Charli xcx in Saint Laurent, Teyana Taylor in Feathers and Tyla in Mowalola Led the 2026 VMAs Carpet

The VMAs landed on the one day the fashion calendar was empty. The ceremony, held Sunday (Sept. 27) at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, fell in the 24 hours between Milan and Paris fashion weeks, as Dazed pointed out, and the carpet that usually reads as a “who’s who of ‘who is that’” had real stylists with real runway access. Two of the night’s sharpest looks, Tyla’s and Troye Sivan’s, came straight off the London catwalks that had just wrapped.

Charli xcx dressed for two sets

Charli xcx arrived in custom Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello: a floor-length velvet skirt and matching crop top with puffball sleeves, per Dazed. It was her first VMAs carpet since 2021, when she wore a Shawna Wu minidress for the Crash run. For her performance of “Danceteria Afterhours” with Madonna she switched into a custom Dsquared2 mini dress with Pandora jewels, The Zoe Report notes. The Saint Laurent look has a new footnote now: Kering confirmed Vaccarello’s exit 12 days later.

The boudoir wave

The dominant mood was lingerie, feathers and low-rise. Teyana Taylor, a presenter and nominee, wore a sheer, feather-trimmed coat dress from Zuhair Murad’s Fall 2026 couture collection, which Dazed filed under her generational run of red carpet moments. LISA paired a lingerie-inspired gown by The Attico with a fur coat by Quine Li, and Tyla wore a Mowalola two-piece in blue snakeskin print with a bra top, finished with Chopard jewels. Flo showed up in matching blunt wigs and body-hugging python dresses, and PinkPantheress went for a tiered Nina Ricci column.

Statues, sequins and a Best New Artist

Classical sculpture was the other theme. Taylor Swift wore a Tamara Ralph mock-neck gown with a gathered hip detail inspired by statuary, a nod to the cover art and video for her single “Patient Zero,” which debuted at No. 1 on the Hot 100 chart dated Oct. 10. Vogue Scandinavia notes she also received the VMAs’ inaugural Artist Director Honors. Sienna Spiro, the night’s Best New Artist winner, channeled Botticelli’s Venus in a gathered champagne Valentino gown with a Metallic Caviar Chanel bag.

Glamour, the old-fashioned way

Not everyone went sheer. The Zoe Report spotted a shift toward classic glamour, pointing to Swift’s sequin-and-velvet gown and to Raye’s embellished halter dress, which it likened to Marilyn Monroe. It was a reminder that the carpet’s rock-star memo had a vintage footnote.

The boys went loud

Sombr played to the attention economy, per Dazed, in custom ERL with a studded belt that spelled out “SEX.” Troye Sivan wore an Erdem Spring/Summer 2027 tuxedo with dramatic waist draping and feather details, according to The Zoe Report, and Shaboozey, Vogue Scandinavia says, wore Chrome Hearts. Several of the people on the carpet also took the stage. Vogue Scandinavia lists Charli xcx, LISA, Teddy Swims, Shaboozey, Gunna, Kacey Musgraves and Yung Lean among the night’s performers, with Snoop Dogg hosting, so the clothes had to survive a night of work as well as photographs.

Paris Fashion Week was next, and its front rows, with Rihanna, Rosalía, ROSÉ and LISA among the names in the seats, are in our SS27 roundup.

Added to the High Grailed archive on October 11, 2026.