When Vogue visited with Dua Lipa recently, she was in Atlanta, deep into her mammoth Radical Optimism tour.
Among the key creatives involved with putting the show together? Lipa’s longtime stylist and friend Lorenzo Posocco. “We’ve really grown up together,” the pop star says.
“Well…I was already grown up,” replies Posocco with a laugh.
But really, Lipa’s decade-long style evolution has been a delight for all to watch. She’s found her groove in sumptuous leathers via Tom Ford and cut-out Jacquemus gowns, Gucci and Chanel separates, and bold sartorial swings like Miu Miu bullet bras and Schiaparelli couture.
The pop star-stylist duo met in London in 2015, when Lipa was doing the cover of an Italian magazine that Posocco was styling. “We had an immediate closeness,” says Lipa. “Everything was fun and light, but I also think there was immediate trust.”
The Radical Optimism tour’s visuals are grounded in the elements: fire, air, earth, water. Rain falls on the stage as Lipa dances like her life depends on it, kicking through the pools of water in slouchy leather boots, and fire swirls around her as she sings in a delicate, sheer white gown. She performs “Love Again” on a floating podium, phone lights like constellations around her, ensconced in a pearly white, faux fur coat. Throughout, fashion has to stand up to the spectacle.
The show has five acts, with extra pieces added and ripped off, boiling down to seven looks in total. It all kicks off with a Jean Paul Gaultier gold bustier with cinched tie details down the front and matching golden boots—no jewelry or accessories needed. “The leather has started to get worn and creased,” says Lipa, fingering the corset. “I love that feeling. It feels almost vintage.”
Next she slips into a baby pink, silver-spangled bodysuit, again by JPG, as dancers parade around with white feathers, as if in an opulent Vegas show or Berlin cabaret.
“There’s this showgirl attitude,” Posocco says. “It looks like something from the ’40s. It’s very magical on stage. It’s very feminine, very romantic, but at the same time, very strong.”
What keeps Dua feeling confident in her looks? A heel. “I feel like I can do anything in a heel,” she says. Her selection of corsets and gowns are styled with big Gucci monogrammed boots and Louboutin stilettos—all custom, with considerate ankle support to see her through the relentless dancing.
For the next act, which revels in the energy of a sensual burlesque number, Lipa and Posocco opted for a red embroidered Valentino catsuit. (In previous shows she’s worn it in white and black.)
“I love that this show shows all sides of me,” Lipa says, reminiscing about some of her earlier stage looks. On her first tour—a tiny one!—she always reached for a suit jacket, bra, baggy pants, and sneakers. “This show takes me down memory lane.”
We then arrive at the club section. For the tour’s first leg, Lipa wore two skin-tight looks by the Attico to perform her banger “Physical.” For the UK stadium tour, she went for leathery Courrèges. Now it’s a black and gold studded Chanel bodysuit with hip-hugging chains, custom-made and inspired by a Christy Turlington look from its spring 1992 haute couture show. Shockingly, it weighs “around seven kilos,” or 15 pounds. “I’ll do anything for the fashion,” Lipa says. “Nothing shines brighter than that Chanel.”
Next is some candy pink Balenciaga and the aforementioned gargantuan faux fur coat. Said coat has appeared on tour in white, red, and electric blue, with a Union Jack-lining reveal for the British tour dates. “I’m trying to do my moves, and it’s so heavy…I’m like, fuck it, it doesn’t matter!” says Lipa resolutely. “It’s too much fun not to suffer a bit for it!”
“It’s given me really strong arms,” she adds. “Most of these outfits have added to my workout.”
The final look, however, is the showstopper: a glittering, gilded Schiaparelli corset with ribcage and mirror detailing that pulls details from the designer’s archive and Lipa’s Golden Globes gown. “Every time I wear it, I feel so lucky,” she says. “It’s such an incredible couture piece for the show, but it’s something I can do cartwheels in, basically.”
Lipa and her team have a tried-and-tested formula for making her ornate and complicated tour wardrobe work. “I’m completely naked when I’m doing my quick change,” she explains. “It’s a choreographed dance!”
“I’m glad it’s not part of my job,” says Posocco. “I have the vision, but that’s it!”
Hair, makeup, and all elements of glam follow the fashion rhythm: show hair is blown out, voluminous, and sexy. “The sweatier I get, it works well,” she says. Makeup, by Katie Jane Hughes, is disco-influenced, and always includes a shimmer on the lip.
Dancers, too, make up the picture, with coordinating colors and silhouettes. Dua pops, but they’re a vital part of the show aesthetic. “We want everyone to feel good, so everything gets altered and fixed and changed until every single person feels confident…your performance then is easy,” she affirms.
We leave Dua Lipa in her first look, skipping off in golden JPG to start up the evening with “Training Season.”
