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Welcome to Shopping With Vogue, a series where people with top-tier personal style bring us along as they look to add to their impressive wardrobes.
Tems has left the building. While taking a spin around the Lower East Side fashion hotspot ESSX, the Nigerian singer stumbles across a pair of reflective Acne Studios aviators that have morphed her into a sexy extraterrestrial. “Where is Tems? I’m a hot alien right now,” she says, “I’ve killed everybody.”
The singer’s debut album Born In The Wild drops June 7, and she has some shopping to do in preparation. A fan of ESSX since the store opened less than a year ago, today she’s on the hunt for “garms,” “shades,” and—generally speaking—“cool shit.” A recovering shopaholic, she has been living by the philosophy that “Whatever you’re meant to wear will find you,” but she’s about to put her willpower to the test.
The “Free Mind” singer is instantly drawn to the Jean Paul Gaultier rack, picking through the trompe l’oeil offerings. “I think I just got this,” she says, pulling a white long-sleeve shirt off the rack. “My personal style is simple with a touch of spicy,” she says, landing on the phrase “delicately dangerous.” Alaïa, Blumarine, and Y/Project are all go-to brands for Tems, who favors body-hugging pieces, like the graphic Y/Project maxi dress she wears for our shopping trip. “They make a lot of stuff that caters to women that look like me,” she says.
When it comes to her onstage style, Tems will always choose pants over dresses. “You need to feel good to be confident,” she says, “and that’s what’s important.” She flips through the menswear with aplomb, pulling out embellished jeans and button-downs. “The amount of menswear I buy…crazy. And the pants will always fit,” she says.
In spite of her self-imposed shopping rules, Tems certainly doesn’t leave ESSX empty handed. Watch on to see what she walks away with.
Director: Devin Kasparian
Story: Hannah Jackson
Editor: John Filmanowicz
Producer: Lucy Dolan-Zalaznick
Title Card: Ingu Chen
Location: ESSX, 140 Essex St. New York
