Fashion
Ravyn Lenae & Her Stylist Break Down Her Best Looks Of 2025
We cover it all, from “grandma’s purse” bodysuits to Vivienne Westwood devil horns.
Ravyn Lenae has had, by all accounts, the biggest and boldest year of her career. Almost a year after its release, her single “Love Me Not” was an unofficial song of the summer, reaching number five on the Billboard Hot 100 and establishing Lenae as one of this generation’s defining voices in R&B and music at large. It was also, by my account, her best year in fashion, seeing her move from slinky dresses and more sexy heels toward something imbued with whimsy, romance, and lots of fishnet tights.
Her new partner in fashion crime is Ian Elmowitz, who started working with Lenae right before the BET Awards. As Lenae tells NYLON about her look for the red carpet, “It hit that romance, twisted-fantasy, witch thing perfectly. It felt like my music came into human form.” And thus, their working relationship was born. Elmowitz has helped push Lenae into new territory, setting her apart from her contemporaries and drawing on the hard-soft dichotomy found in her music. One day, she’s in a sheer Aknvas dress and ribbon-adorned heels; the next, she’s in ladylike chartreuse-and-olive-green Christopher John Rogers. The through lines are romance, fairy tales, and character dressing, which is why her several collaborations with designers like Erik Charlotte and Andrew Curwen make so much sense.
To celebrate her epic 2025, Lenae took a walk down memory lane alongside Elmowitz exclusively for NYLON to talk about her “deconstructed school teacher” and love for hats, tulle, and finally wearing pink.
Ian Elmowitz: This was labor of love. I don’t think I told you this, Ravyn, but the fabric is pink because it started out as a Halloween idea.
Ravyn Lenae: Oh, I didn’t know that.
IE: I was chatting with the designer, Angel, and he was down to pivot the idea for the Sabrina shows. The timing made sense. We wanted to go with something that felt gothic and still fun, quirky, and hitting those tones of Victorian references. She’s literally a Barbie doll.
RL: I love this one. I just started wearing pink this year. This was the first copy. Because I’m not super red anymore with my hair, it opened up a lot more colors.
IE: This was for one of the Sabrina shows. We fought about it a couple times.
RL: [Laughs] There was some back and forth.
NYLON: There are so many different textures and prints, but because it’s so sexy, it all makes sense.
RL: I love this one. My manager... what did he describe it as? He said, “It’s like you took a grandma’s purse and spilled everything out of it.” I love that reference because me and you were like, “Exactly.” This is Isabel [Marant], right?
IE: Yeah, Isabel. And Wolford always coming through with the tights.
NYLON: This one is one of my favorites because of the hat.
IE: Well, I always love a good hat. It adds a little touch. There were a couple weeks where I was really pushing the hat agenda on you.
RL: [Laughs] I loved it.
IE: This was custom made by my friend Fernanda. She’s fab, and it fit perfectly the first time trying. You can’t beat that.
NYLON: I remember when we talked this summer, Ravyn, you were talking about dressing more fun and more whimsical, and pleasing your teenage self. To me, this look is what I imagined you were talking about: super playful and girly, but still elevated.
RL: Honestly, what I was talking to you about earlier is so true, just embracing the things that I would’ve loved to wear when I was 13, 14, 15, because I feel like that’s the truest form of you, in a way. When you meet a stylist or somebody who sees that and is able to articulate and expand on that vision or that inner childlike soul, that’s when you meet your match in a way.
IE: I love being [into] whimsy with you.
NYLON: Your inner fairy came out this year, but then you still serve sexy in this corset dress. These shoes are so crazy. Ian, how did this come about?
IE: I feel like the whole Napoleon, marching-band vibe is working well. The dress was a maxi dress we decided to ruche from Tory Burch. It created that hard and soft vibe we’re going for, playing with how strong she can be, but also how soft and tender the music and she can be as well. It works, and then the black fishnets are just hot.
RL: I think the soft and hard contrast is a through line with not just the clothes, but also in my music. I gravitate towards a harder production, with heavy drums or something, and it has to knock in to balance out the softness in my voice. That contrast is what makes my sound, my sound, so it’s cool to pull that into what the clothes are saying.
NYLON: This is just straight-up angel.
IE: Andrew Curwen is really good friend of ours who is an emerging designer in New York. His collection felt aligned with Ravyn’s vibe and energy. This dress came about really last minute; this was for the Kali Uchis pop out. There was this whole Uber debacle an hour before glam. The Uber stole the package; we got it back and it all happened in time, but it was a little cuckoo-bananas. It felt just like you said, angel-on-earth vibes.
NYLON: This is a custom Andrew Curwen look, right? How did this one come to be?
IE: Andrew gets Ravyn for who she is. He was talking about the concept of this antique chest in an attic where you uncover your great-grandma’s Christmas ornaments from 100 years ago, and in all the rubble of the ornaments, there’s this dress you pull out, and she is the dress. She is the ornament, it’s antique ornament perfectness.
NYLON: Especially the finishes on the dress, it has that vintage feel to it. I love the simple pearl with it and the beautiful body makeup, too. It makes you feel like you came out from the Christmas box of my dreams, honestly.
RL: I love that. This one was so fun to wear. My dreams come alive when something is this fierce, but it’s so easy to perform in, too.
