No One Pulls Off All-Black Like Solange Knowles
“Butter yellow” this, “pop of red” that. Despite fashion’s strong push for color, Solange Knowles is sticking to her trusty all-black everything. And true to form, her take on the perennial It shade is anything but boring. Just look to her latest Instagram photo dump, which served as something of a masterclass in curating the perfect all-black wardrobe.
Like the fashion girl she is, Solange’s monochrome pieces are from some of the industry’s most inventive cult designers. Her see-through Issey Miyake number, which artfully showed a peek at her black undergarments, featured architectural draping and a high-neck collar. It was a twist on the classic little black dress—of course, done the high-fashion way—and an elevated way of tackling the celebrity obsession with sheer fabric.
Solange then slipped into another cocktail dress, this one taken up a notch with unexpected structure. She wore a scoop-neck look with scaled, almost armor-like details prodding out from the shoulders. Following that look was a Junya Watanabe top and slitted maxi skirt which featured a similar use of disjointed leather.
Wearing all-black is an easy way to conceal oneself. Yes, it’s chic and the unofficial uniform of fashion editors, Rick Owens and Issey Miyake fans, and PR people everywhere. But it can also become a tad bland. But what sets Solange’s use of black apart from those around her is an appreciation of structured elements. Take the pleated maxi skirt she wore for an event at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, for instance.
If the ankle-length piece wasn’t accented with a handful of thick leather belts around its perimeter, it would have been just like every other black skirt on the shop floor. Solange dressed up the showpiece with sling-back pumps and a long-sleeved turtleneck with a slight sheer effect. Her patent leather Courrèges dress played with the cut-out trend in a way that didn’t go overboard.
For the ultimate finish, Solange changed into one final look that she showed off via an Instagram mirror selfie: lingerie in all-black lace, of course.
