Janelle Monáe channels her inner vintage Hollywood star for the Ralph Lauren spring 2021 collection. In the short cinematic montage she pays tribute to iconic Black female entertainers.
“Dorothy Dandridge, Josephine Baker, Ella Fitzgerald — we love you,” Monáe says mid-song. “Sarah Vaughan, Lady Day — we love you.”
The 20-minute “Casablanca”-inspired movie premiered on Thursday night on ralphlauren.com
The film was shot in the Ralph Lauren flagship on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. It opens with Monáe, in voiceover, saying, “Once upon a time, we gathered. We got dressed up. We were free. We were liberated. We were fun. We were time travelers. We danced. We loved hard. We told jokes. We laughed.”
Dressed in an elegant tuxedo, Monáe began her set with “Anything or Nothing at All.” She then closed the performance with “Tightrope.”
Monáe has been known to have a long-standing relationship with the fashion label, which goes all the way back to when her first album, The ArchAndroid, dropped in 2010. In a recent interview with People Magazine she says, “Right when my first album was being released and maybe months before then, they had reached out and asked me to perform at their New York Fashion Week show. You remember the people who, when you were not as famous as you are now, that were there in the early beginning of your career,” the star says.
She goes on to add: “I think they were the first fashion brand to gift me a suit. I didn’t have a lot of money when I first came into the industry to buy suiting that was tailored and that fit my body. I didn’t have a stylist and I was doing it myself. To have the support of the Ralph Lauren team always means the most to me and at this point we’re family.”
To watch Monáe’s performance, and to view Ralph Laurens full Spring 2021 collection, visit this link!