IE: The pearl has been a through line that has grounded the looks and brought them into Ravyn’s world. You could go a little wild and out-there with the styling, but it creates an effortless vibe.
NYLON: I love the designer of this dress, Laura Andraschko, and I was so happy to see you wearing this.
IE: Sourcing-wise, we were looking for festive Jingle Ball holiday looks. Fur can give that without being too on-the-nose. As a dress alone, it hit the mark with the lace and the tutu. Trying it on, Ravyn, that was an experience for you.
RL: I loved it, honestly. We ended up putting the leotard underneath it. For the kids. [Laughs] But it was really, really cute without... but it’s still cute here. I remember being like, “Oh, but the children.”
NYLON: Let’s talk about our girl, Ms. Erik Charlotte. This also feels very “Jingle Ball, but make it fashion.”
IE: She is the gift.
NYLON: I love how short the skirt is; it’s almost like a belt or a sash. You have the fishnets again, and I love this heel with it, too. If you did it with a sexier heel, it would be too much, but the Mary Jane brings it back into that quirky world. What was the process for this one?
IE: This was a sample Erik had recently made. We originally had another look slated, but there was an issue, so this was really last minute. Erik is an angel and pulled through. We tailored it the day before she had to leave, so she didn’t get to try it on until she was on the road. I’m very grateful it worked out.
RL: I love Erik. She hits on that hard and soft while keeping it whimsical. There’s an obvious character there that I feel like I can step right into, but then there’s something grounded and structural about it. I think Erik’s a star.
RL: This is probably one of my favorites. It hit that romance, twisted-fantasy, witch thing perfectly. I love the glam. I love the little Vivienne Westwood horns. It felt like my music came into human form. That’s why this one hit so hard, even online, because people were like, “Wait, this feels like what the music feels like.” I think that’s when things are on the right path. This was our first pop out, me and Ian, so there’s an emotional thing there, too.
IE: That wasn’t even that long ago.
RL: No, it wasn’t. But I love the shoe here, and you can’t see the purse in this picture, but it was a tassel almost.
IE: It was like a curtain tassel. It felt like that antique romance vibe.
RL: This was a moment where I was like, “I love the way Ian thinks, and I love his persistence around certain ideas and his willingness to really push it.” That’s what attracted me to him and why we’re still working together.
IE: It’s a very special moment. A dream come true actually.
RL: Aw! This was a sweet moment. I remember we got a little emotional backstage, because for me, obviously, this year had been a big moment. Being able to share that with somebody like Ian, and to feel like I was seen and feel like the clothes really reflected the care and time Ian put into it.
IE: This was from BET as well. This was the performance outfit. The skirt is actually a deconstructed nightgown. I was pulling a lot, trying to figure out what was going to work and what wasn’t. No one was making this in an accessible way, so our tailor got some feathers and made this deconstructed skirt. I got this corset made by Jules Gourley; he's really good at belts and corsets. The references were the complete opposite of his world: He’s rigid and gothic, so it was interesting having him do something a little more light. And then a vintage blouse and a pop-girl glove.
NYLON: You’re great at pulling all these different references and not having it look like four different things. It’s still cohesive, but there’s so many different elements and eras that pull into it. That’s what great artists also do with their music. I love when I see a look like this and it feels totally you, but I can also see all the different wheels that were turning in your head.
NYLON: This is your most ladylike moment of them all.
RL: I had to. CJR.
IE: The color was a perfect moment with the hair. When we tried it on, you were literally a princess. It was so cute.
RL: This design fit perfectly into the world we were creating.
IE: We had that quirkiness, but still refined and elegant.
RL: I love Chris. I hope we get to do some more. And that skirt is heavy, too.
NYLON: Listen, he does not f*ck around with his fabrics. He also inhabits that world of... He’s still a kid that’s just obsessed with clothes, and that whimsy makes sense in your world.
IE: She was a fairy! This is Aknvas. It was cool to do a fully sheer moment. We got the lingerie from Fleur du Mal. They have this perfect pink tone that could almost read as a nude, but it gives that pop of color. I loved the ribbon in the dress, so we wanted to put it around her arms to give some movement. An important thing for performing is having movement, so you’re not just standing there.
RL: This is one of my favorite looks.
NYLON: This is that hard and soft vibe, and the most boyish out of the looks. Tell me about where you sourced this, Ian.
IE: This is an Anna Sui skirt suit, Retrofête blouse, and August Barron boots. It’s a pair of boots tucked into the skirt. This just hit the nose, and it was really fun, actually.
RL: One of my friends said that some of my style choices are like deconstructed schoolteacher, and I love that. The more I think about it, the more I see it, and want to lean into that. It feels smart and it feels... I don’t know. Hard. It feels lived-in, [in] a cool way.
IE: This belt had a stock photo in it from this designer in LA, Leila Kyriacos. I realized we could remove the photo, and I was just thinking you’re going to be on the road for a while, so it’s nice to have a part of home with you always.
RL: Everybody who knows me, knows me and my mom and how close we are. We’re joined at the hip. By this time, I have been doing a lot of traveling, touring, and press, so this was a sweet moment to bring in my family, my background, where I come from. I got a lot of responses with this one.
NYLON: That’s beautiful. Even if no one can see it from stage, you know you have it on.
