Look of the Week: Tyla brings the Chanel skirt suit back to its ’90s heyday
Editor’s Note: Featuring the good, the bad and the ugly, ‘Look of the Week’ is a regular series dedicated to unpacking the most talked about outfit of the last seven days.
At Chanel’s Paris Fashion Week show on Tuesday, South African singer Tyla arrived at the Grand Palais in a hot pink tweed mini skirt, a strapless bustier top and matching jacket, paired with a dripping Y-shaped necklace that spelled “Chanel” out both horizontally and vertically. While many other show attendees including musician Raye and actor Simone Ashley dutifully donned a bouclé skirt suit — one of the label’s signature styles — there was no ignoring Tyla’s Barbie-coded version.
From the monogrammed gold “CC” buttons to the chain hem circling the bottom of her top, Tyla’s fuchsia three-piece was filled with classic “Chanelisms” that harked back to what some regard as a more distinctive era of the brand. The cut and colour echoed a tweed dress once worn by Naomi Campbell for the house’s Spring-Summer 1994 show. “I wanted to feel like a classic rich Chanel girl,” Tyla told Vogue.
On the runway, Chanel also reimagined its hallowed tweed skirt suit with bursts of tulle, floor-length hem-lines and necklines slashed off-the-shoulder.
Tyla’s ensemble was prim yet playful — a balanced alternative to the prevailing “officecore” trend seen throughout the Paris shows. Stella McCartney staged her runway in an open-plan office with guests sitting at desks equipped with stationery, while Balenciaga took a more pared-back approach with its collection of crumpled and moth-ravaged suits.
But if the thought of reaching for pinstripes and charcoal twill after 5 o’clock fills you with dread rather than desire, the bold skirt suit may offer a happy medium between our evident interest in more structured tailoring without the commitment of dressing like a “Severance” extra.
Consider the canary yellow iteration that Amanda Seyfried wore in New York on Monday — made edgier by a pair of blackout shades and knee-high leather boots. Or the Dalmatian print Versace variant Millie Bobby Brown wore on Tuesday during her “Today” show appearance. The printed two piece was styled with a black beret that perched atop Brown’s freshly bleached locks.
Tyla rounded off her vintage-style Chanel ensemble with a black mini bag and spiky cropped hair. While Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel is most remembered for popularizing women’s trousers, it’s worth noting that her enduring contribution to the skirt suit is a close second.
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