Charli XCX has famously proclaimed that she’ll never make the same album twice. In just the past two years, the artist has presented three entirely singular projects, taking us from the gritty, high-energy Y2K rave-inspired cultural phenomenon that was Brat (2024) to the gothic, orchestral electro-pop of Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights (2026) to the introspective Music, Fashion, Film (2026). But when it comes to fashion, she’s a lot more consistent. Since developing her signature style around the time of the Brat rollout—a raw, grungy blend of archival fashion, East London thrifted finds, and easy everyday pieces worn time and time again—she says she has no interest in switching things up. (At least for now.)
“The idea of dressing up and becoming a new person each album doesn’t feel super appealing to me,” she tells Harper’s Bazaar from Las Vegas, on a call that also includes stylist Chris Horan. “I have done that. I have played a more caricature version of myself, I’ve definitely gone there before. But I think for me now, all of my music is very much rooted in reality, and even though the sonics and maybe the approach and the topics kind of vary and change [album to album], the essence is still very me. And I think one way I can really kind of ground that is through the clothes that I wear.”
Making the on-stage wardrobe feel authentic for the Music, Fashion, Film Tour meant incorporating second-hand shopping—a practice XCX has long stood by—into the sourcing process. Horan says his goal was for the fashion to feel “exciting and different enough and like an evolution,” without “throw[ing] out this style that [they] developed, that is, truly, her personal style.” So he got to work, scouring fashion schools’ Instagrams for independent labels and letting Vinted’s algorithm lead him to “small Italian designers from the ’90s that you’ve never heard of before.” He gave her classic grungy style a refresh, pairing ripped tees with R&M Leather gloves for Los Angeles and reimagining an early-2000s bedazzled Christian Audigier top as a dress for Austin City Limits. One of XCX’s favorite pieces, worn in San Diego, was a mint-green blouse with semi-sheer stripes from a collector in Bushwick who specialized in Y2K pieces.
Hours after our call, XCX would step on stage in Las Vegas for the final U.S. show of the tour, donning a black Roberto Cavalli minidress she wore earlier this month for an Academy Museum Gala after party. The piece, with its vertical ruching and tiered ruffled skirt, was a Vinted find—purchased from a seller who, coincidentally, happened to be in the pop star’s audience several shows prior. “This is how I wear clothes in my life,” she says. “I wear pre-loved pieces. I wear pieces that I’ve had in my wardrobe for years and years and years and won’t ever let go of. I am putting on stage the things that I wore when I was in the studio and writing the songs.” (This is the woman who reworked her own wedding dress for the “Rock Music” music video, after all.)
When it comes to her own personal thrifting habits, XCX calls her process “chaotic” and lengthy. “I realized I am such a slow shopper. I find it really hard to shop in groups,” she explains. “I take a long time, and that’s whether it’s in person or online. If I’m online, I need a whole session, like, ‘Don’t talk to me.’ I’m locked the fuck in. And if it’s in person, I’m taking 100 items into a fitting room and I’m there for hours. My process is lengthy and I need a lot of time. And if you’re gonna get on the journey with me, you just have to have some patience.”
Horan, by contrast, tends towards instinct-driven hauls, a habit that can be justified given his job. Given their differences, has their relationship has always been this seamless and in sync? “It’s always been a really easy collaboration,” the stylist explains. “I feel like there’s a lot of trust between both of us. Charli’s always given me so much freedom to bring crazy ideas, but also always has such a strong vision from the jump. She is kind of like, ‘This is what this album is,’ and then lets us all run with it, which is always, as a creative, the best possible scenario.”
“I don’t feel that way at all, I don’t feel like it’s been easy.” XCX jokes, laughing. “No, I’m kidding, I’m kidding, I completely agree. Everybody thinks I’m some kind of raging bitch, and I can be, but I’m also quite chill. And when I’m collaborating with someone, I really like to lean into the collaboration, rather than bringing somebody into my orbit, asking them to do a job, and then trying to control and smother them with my own thoughts and opinions. It’s just such a waste of time. I really want to work with people because I feel inspired by their ideas and what they can bring.
“Doing the thing that we do together can be very emotional and very sensitive. And I’ve never felt pushed into anything by Chris; I’ve always felt we make decisions together. We allow each other space to breathe, and it’s always been like that, but the more we work together, the better and better it gets.”
The latest disagreements they’ve gotten into have been, they admit, about which pieces to sell on Vinted as part of their next endeavor. On November 16, XCX will be opening up her own wardrobe on the platform, with a curated selection of looks from tour, second-hand finds from Horan, and vintage tees from the Brat artist’s closet. “It just makes sense for it to be this cyclical, full rotation. Everything that we’re putting on Vinted definitely has its own story,” she explains. “But it’s been really hard to part ways with certain things…honestly, most things.”
She laughs. “So, whoever gets them, please give them a nice life.”
