Last week in fashion: YSL makes questionable zebra Havaianas, a very quiet VMAs red carpet, and more
By: Bianca O'Neill
Tags: Retail, Fashion, Lady Gaga, Music, Style

Your past week in fashion, condensed into point form. Here’s to another week… Happy Tuesday!

Also in the news, makeup-free advocate Alicia Keys has been criticised for launching a new beauty brand, and the founders of iconic Aussie hat brand Lack of Colour have created a new clothing label. For the biggest stories in fashion from the past week, read on.

Gaga dominates in five different looks at the virtual VMAs

It was always going to be a bit of a non-event when a virtual red carpet and minimal attendees made up the 2020 VMAs call list. Thankfully, Lady Gaga was tipped to save the day as the host — and she delivered all the masked-up red carpet fashion we’ve been missing in one night.

Performances included Gaga and Ariana Grande with their latest track Rain On Me, and Miley Cyrus re-living her famous wrecking ball moment — this time atop a disco ball.

Bella Hadid brought back the early 00’s in a pair of low-slung trousers, exposed G-string and barely-there sheer top, while Miley opted for underwear under a sheer floor-length mesh gown. Check out more of Gaga’s outrageous looks on her Facebook page.

YSL has collaborated with Havaianas to create designer flip flops

If you’ve been dreaming of buying something from Saint Laurent, but haven’t been able to afford their hefty price tags, perhaps this latest collaboration is for you: YSL have teamed up with ubiquitous flip flop brand Havaianas to release a $65USD zebra printed version, available at boutiques and online. According to their Instagram, there also seems to be a leopard print pair available soon.

Their latest marketing drive for “Dawn Patrol” attempts to capture the laid-back cool of surfing culture — but almost four times the price of a regular pair, and with no particularly special features to mention, it begs the question: why on earth would Saint Laurent bother to partner up with Havaianas instead of releasing their own version?

Havaianas, on the other hand, have been desperately trying to break into the fashion crowd for a few years now — here’s an old article I wrote about some questionable marketing behaviour from them at fashion week a few years back.

Lack of Colour founders release new clothing label

Their straw and panama hats have been proliferating our Instagram feeds for many years, but now Aussie brand Lack of Colour has set their sights on clothing with their new brand I Dream For You.

Speaking recently to Vogue, Tess Corvaia tells us the aim was to capture the essence of vintage clothing, and make it wearable for now:

“Our vision for IDFY is to create the items that we wish you could already buy, but couldn’t find — unless you found that one-off hidden gem in the racks of a vintage store. As played as it sounds, we generally just buy used vintage clothing because it has that feel and tells a story about a time maybe slightly forgotten or just out of mind.”

“I Dream For You is just that. It’s ‘us’ creating and dreaming up individual pieces that can hopefully remain kind of timeless for guys and girls.”

Check out their collection launch on the new website — but you’d better get in quick… apparently Kourtney Kardashian is already a fan.

Alicia Keys set to launch beauty brand

Beauty giant e.l.f. cosmetics caused a stir a few weeks ago when they announced that Alicia Keys would be helping them create a new beauty brand featuring “skin-loving, dermatologist-developed, cruelty-free products.”

Famously, Keys announced back in 2016 that she had stopped wearing makeup, even attending multiple red carpet events makeup free, as well as appearing as a bare-faced judge on The Voice — so it comes as no surprise that the announcement faced backlash from her fans.

There has been no confirmation so far whether the product drop, slated for 2021, will include makeup, but I see no reason why Keys can’t put her name to a range of skincare products. After all, if you’re going to live a makeup-free life, your well-looked-after skin is all you’ve got.