
“Working so closely together on the costumes for your tour and bringing our visions and creativity into one big CELEBRATION,” Gvasalia said previously.
So what is it about music’s mega stars that make them such a lucrative target for luxury fashion houses?
“When we ‘buy into’ a pop star, become a fan, we buy into their music but also their image and the values they represent,” Linda Marigliano, an Australian presenter and former Triple J host based in Los Angeles, said.
“Especially in a modern era of social media, where we’re seeing those visuals of the stars around the clock, it’s even more important that the brands and the company that they keep aligns with what they’re representing.”
Marigliano – who hosts the podcast, Tough Love – said followers looked to pop stars like Swift and Styles as role models on “how to live, how to act [and] how to dress”.
As such, the fashion houses dressing them are “tapping into that all-important scene that designers need to be in,” Marigliano said. “Over the years, couture fashion houses that have been around for decades and decades, they have to keep reinventing – and being as relevant. I think that’s why pop stars are perfect for that.”
While Versace stages its own runway shows, more eyes would certainly be on Swift wearing a sparkly bodysuit – costing an estimated $15,000-plus, according to industry experts – teamed with over-the-knee silver Louboutin boots on her Eras Tour, than there would be in the front row at Milan Fashion Week.
“It’s more valuable for designers to align themselves with music stars, than it is to align themselves with models or actors,” Marigliano noted. “Music stars bring a mass audience – like Taylor Swift fans. And a whole ethos of values and lifestyle choices, if that makes sense. It’s not just an aesthetic alignment. It’s this is someone who represents a ‘brand’ that we are aligned with.”
And that can backfire, too. Case in point: controversial rapper Kanye West and his once-successful deal with Adidas, reportedly worth $1.5 billion (Adidas cut ties with West after a string of high-profile scandals).
“When you align yourself with the right person, like Versace and Dua Lipa with Taylor Swift, [it can prompt] a monumental resurgence.”
Vogue Australia fashion features director Alice Birrell said a shift in the way fans “consume music” had prompted more focus on the “way artists communicate who they are” in the digital era.
“Back in the age of vinyl album, art was the first visual introduction to an artist and a way to connect to fans, but that real estate has shrunk with the advent of streaming platforms where album covers are no bigger than a thumbnail,” Birrell said.
“Add to that social media’s influence, where the dominant platforms are so visually-led and musicians have had to adjust accordingly. That’s where fashion comes in; it communicates to fans who an artist is and what they stand for and a way to stand out when we’re exposed to an unprecedented volume of images at greater speed.
“Tour wardrobes have become a crucial part of this.”
Birrell said artists like Beyonce and Doja Cat – who wore a relatively unknown Australian designer, Caroline Reznik, as part of her custom wardrobe at Californian festival Coachella – used fashion to “cultivate their individuality, while still giving something fans can relate to, hence why they pursue bespoke creations made for them by either the world’s top designers, or emerging undiscovered talents …[dressing them in] totally unique pieces, never to be repeated”.
This spans bright colours, maximum volume, and elaborate accessories that ensure they can be seen onstage – even at a distance.
“Harry Styles teaming up with Harris Reed and Gucci is the ultimate example,” Birrell said.
“His gender-fluid dressing and embrace of a rainbow of sequins and feathers signals the kind of uninhibited joy and escape people look for at concerts but also that he’s keyed into subtle undercurrents of emotion.
“His sensitivity to diverse viewpoints, his fearlessness in embracing freedom of expression is something fans proudly align themselves with, and in return signal their support by showing up in feather boas, and Harry-influenced brights.”
As for Styles, Marigliano – author of the book, Love Language – agrees. “Those partnerships, whether it’s with couture or streetwear, they only really, really work when it feels organic – and I think that’s why Harry Styles and Gucci has works so well,” she said.
“The Gucci brand has embodied that eccentric, masculine versus feminine rolled into one, diverse, glamorous range, and that’s what Harry Styles has been as a pop star as well.
“A collaboration like that, they [the brand and the star] gives each other the same about of weight.
“When you look at Marc Jacobs and Heaven brand aligning with Ice Spice and Lil Nas X … that really works
“People who are buying Heaven Marc Jacobs are fans of Ice Spice, they’re fans of Lil Nas X.”
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Originally published as ‘Lucrative’: Versace, Mugler and Gucci are dressing A-list pop stars from Dua Lipa to Taylor Swift - and why it’s hugely lucrative
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