Fashion / Society

The best of both worlds: Tove Styrke wears Vogue Scandinavia's custom Rave Review gown

By Doris Daga

Photo: Tove Styrke

Tove Styrke makes a fabulous case for sustainable fashion during the performance of her new single Show Me Love, wearing the custom Rave Review gown from our October-November 2021 issue

This Friday, Tove Styrke released her new song Show Me Love, a Love on the Brain inspired classic 1960s ballad, rooted in a grooving guitar. This is a new sound for Tove, whose stunning vocals are amplified with what seems to be an old-school plate reverb.

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During a fabulous performance of the new single, Tove wore Rave Review’s custom piece for Vogue Scandinavia during Carina Bergfeldt’s show, paired over a latex long sleeve bodysuit and layered, chunky silver necklaces.

In the music video that dropped on the same day, Tove channeled old Hollywood glamour, with an iridescent floor-length gown, alluding to Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus complete with a Pre-Raphaelite mane of blonde locks, as well as a group shot in the almost nude. With a visual as strong as this one, we are destined to see great things from Tove as she continues her album cycle.

This already museum-worthy piece has gained a second level of prestige as it will now also go down in history as one of Styrke’s best looks. “I loved every second of it. I love the clash between it being a gorgeous gown but also having this kind of punk vibe. It fits the song "Show Me Love” so well, I think, which is also timeless and modern at the same time,” she told Vogue Scandinavia.

Rave review dress

Photo: Janneke van der Hagen

The main part of infatuation for the piece stemmed in the extra level of thoughtfulness that comes with wearing a piece that is made form used materials: “That’s what I love about all of Rave Review's creations. They feel so special and one of a kind, like they’ve got a life of it’s own. Of course that amps up the power of any performance,” she said. Her conscious decision to opt for something carbon neutral was also a definitive decision: “Everything you choose to put on your body is a conscious decision. That’s the beauty about clothes. They tell you something about the person who’s wearing them. Fashion to me is communication.”

Originally made from seven discarded kilts from a warehouse called SWD in the greater Manchester area, Allyson Shiffman, print editor at Vogue Scandinavia, wrote in our piece about the now-iconic dress: “Silver ring details at the waist and a crotch-high slit, which recalls Angelina Jolie’s 2012 Versace Oscars gown, brings the sort of sly sex appeal that has become Rave Review’s signature. Their other signature being, of course, the power-clashing prints, chief among them tartan.”

rave review dress

Photo: Janneke van der Hagen

This is a ringing reminder that what once was old can be new again. This piece is a true champion for sustainable fashion, and that even a gown can be worn more than once. Instead of being tucked away in an archive, this is the time to wear our most special pieces, and to get the worth and use out of our purchases — even on live television.