FKA TWIGS - FASHION LESSONS

“I don’t have time to think about how much of myself I’m exposing. If you’re self-conscious, then you’re not giving yourself, are you?”

So said FKA twigs in a 2014 interview with Crack Magazine. She was talking about her profoundly personal writing style, but it is clear that this notion can be applied to just about anything she turns her hand to, whether that be performance, video direction or fashion.

In a world saturated with identikit, media trained personalities she, like Cara Delevingne, Bjork and Kate Moss before her, has captured the imagination of a public hungry for authenticity. Her records resist easy categorisation, merging trip-hop, electronic, choir and R&B to produce an aural and visual style that is hypnotic for its uniqueness and bravery.

twigs prioritised the visual aspect of her music from very early on (she has creative input into every aspect of her videos – often directing and styling them outright) so it was never going to be long before the fashion houses came calling, her eclectic and disparate influences chiming with a reflective mood in the collections: one where singularity has been decreed the most ‘on-trend’ expression of them all.

Here we look at some of her most groundbreaking looks:

The Met Gala 2015

The theme was ‘China: Through the Looking Glass’ but let that not be a barrier to artistic expression.

This controversial dress, part of Christopher Kane’s AW15 show, featured a tiny penis and was one of a number of pieces from the collection depicting a tangle of the human anatomy.

Highly sexualized and yet oddly demure, the dress was a perfect extension of the tensions Twigs herself embodies and managed to provoke an arguably more meaningful and lasting conversation than some of the more overt costumes displayed on the carpet that night.

Alexander Mcqueen ‘Savage Beauty’: Opening Gala

Given McQueen’s lifelong commitment to the exploration of the dichotomous nature of femininity, it seems almost implausible that any artist but twigs could perform at the launch of his hugely anticipated posthumous exhibition.

Not only did she perform, she wore the Birds of Paradise dress, one of his most iconic creations from the Spring/Summer 2008 collection.

The choice is significant upon recollection of a 2007 interview with McQueen for Numéro magazine: “I’m inspired by a feather but also its colour, its graphics, its weightlessness and its engineering…In fact I try and transpose the beauty of a bird to women.”

Citing Mathew Bourne’s Swan Lake as an early influence, twigs too explores the tension between fragility and power in her work, flipping between passive and dominant roles with subtle adjustments in her lyrics, performance and personal style.

Surface Magazine event: Art Basel, Miami December 2014

Neatly prefacing the Spring Summer ’15 boho trend, twigs explores disparate influences again by attending a Surface magazine event in a cross-print Henrik Vibskov shirtdress and eschewing the omnipresent gladiator sandal for tractor-tread heeled black boots.

Chola Style

The slicked back ‘kiss curl’ look that has become the signature of twigs, is nothing new having originated in a specific subculture of first and second generation Mexican American girls.

‘Chola’ girls were influenced by hip-hop, wore Dixie Jeans and were sometimes associated with gangs. In an environment that was then oppressive and socially immobile, Chola girls created their own aesthetic as a signifier of their hard-won identity.

This year the style moves from subculture to fashion trend as the ‘kiss curl’ look takes a starring role in a DKNY campaign and the Givenchy catwalk presumably conjuring a subversive and feminine fierceness.

twigs however is moving on stating that “I used to really enjoy doing [my hair] every single day, even if I was late I’d squeeze in seven minutes to do [the curls]. But since I did the i-D cover [chola style] has really taken over in fashion and music … I think the way it’s taken now, I’m not really down with it.”

Captivating, surprising and resolutely resistant to categorisation, FKA twigs is a rare voice championing authenticity. That, in my opinion, is her greatest lesson to us all.

What is your favourite twigs look? Tweet us at @YahooStyleUk

Images: Getty