The pop star tapped a handful of young, new designers to create her look for the Dangerous Woman tour
Ariana Grande has developed a hyper specific style M.O. over the course of her pop star career. It’s one that tends to involve cat ears, waist-length, slicked back high ponies, matching sets, mini skirts, enormous outerwear, and of course an endless supply of thigh-high boots. So when preparing for a major world tour, the question becomes not what is Ari going to wear, but rather, how does one take her signature look to the next level? And it’s a question her stylist and a handful of the designers behind the ensembles for her latest Dangerous Woman tour were more than happy to answer exclusively for People.
According to the pop star’s stylist Law Roach, the man behind all of Grande’s edgy, yet low key, ’90s-inspired looks, the pair wanted to use this tour to put a lot of new names in the fashion industry on the forefront. Roach says, “Ariana and I really wanted to showcase new emerging designers and give them a place in the show, which is why we used designers like Michael Ngo, Vetements, Sergio Hudson and Bryan Hearns.”
He also saw these stage costumes as natural extensions of her street-inspired aesthetic, adding, “The silhouettes in the show are very similar to her everyday style, but more evolved. Ariana is growing as a woman and as an artist but we wanted her fans to still feel at home with her looks. Some of the shapes that she is known for are interpreted in different ways.”
One of the designers tapped for the tour, Bryan Hearns, tells People of the outfits below and above, “The opening look is a bodysuit and half peplum skirt that came together the night before; Ariana’s team flew me out to put one last look together. It was overwhelming and stressful – I slept for, like, four hours!”
“The look is inspired by Audrey Hepburn, [and] it’s a nod to Ari’s iconic style but with a twist,” he continues, adding, “the look was created with power mesh.” Probably a must given how much dancing, jumping, and sliding one stage look has to withstand.
Hearns also said that for the second look he created, a grey bra and skirt combination, “[When] Ariana put an initial mood board together for the tour, everything was oversized and sporty. Matched with my aesthetic of mixing leather and hardware, we came up with this fun look for the “Side to Side” section of the tour.”
As for the grand finale, designer Sergio Hudson says, “The most important thing for me when designing this look was that the coat wasn’t too heavy. To ensure that we used a lightweight patent leather and lined it with silk for comfort. Ariana and her stylist wanted to show off her clavicle bone with an off-the-shoulder look. Ariana wanted drama and we achieved it by adding length and fullness at the last minute.”
Roach echoes the sentiment: “For the closing look we wanted something dramatic, but also taking it back to the original album packaging, something that spoke to her being a Dangerous Woman – the black vinyl Sergio Hudson piece was perfect for that.” After all, nothing’s more dangerous (at least in terms of potential chafing) than a black patent leather ballgown.
Source: https://people.com