Tyla is on a roll—and so seems to be the ball of yarn that comprised her dress for Billboard’s Women in Music event yesterday evening.
The musician and recent British Vogue cover star rocked up to the star-studded evening in a Jean Paul Gaultier couture gown. The spidery string and mesh black dress had a high neckline and clung close to her body, graduated into a webbed train. Gathered string cupped at the chest, and she wore black underwear underneath, as well as stiletto pumps.
Tyla wore her light brown hair up in a messy updo, her scalp in tight cornrows with the rest of her hair falling forward in big, loose curls. Her stiletto nails were painted a neon yellow, and matched her pedicure.
The dress hails from Ludovic de Saint Sernin’s Jean Paul Gaultier spring 2025 Couture collection, which was titled “Le Naufrage”—that translates as Shipwreck. The inspiration, he told Vogue at the time, originated in a music video duet between Seal and Mylène Farmer on a raft adrift at sea. The look on the runway was in step with the sensual and mythological feel, and on Tyla, it retains its sexy, confident, and playful tone.
Inside the venue, Tyla was photographed with fellow awardee Doechii (who wore archival Donna Karan and was similarly swathed in mesh). Tyla made a change for a silk blue shirt worn completely open to her bellybutton, low-rise denim short-shorts, and an oversized brown suede biker jacket. She accessorized with a heavily beaded, colorful necklace, and pink sparkly heels.
Later in the evening, she made her third change of the evening, wearing a A’kai Littlejohn design: A deconstructed black suit with mesh, floral detailed cut-outs, and the suit trousers featured one leg cut into a short-short. Underneath, she wore a neon yellow bra. All to perform her latest single “Push 2 Start.”
The singer accepted the evening’s Impact Award, and in her speech, took a moment to reflect. “I left my country with big dreams, and I thought I had more time to figure things out…But when my career took off, I realized that god has his own plans,” she said. New music is coming, she promised coyly.
Tyla, who is styled by Ronnie Hart, has found a starry events and onstage style rhythm that works for her: It’s refined yet sexy, and often, they turn to Ludovic de Saint Sernin’ JPG designs for looks that are both fun and high-fashion. Across fashion month, she had a lot of fun too: the South African singer brought her own fashion flavor to Chanel, wearing a Barbie pink tweed suit set.
This evening, she proved as always, she’s a triple (fashion) threat.
