Great Outfits in Fashion History: St. Vincent in All-Black Burberry

I cannot speak of these vinyl Dior boots without getting emotional.

There are perfectly good celebrity style moments, and then there are the looks that really stick with you, the ones you try desperately to recreate at home. In ‘Great Outfits in Fashion History,’ Fashionista editors are revisiting their all-time favorite lewks.

There are the celebrities you want to meet, because you feel certain you’d immediately be best friends, and then there are the celebrities you never want to meet because you know you’d profoundly and permanently embarrass yourself. (Just me?) Anyway, St. Vincent, née Annie Clark, falls into that latter category.

Not only is she mega talented and incredibly intelligent, St. Vincent is also just…really, really beautiful. She gives off that effortless “don’t fuck with me” vibe that I’ve been trying and failing to cultivate my whole life. And her style is unlike anything else out there.

One outfit I think about with an almost unhealthy regularity is the look she wore to the Burberry show in September 2015, attending with then-girlfriend Cara Delevingne. Of course, she was dressed by the British heritage brand, wearing a jet-black, lattice-worked dress from the Fall 2015 collection. The skirt is unlined, but the fearless Clark goes with just a bodysuit underneath and not much else.

Most of the accessories are fairly tame: A pair of cool sunglasses and a suede fringed clutch by Burberry. But it’s the vinyl, thigh-high boots by Dior that take this look from safe FROWer to style superstar. They’re beautifully subversive, a clever way to cover up more leg under the open work of the skirt while still, frankly, being kinda sexy.

Is it a look I could ever pull off? I’m not sure, but I’d like to try. I think this fall I’ll work in some high-shine looks of my own — and thanks to Saint Laurent’s latex-filled Fall 2020 collection, it’s right on trend for now, too.