Lily Allen’s West End Girl continues to permeate pop culture. One of the most well received and celebrated albums of the year, it’s a raw yet rollicking documentation of the breakdown of her marriage to Stranger Things actor David Harbour, emboldened by those Lily Allenisms: acerbic lyrics delivered in her sweet song-song and earworm melodies. And with each outing post-album drop, the British singer has amped up her revenge dress wardrobe.
Last night, Allen attended the London premiere of The Hunger Games: On Stage. (It wasn’t in the hallowed West End, but in the city’s Canary Wharf district). She opted for a sheer and clingy black knit Galliano-era Dior dress from 1999 with a high neck and long sleeves, wearing just a black thong underneath, forgoing a bra. She kept the rest of the look pretty simple, with platform black Louboutins and a selection of rings. Her hair was up in a gathered and layered bun with her signature bangs mussed up, and she wore a sheer pink manicure, and glowy, minimal makeup. It was both Capitol chic and a cheeky bit of revenge dressing.
Last week, Allen made her first major punt at the revenge dress at the 2025 CFDA Fashion Awards, proving that the concept doesn’t actually have to involve a dress at all. Allen slipped into an itty-bitty cream bralet, exposing her abs, paired with a lace-detailed matching silk skirt by Colleen Allen. Classic and timeless, yet modern and sexy. And for Halloween, Allen’s signature cheekiness played out in her costume, dressing up as the children’s character Madeline; a sly nod to lyrics about the other woman in her relationship. (“Who the f*ck is Madeline?”).
The revenge dress was first defined by Princess Diana, who famously wore a show-stopping black off-the-shoulder dress by Christian Stambolian in 1994, after her then-husband and then-Prince Charles admitted to infidelity. In the years since, pop culture figures have embraced the power of the post-breakup fit: Mariah Carey’s thigh-exposing two-piece at the 1997 VMAs after her breakup from Tommy Mottola tipped a new and empowered fashion era for the star, while Bella Hadid opted for a mesh Alexander Wang catsuit on the Met Gala 2017 red carpet after splitting from The Weeknd—revenge body, more like. Zoë Kravitz donned the naked dress at the 2021 just weeks after finalizing her divorce, and wore her new partner Channing Tatum on her arm.
What’s next for this West End Girl? With such a good eye for independent designers and archive pulls, expect the best of Lily Allen’s new era wardrobe.
