Look of the Week: Robyn is back – and so is her madcap sense of style
By Leah Dolan, CNN
(CNN) — Swedish musician Robyn’s live performance Thursday of “Sexistential” — the title track of her new album to be released in March — began in a shoulder stand with legs in the air. The fact she was wearing high-waisted red leather pants barely seemed to register as she rolled herself supine and began to writhe around the stage. Nothing, especially not a constrictive outfit, will keep the off-beat performer from moving how she wants to.
The striking routine on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert offered a sneak peak of Robyn’s new record, her first since 2018. The singer’s outfit — rib-grazing leather trousers, a white cotton t-shirt topped with black leather waistcoat embroidered with gold swirling patterns, and a single embellished elbow-length glove — was from Italian designer Dario Vitale’s one and only collection for Versace before his shock exit in December. It was “uncomplicated elegance, unbound by inhibition,” according to the Versace press release. There was no doubt about the latter part. But the elegance in this quirky look did feel complicated, challenging even, to take in at first glance. It was a little bit punk rock by way of Chrissie Hynde, very 1980s Giovanni Versace, with a dash of Michael Jackson visible in the solo glittering glove.
Vitale’s debut collection was one of the most anticipated of last season, and was lauded by critics as daring, original and delightfully wacky. He rejected a vision of Versace that was safe in terms of commercial viability, and instead offered up something more unexpected. It seems fitting then that his clothes were chosen by Robyn — a figure who has long cultivated a madcap sense of style herself. While newcomers to Robyn might be bewildered at her sartorial direction, longtime fans will remember plenty of zany red carpet appearances over the years – such as in 2011, when she arrived in a peach-toned kimono, two white leather belts, painted striped capri-length leggings and green Prada canvas open-toed brogues with a wedge platform heel. For the MoMA garden party in 2016, Robyn opted for a sequined ‘70s style jumpsuit by designer Michael Halpern in which one leg was a different pattern to the rest of the piece. Hers has always been a fashion palette built on clashing.
But Robyn’s puzzling Versace outfit Thursday began to make better sense as she sang the equally disorienting lyrics to “Sexistential,” a song which bounces between her struggles with IVF, being horny for Adam Driver and her spending habits on Etsy.
Of course, the focal point was the firetruck-red pants: a sexual center of gravity that Robyn ran her hand over, thrusted and splayed her legs in. It’s the playbook of Hynde, Joan Jett and Marianne Faithful — but with a straight leg instead of skin tight, for that all-important room to dance.
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