Fashion

Look of the Week: Tyla brings the Chanel skirt suit back to its ’90s heyday

Author: Leah Dolan, CNN Source: CNN:::
March 14, 2025 at 17:15
Tyla wore a Barbie pink skirt suit to Chanel's Fall-Winter 2025 show in Paris.  Jacopo Raule/Getty Images
Tyla wore a Barbie pink skirt suit to Chanel's Fall-Winter 2025 show in Paris. Jacopo Raule/Getty Images

Editor’s Note: Featuring the good, the bad and the ugly, ‘Look of the Week’ is a regular series dedicated to unpacking the most talked about outfit of the last seven days.

CNN — At Chanel’s Paris Fashion Week show on Tuesday, South African singer Tyla arrived at the Grand Palais in a hot pink tweed mini skirt, a strapless bustier top and matching jacket, paired with a dripping Y-shaped necklace that spelled “Chanel” out both horizontally and vertically. While many other show attendees including musician Raye and actor Simone Ashley dutifully donned a bouclé skirt suit — one of the label’s signature styles — there was no ignoring Tyla’s Barbie-coded version.

From the monogrammed gold “CC” buttons to the chain hem circling the bottom of her top, Tyla’s fuchsia three-piece was filled with classic “Chanelisms” that harked back to what some regard as a more distinctive era of the brand. The cut and colour echoed a tweed dress once worn by Naomi Campbell for the house’s Spring-Summer 1994 show. “I wanted to feel like a classic rich Chanel girl,” Tyla told Vogue.

 

 
 
Tyla's tweed matching three-piece stood out amongst a sea of bouclé skirt suits.
Tyla's tweed matching three-piece stood out amongst a sea of bouclé skirt suits. Kiran Ridley/AFP/Getty Images
 


Amanda Seyfried's canary yellow skirt-suit worn earlier in the week was another marker of the trend.
Amanda Seyfried's canary yellow skirt-suit worn earlier in the week was another marker of the trend. XNY/Star Max/GC Images/Getty Images
 

On the runway, Chanel also reimagined its hallowed tweed skirt suit with bursts of tulle, floor-length hem-lines and necklines slashed off-the-shoulder.

Tyla’s ensemble was prim yet playful — a balanced alternative to the prevailing “officecore” trend seen throughout the Paris shows. Stella McCartney staged her runway in an open-plan office with guests sitting at desks equipped with stationery, while Balenciaga took a more pared-back approach with its collection of crumpled and moth-ravaged suits.

 

Millie Bobby Brown did an interview with ABC News this week wearing a Dalmatian pony hair two-piece.
Millie Bobby Brown did an interview with ABC News this week wearing a Dalmatian pony hair two-piece. Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images/Getty Images
 

But if the thought of reaching for pinstripes and charcoal twill after 5 o’clock fills you with dread rather than desire, the bold skirt suit may offer a happy medium between our evident interest in more structured tailoring without the commitment of dressing like a “Severance” extra.

Consider the canary yellow iteration that Amanda Seyfried wore in New York on Monday — made edgier by a pair of blackout shades and knee-high leather boots. Or the Dalmatian print Versace variant Millie Bobby Brown wore on Tuesday during her “Today” show appearance. The printed two piece was styled with a black beret that perched atop Brown’s freshly bleached locks.

Tyla rounded off her vintage-style Chanel ensemble with a black mini bag and spiky cropped hair. While Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel is most remembered for popularizing women’s trousers, it’s worth noting that her enduring contribution to the skirt suit is a close second.

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