Who needs Halloween when the news go BOOOO every day?! To offset the fear mongering, here is a half-dozen music videos to make you go wow-now on fashion styling and brighten up the chaos. Who should I be checking next? Tell me 🙂

This time we start with a very special extra video…

Dobareh … for Women-Life-Freedom & Iran

As the weeks of women-led protests continnue to shape the future of Iran despite violent crackdowns, legendary Iranian singer Googoosh teams up with Iranian (and diasporic) performers Leila Forouhar, Shahrzad Sepanlou, Darya Dadvar, Sogand & Academy Award nominee Shohreh Aghdashloo for a powerful ballad in honor of Mahsa Amini and all the Iranian rebels, resisters, and dreamers. #WomenLifeFreedom

Now onto the wow-now fashion styling in recent music videos:

Sampa The Great feat. Angélique Kidjo – Let Me Be Great

Notably, both artists already graced this series with their respective music videos in the same edition! (August 2020) Naturally, news of their collaboration sent our heartbeats into cardiac overdrive. Stylist Ntombi Moyo made sure this would be as epic as anyone could dream up, and then some. Y’all better follow Ntombi immediately, because no one – NO ONE! – is having a brighter moment in the industry right now. Just last month’s credits include new videos from Adele and Rihanna. Icons stan icons.

Kimbra – Save Me

Even beyond Björk’s audiovisual universe, a few music videos have already successfully blured digital fashion with IRL landscapes and vice versa. This one, styled by Bex Sheers with custom garments from Amanda Phelan, achieves that insta-meta synergy with the most flawless effort I’ve seen so far. It’s moody, breezy, gorgeous, and worth putting on repeat.

Malkia Karen – Te Quiero

Directed by the new/next East African powerhouse videographer Joowzey and styled by Zanzibar’s Sweetheart ™ Baila, this fun-Fun-FUN video lights up the woods and the streets with its joyous magic. You can’t mope in a feathered, corseted, bejeweled outfit… It’s against the rules, the grooves, and the Geneva Convention on Style. We’re so (!) looking forward to this production team’s future collabs.

Christophe Willem – J’tomberai pas

The gritty shoot was styled by Zakaria Makhlouf and Joa Jappont. At first glance, there isn’t much fashion-fashion going on here save the convincing footwear product placement on that ledge… “Death has no promise / Only love remains / I won’t forget where I come from / I will not fall into the trap / Of living my life by default.” However, for a track that serves as a contemporary pop rebuttle of the persistent “another brick in the wall” ideology, you must walk the denim/leather workwear line with caution. Zakaria & Joa deliver the sentiment with enviable precision.

Joyce Wrice feat. Kaytranada – Iced Tea

Clearly, stylist Anastasia Walker is not one to shy away from a challenge. I can and cannot imagine how that initial production meeting went for her team… So, the visuals will have to compete with superb anime animation. We hope that is not an issue. Oh, and there will be rain. And blood. And swords. Now let’s see your moodboards! Pffff… The result is a stellar professional achievement that supports both the talent and the narrative. Long may Anastasia style-the-beat!

George Ezra – Dance All Over Me

There is just so much to wow about here. For starters, the custom embroidered black denim number on Ezra is pure fire thanks to designer Giulio Miglietta. Y’all try pulling off anything Elvis-esque without facepalming it into caricature! Bravo. Meanwhile, stylist Holly Macdonald deserves a nomination for the Noble Prize in Styling (why is that not a thing yet?!). You try making fifty dancers in “identical” outfits look, feel and move differently. That is a true style-the-beat labor of love!

Meanwhile … dance like you’re already great, stay tuned, stay styled!

If you enjoyed this, encourage me to keep at it with BUY ME A COFFEE or PATREON.

Check out previous editions of Style the Beat series here.