August is for last minute(s): pivots, getaways, amends… Here is a brave half-dozen music videos that made me go wow-now on fashion styling. Who should I be checking next?! Tell me 🙂

Aryana Sayeed – Lanat

In solidarity with the people of Afghanistan and the diaspora affected by the recent geopolitical debacle, this edition opens with Aryana Sayeed’s last single before the fall of Kabul and her own dramatic evacuation. While a stylist is not credited in this music video, Aryana’s account has always championed local designers. A judge on Afghan talent shows and outspoken activist, her escape from the country comes amid news that Taliban has already banned playing music and featuring women on television and radio. In opening words of Lanat: “”Spit on the face of every terrorist, women abuser, child molester, religious hypocrite, lynching mob, cyberbully, and provoker of hate, inhumanity, division and injustice.” Play this for Afghanistan!

Jenevieve – Résumé

Stylist Beija Marie Velez color-blocks this bittersweet un-love story with sunshine and shade (literally and colloquially). The little black dress with safety pins puts a fine edge on the heightened sense of emotional ambiguity in the song. Come what may, these artists have rightfully made it onto the Post-Paris / Style-the-Beat resume! Welcome.

Saad Lamjarred feat. Calema – Enty Hayaty

While the Portuguese duo made two appearances on the style-the-beat charts, Moroccan superstar Saad Lamjarred is our legendary “newcomer”. Styled by Lizzie Favaro, this video is a delightful and delicious treat of textures, colors, and patterns. What a beautiful sonic and visual bridge over the strait of Gibraltar! Sim /نعم

Patrick Watson – Can’t Stop Staring At The Sun

How do you style the sun? How do you style the desert? How do you style a somersault? Stylist Christian Stroble grounds the soaring chords and choreography in fifty shapes of pants: tracks, slacks, jeans, and that showstopper pair with ribbons. Can’t stop staring at this mesmerizing work of video art. Less is not more, it’s everything.

Max Barskih – Just Fly

We thought only Taylor Swift could do music videos on this scale. Hundreds of dancers shutdown 1 terminal in Boryspil airport for 3 days to shoot this Ukrainian feel-good ode to post-pandemic wishful thinking. Just Fly?! Can’t wait! Styled by Luvi and Mari Siviakova this video gets all the frequent style miles from Post-Paris Air. От винта!

Mila Jam – It’s Raining Them

Y’all ain’t ready. Awe-gust brought a remake of an iconic hit we didn’t know we need. Yet, now that we have it, we wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s raining them. F*cking brilliant in every (un)imaginable way. Styling by Juan Camilo Sáez aka “La Boricua Carrie Bradshaw” (and the rest of the Jam Team) drags this classic into 2021. Drags. Got it?! Never not above side-eyed wordplay. The New Normal is gender-non-conforming, because Nature is a single person, too!

Meanwhile … count your awe-gust blessings, stay tuned, stay styled!

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Check out previous installments of my Style the Beat series here.